Cloud County Baseball Runs Win Streak to Eight with Monday Home Sweep of Kansas Wesleyan JV

Playing two final non-conference home games ahead of a grueling stretch that will see five games played against top-10 nationally-ranked opponents over the span of six days, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would use a big first inning in game one before coming alive midway through game two to pick up a pair of wins over the Kansas Wesleyan University JV team at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Monday, April 17th.

Earning a 10-0, five-inning win in game one, Cloud County would pick up a 9-1 win in game two to improve to 28-14 overall on the year while extending their recent streak to 11 victories in their past 12 as part of an eight-game win streak.

GAME ONE:
All the run support needed in game one would come in the opening inning of play for CCCC as 13 batters would come to the plate for Cloud County as part of four hits, three errors, and two walks to allow the T-Birds to score eight runs. In the inning, Cloud County would get two-RBI singles from both Kolden Howerton and Logan Scully while also seeing Danny Infante, Alex Diaz, and Paul Schuyler all drive in runs as all eight runs would be unearned due to the defensive miscues by the Coyotes.

Picking up another run in the bottom of the second with an Anthony Taggart double to set up a Howerton RBI double, the T-Birds would work a perfect third inning before allowing a leadoff base hit to KWU JV in the top of the fourth for what would wind up being one of just two hits in the game for Kansas Wesleyan. With things heading to the bottom of the fourth and Cloud County still needing a run to have a chance to end the game in the top of the fifth, CCCC would use an Infante leadoff single and Taggart hit-by-pitch to set up what would become a Howerton sacrifice fly to drive in his fourth run of the game and more importantly put the T-Birds up by a 10-run margin.

The Coyotes would do their best to try and extend the game in the top of the fifth by getting a leadoff walk and hit batter to put the first two batters of the inning aboard before seeing back-to-back ground balls lead to fielder's choices which included cutting down a run the plate to keep things a 10-0 lead. Facing one final batter, sophomore Liam Bates would work his one and only strikeout of the day to end the game as the victory would be the fifth win of the year coming after five innings of play.

Needing just seven hits to produce the 10 runs scored in the game, Cloud County would be led by a two-for-two effort by Howerton while also seeing Infante go two-for-three with an RBI. As a team, CCCC would strand just three base runners while forcing the Coyotes into six stranded runners as part of three walks, a hit batter, and two hits. Earning his first pitching victory of the year would be sophomore Brayden Mackey after a two-inning outing where the Hastings, Nebraska native would allow one hit and strikeout three. Carson Latimer would also throw two scoreless innings, striking out five of the seven batters he faced which included striking out the side in the third inning on 10 pitches before seeing Bates finish things off with a scoreless fifth.

GAME TWO:
A much slower start for Cloud County in game two would see Kansas Wesleyan grab an early 1-0 lead two batters into the game following a solo home run down the left field line despite stranding two runners as part of a three-hit top of the first. CCCC would be limited to just one hit through the first two innings of action while stranding a base runner in both the first and second before finally being able to find an offensive spark in the bottom of the third.

Putting together a two-out rally in the bottom of the third following two quick outs, CCCC would use a Taggart single back up the middle to string together three-straight hits along with a passed ball to plate a pair of runs on a Landon Meyer two-RBI single to take their first lead of the game at 2-1. Getting a quick one-two-three inning defensively in the fourth, the T-Birds would take advantage of the momentum to put together their biggest inning of the game with four hits and a Coyote error leading to four more runs with two of the runs coming on an Alexander Diaz triple into the left-center field gap.

Cloud County would tack on another run in the fifth with an Aidan Malish sacrifice fly to score Meyer who reached base to lead off the inning with a hit-by-pitch and would push across two more runs in the sixth while threatening to end the game by run rule before stranding two runners that represented the potential game-ending runs. The lead would be more than enough to work with for the CCCC pitching staff as Kansas Wesleyan JV would not record a single hit after the first inning to never pose a threat at making a game of things in the late innings.

Belting out another 12 hits as a team, Cloud County would get two-hit efforts from Brock Wollin and Diaz while seeing Demitri Shakotko, Meyer, and Diaz drive in two runs apiece with all nine batters who recorded a plate appearance collecting at least one hit. Five total pitchers would be used by the T-Birds with Will Yamka picking up the win after a one-inning outing where he would face the minimum and strikeout one after coming on in relief for starter John Green (one inning) and reliever Scott Rienguette (one inning). Following Yamka, Cloud County would use Mason Munz for two innings as the Kingman, Kansas native would strike out four before using Ethan Price for the final two innings of the game.

What's Next?
Facing their toughest task to date, CCCC will head to Great Bend, Kansas to take on reigning Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division regular-season and fifth-ranked Barton Community College in a 1 PM doubleheader on Thursday, April 20th. The Cougars are 38-5 overall and 17-3 in the KJCCC West with a 21-2 record at home. All three conference losses for Barton have come in the series openers against conference foes as Cloud County will look to earn their third-straight win over the Cougars after winning the final game of a conference series last year before knocking BCC out of the NJCAA Plains District Tournament with an 11-6 win.