Cloud County Baseball Series with Coffeyville Sent to Deciding Third Game Following 1-0 Defeat

For the second-straight season, the Cloud County Community College baseball team will play a deciding third game in the opening round of the NJCAA Region VI baseball playoffs following a 1-0 home defeat to visiting Coffeyville Community College at Lee Doyen Field on Thursday, May 11th.

Seeing the best-of-three series even at 1-1, Cloud County falls to 36-21 overall while Coffeyville keeps its season alive for at least one more day while improving to 28-30 overall.

Base hits for both the Red Ravens and T-Birds in the first inning would not lead to anything offensively as Coffeyville would see a double play eliminate a leadoff single before stranding a two-out single at second while Cloud County would have a one-out single by Gavin Roy eliminated on a pickoff by starting pitcher Ryan Leiker. Another stranded base runner for the Red Ravens in the top of the second would see another quick inning before seeing both teams go down in order in the third to keep things scoreless through three.

The pitcher's duel would continue on into the fourth and fifth as Cloud County would strand a leadoff single and one-out hit batter in the bottom of the fourth before seeing another big opportunity in the bottom of the fifth go by the wayside as a walk, hit batter, and bunt single would load the bases before a lineout and inning-ending double play to allow Coffeyville to escape a massive jam that had threatened to break the scoreless tie. With the momentum shifting into the Red Raven dugout following the double play, Coffeyville would look to take advantage in the top of the sixth as a leadoff walk would be followed by a fielder's choice that would have the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference leader in stolen bases at first with one out. Flipping momentum back to the third base dugout, catcher Karson Green for Cloud County would fire a dart down to second on an 0-2 pitch to catch Bell stealing for just the fifth time all year in 56 attempts for the second out of the inning before seeing T-Bird starter Phil Brennaman induce an inning-ending groundout.

As the wind on the field would continue to pick up with the temperature continuing to fall with overcast skies becoming darkening, a one-two-three bottom of the sixth would allow Coffeyville to get back to the plate with a light mist beginning to fall as play would continue despite the moisture. A leadoff single for the Red Ravens to begin the seventh would officially end Brennaman's day as Cayden Castellanos would be called out of the bullpen with Coffeyville electing to play small ball and lay down a sacrifice bunt to move the go-ahead runner into scoring position. After getting a big second out on an infield popup in foul territory, Castellanos and the T-Birds would see the rain begin to intensify before giving up an RBI single to seven-hole hitter Ryan Ready to score the game's first run. The damage would be limited to just the one run by Coffeyville, but facing a deficit for the first time on the day and into the late innings would be problematic for Cloud County with limited opportunities remaining at the plate.

Trying to respond with a run of their own, CCCC would draw a leadoff walk by Kolden Howerton before opting for a sacrifice bunt of their own by Landon Meyer before a flyout and strikeout to end the inning and strand yet another T-Bird runner in scoring position. Nothing offensively would be had by Coffeyville in the eighth as Castellanos would work just the third one-two-three inning of the day to try and give Cloud County momentum once more before seeing two quick outs curb any enthusiasm gained from the clean defensive inning. Still trying to find some magic on the offensive end, a chance for CCCC would be seen off the bat of freshman Gavin Roy as the Sudbury, Ontario native would hit a triple down the right field line that would reach the fence to put the game-tying run just 90 feet from scoring with three-hole hitter Danny Infante due up. The Brooklyn, New York native would nearly deliver as another ball hit down the right field line would be robbed of a base hit as Coffeyville's Tate Moody would recover from playing in the right-center field gap to make a sliding catch on the line and end the inning with the Red Raven lead still intact.

Keeping the deficit at one with another one-two-three inning, Cloud County would have one last chance to try and extend the game or possibly walk things off as an Anthony Taggart single after falling behind 0-2 in the count would put the game-tying run on for a third straight inning and be followed by a Howerton groundout that would advance the runner into scoring position. Another groundout would allow Taggart to take third with Coffeyville trading the advance of the lead runner for the second out before getting Brock Wollin to strikeout to end the game on a complete-game shutout effort from Leiker.

Stranding seven total base runners which included six that had reached scoring position, Cloud County would be held to only six hits with Roy's triple serving as the lone extra-base hit of the game by either team. The Red Ravens would strand five base runners on their offensive end of things but manage to come up with the clutch hit in the bottom of the seventh as part of their four total hits as neither team would eclipse the 30 at-bat mark as a team.

Outdueled on the mound despite allowing just one run on three hits over six innings, Brennaman would drop just his second decision of the year to fall to 5-2 after a 95-pitch outing while seeing Castellanos allow just one out and face two batters over the minimum in the final three innings of play. Leiker for Coffeyville would throw 126 total pitches to go the distance for his third complete game of the year and first collegiate shutout of his career.

What's Next?
Game three is set for 1 PM on Friday, May 12th with the winner advancing to next week's action in Wichita, Kansas at Eck Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University. Whichever team advances with a win tomorrow will play the fourth and final game on day one on Tuesday, May 16th against the winner of Friday's winner-take-all game between fourth-seeded Cowley and 13th-seeded Pratt. The other teams in the top half of the bracket in Wichita will be top-seeded Barton Community College who advanced on Thursday with a win over Labette and the winner of the Dodge City vs Kansas City Kansas series which was sent to a deciding game-three on Thursday after a 10-5, 11-inning win by Dodge City.