Cloud County Baseball Splits Home Doubleheader with Dodge City

After never leading in an en eventual 11-1 defeat in game one, the Cloud County Community College baseball team took advantage of three errors to plate two runs in the bottom of the first of game two and build lead of 4-1 and 6-2 as part of a 6-3 win to split a home doubleheader with Dodge City Community College at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, March 30th.

The split sees Cloud County earn wins in games one and four of the four-game set with the Conquistadors to run their record to 24-11 overall and 12-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division while seeing DCCC move to 23-11 overall and 8-4 in conference play.

Game One:
Threats from Dodge City in each of the first two innings saw the T-Birds work around a pair of situations with two runners on with just one out as an inning-ending double play in the first and strikeout and fielder's choice allowed CCCC to get out of both jams unscathed despite being held hitless through the first two innings of play to send things to the third. A leadoff single for the Conquistadors in the top of the third and stolen base set up an RBI double followed by a groundout and strikeout as Cloud County appeared to be able to limit the damage to just one run until a walk and three-run home run that broke the game open and put DCCC up 4-0. Back-to-back singles in the bottom of the inning allowed Cloud County to get on the board with a response as Demitri Shakotko hit a two-out RBI single to bring home Cam MaCleod before a flyout into center field to end the inning with Dodge City holding a 4-1 lead.

Keeping the deficit at 4-1 heading to the fifth, CCCC surrendered a run to the Conquistadors in the top of the fifth with a double down the third base line on a ball that hit off the third-base bag and stolen base setting up a sacrifice fly to add to the Conquistador lead. The game broke open for good in the top of the sixth as three-straight singles to lead off the inning for DCCC brought home a run and put runners at first and third with no outs as Dodge City went on to plate four total runs on four hits to take a commanding 9-1 lead. With the large advantage, the Conquistadors made a move of their own to the bullpen and worked around a one-out walk with an inning-ending double play to face the minimum in the sixth before adding two in the top of the seventh and retiring the T-Birds in order to close out the game.

Outhit in the contest 14-4, Cloud County did not have any batter record multiple hits or an extra-base hit in the game with Shakotko driving in the lone T-Bird run. Despite striking out only twice, CCCC stranded six base runners and saw three of their four hits come in the third inning with Dodge City inducing three one-two-three innings. On the mound, five total pitchers saw time for Cloud County with Jack MacIntosh taking the loss to drop to 6-2 after throwing 5.0 innings and allowing five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. No other T-Bird pitcher threw more than an inning, with Aaron Boutz and Creighton Jacobitz each striking out one in their appearances.

Game Two:
Things were anything but typical in game two of the doubleheader and the final game of the series as Cloud County worked a clean top of the first before managing to push across two runs in the bottom of the first thanks in part to two errors on Dodge City with a fielding error allowing Nolan Freund to reach base to go along with a throwing error which allowed Gavin Roy to score. Following an RBI groundout from Landon Meyer and TJ Coats walk, another fielding error occurred to extend the inning by one more batter with CCCC sending seven batters to the plate to take a 2-0 lead into the second.

Another defensive miscue in the top of the second saw Dodge City use two base hits and a fielder's choice with an error load the bases with no outs to set up a sacrifice fly that brought DCCC back within a run before a strikeout and fielder's choice that ended the inning with two base runners getting stranded. The one-run lead for CCCC remained in place until the bottom of the third when Meyer hit a one-out solo home run to left field followed by a two-out walk for Noah Konings to go along with an Easton Mould base hit single and MaCleod walk that brought home a run thanks in part to a wild pitch on ball four that scored Konings.

Dodge City responded with a single run in the fourth as a leadoff walk came around to score on a two-out single before the Conquistadors stranded another two runners to have seven stranded base runners through four innings with the game finally settling down to keep the score in place heading into the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back leadoff walks for Paul Schuyler and Roy forced a DCCC pitching change with starter Michael Debattista being pulled for reliever Michael Lopez which was followed by an infield single from Shakotko on a bunt down the third base line and a throwing error to score both Schuyler and Roy for a pair of unearned runs.

The 6-2 lead for CCCC was cut into in the top of the seventh as Dodge City plated a run with a leadoff single and wild pitch putting a runner in scoring position for back-to-back flyouts that advanced the runner both times to get the Conquistadors back within three at 6-3. After being held hitless in the bottom of the seventh, Cloud County worked around a one-out throwing error and single that allowed DCCC to bring the game-tying run to the plate with an infield fly and strikeout ending the inning and the threat from Dodge City to keep the score at a three-run game with the T-Birds working a perfect top of the ninth with two groundouts and a strikeout to earn the split of the doubleheader and series.

Despite having just one extra-base hit in the game and being outhit 11-8 in the game, Cloud County took advantage of nine walks and four Dodge City errors to bookend the series with the win after stranding 11 base runners. The Conquistadors stranded 12 base runners of their own and struck out five times with just five batters accounting for the 11 hits while seeing two-hit games from Roy, Shakotko, and Meyer lead the way for CCCC. Meyer added a game-high two RBI and the only extra-base hit of the game while Roy stole two bases.

Running his record to 3-0 on the mound, John Klus threw six innings on the mound and struck out three batters while surrendering just two runs on eight hits and throwing 95 total pitches. Noah Bourgeois tossed one inning of work in his first appearance since February 22nd, allowing one run on two hits before turning things over to Myles Chamberlain who threw 27 pitches and struck out two to earn his first save of the year.

What's Next?
Stepping back out of conference play for their next four games, Cloud County will kick off a three-game week on Tuesday, April 2nd with a 1 PM single nine-inning game at McPherson College JV in McPherson, Kansas. CCCC will then host Highland Community College in a 1 PM doubleheader on Thursday, April 4th to close out their week while kicking off a five-game homestand.