Cloud County Baseball Splits Home Doubleheader, Earns Series Win Over Hutchinson
Utilizing the long ball to break open a 3-2 game and eventually take a 10-4 victory to earn a series victory in game one, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would see visiting Hutchinson Community College return the favor in the series finale by hitting three home runs in the final five innings of the game to win 5-3 and force a doubleheader split at Lee Doyen Field on Saturday, April 8th.
The win for Cloud County in game one allowed the T-Birds to secure their first series victory over Hutchinson since the 2010 season while improving to 20-15 overall and 9-7 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division while the Blue Dragons avoid getting swept in conference play to move to 19-18 overall and 10-10 in the Jayhawk Conference.
GAME ONE:
A less-than-ideal start for CCCC would see Hutchinson leadoff batter Collin Cymbalista take the second pitch of the game and turn things over for a no-doubt home run to left field as the Blue Dragons would start the game off with a quick 1-0 lead. HCC would try to make some additional noise in the top of the first by putting a runner on base with a one-out error and walk but see Cloud County starter Jack Mount respond by striking out the final two batters of the inning to strand both runners and keep the deficit at 1-0.
It wouldn't take long for a response from the T-Birds as Cloud County would utilize a leadoff double down the left field line by freshman Paul Schuyler that would be followed by ground outs from Gavin Roy and Danny Infante to bring the Bellevue, Nebraska native around to score to tie the game at 1-1. Working a one-two-three top of the second, CCCC would push across two more runs in the bottom of the second with Anthony Taggart and Justin Johnson putting together back-to-back hits to lead off the inning to put runners at second and third with no outs. Following a shallow fly out to center field, nine-hole hitter Alex Diaz would deliver with a two-strike base hit into right-center field that would score both runners and put the T-Birds up 3-1 before seeing the inning end on the base paths with Diaz getting thrown out at third trying to advance on a wild pitch.
With Cymbalista leading off the top of the third, Hutchinson would cut the two-run lead in half on a 2-0 pitch with the Pickering, Ontario native hitting his second home run in as many at-bats to give the Blue Dragons some life as the homer would be followed by a triple to put the game-tying run just 90 feet from scoring. Unfazed once again from getting into trouble, Mount would dial back in on the mound to strike out the next three batters to have seven strikeouts after three innings of work.
Cloud County would follow by stranding single base runners in the bottom of the third and fourth innings while forcing HCC to strand base runners in the top of the fourth and fifth innings as things would remain a 3-2 contest heading into the bottom of the fifth. Having seen Hutchinson already hit two home runs in the contest, CCCC would begin to take advantage of a steady wind blowing out to left field by seeing Danny Infante hit a solo home run to left-center field before seeing Landon Meyer follow suit with a solo home run of his own to turn things into a 5-2 T-Bird lead. A Demitri Shakotko double into the left-center field gap would force the Blue Dragons into making a pitching change as the game would begin to get on the verge of getting away from HCC and completely get away from them in the next at-bat as Taggart would welcome reliever Kaden Wickersham into the game by hitting a two-run home run for Cloud County's third homer in four at-bats. Two walks, two singles, and a hit batter would extend the inning even more as CCCC would finish with seven runs on six hits to go up 10-2 heading into the sixth.
An attempt from Hutchinson to respond and get back into the contest would see two infield singles and a two-out walk load the bases with Cymbalista due up, but Mount would end his day on a high note by striking out his 12th and final batter to leave the bases loaded and keep the eight-run lead intact. CCCC would go scoreless in their end of the sixth before turning things over to reliever Brayden Mackey as the Blue Dragons would make one final push at trying to mount a comeback by taking advantage of two Cloud County errors to plate two runs before seeing a fielder's choice end the game and give the T-Birds the series victory.
Five different players for CCCC would record multi-hit games with Infante leading the way with a three-for-four effort with four RBI while Taggart, Johnson, Meyer, and Schuyler all had two-hit games. Taggart and Diaz would each drive in two runs as five different players would account for the 10 runs scored by Cloud County with seven of the 13 total hits going for extra bases. A six-inning, 103-pitch effort from Mount would lead the third victory of the year for the sophomore who would allow just two runs on six hits while striking out 12 in what would be his best outing of the season.
GAME TWO:
Working a quick one-two-three top of the first, Cloud County would put two base runners on to begin the bottom of the first with a walk being issued to Schuyler followed by a base hit from Roy to put some early pressure on Hutchinson with the possibility of a series sweep very much at stake. Following a strikeout and fly out that would allow Schuyler to move from second to third, CCCC would run a successful double steal to bring Schuyler home and grab an early lead with a two-out throwing error allowing Roy to score from second on a ball that would never leave the infield to make it a 2-0 game after an inning of play.
Both teams would go hitless in the second before seeing the Blue Dragons strand a runner in the third after two hits would lead to no offensive run support with an inning-ending double play getting the T-Birds out of a potential jam. Despite getting the double-play to regain momentum, CCCC would be retired in order in the bottom of the third as both offenses would be held in check by the starting pitchers through four innings. With the game still a 2-0 advantage in favor of Cloud County, the T-Birds would manage to add a run in the bottom of the fifth by turning a Caden Walker one-out double into a run on a Meyer RBI single that would see the inning end with Infante trying to go from first to third and end up being cut down as momentum would shift on the play to give Hutchinson something to rally around.
The play to end the fifth inning would prove to be a big shift in momentum as the Blue Dragons would get a leadoff single to flip the lineup over in the top of the sixth before seeing Will Edmunson launch a one-out two-run home run get back within a run with still three innings to play. Trying to take advantage of a pitching change by HCC, Cloud County would record back-to-back base hit singles that would be followed by a Diaz pinch-hit walk after falling behind in the count 0-2 to load the bases with nobody out and a chance to get back the runs surrendered in the top of the inning. The Blue Dragons once again would find a way to create some momentum-shifting plays with a foul out behind the plate and an inning-ending double play once again giving Hutchinson life.
It would take just one batter in the top of the seventh to see HCC tie the game as a solo home run by Ryan Henderson would knock CCCC starter Cayden Castellanos from the game as the T-Birds would now be in a position to try and hold the game in its current state to stay out of a potential deficit. Reliever Brady Stuewe would do his job by working around a two-out single to retire three of the four batters faced in the inning with a pair of strikeouts and an infield popout to limit the damage to just one run heading into the bottom of the seventh.
A base running mistake would see a leadoff double from Walker get erased on the base paths as Hutchinson would face the minimum in the seventh before going down in order in the top of the eighth as offenses would seemingly once again quiet down. The T-Birds would then get a one-out double from Shakotko in the bottom of the eighth to put a potential go-ahead runner in scoring position before stranding the runner with a flyout and groundout. Defensive errors by both teams in the ninth would allow base runners to reach base before ultimately being stranded as things would be sent into extra-innings after a scoreless ninth.
In the extra frame, Hutchinson would put together a two-out rally by collecting three-straight two-out hits including a two-run home run from Edmunson for his second homer of the game to give the Blue Dragons their first lead of the day. With Cloud County having been held scoreless in seven of the previous nine innings played in the game, Hutchinson would manage to get a groundout, flyout, and strikeout to end the game as the momentum shifts in the latter stages of the game would allow HCC to come away with their only win of the series.
The three runs for CCCC would come on just eight hits with Shakotko and Walker accounting for five of the eight hits recorded by the T-Birds including all three extra-base hits by Cloud County. Meyer would record the lone RBI for Cloud County in the contest with the T-Birds striking out 11 times and stranding seven runners that would prove costly in allowing the Blue Dragons to hang around throughout. On the mound, Castellanos would take a no-decision after six innings of work that would include three strikeouts while Stuewe would fall to 0-1 after allowing two runs in four innings of work that would see a season-high seven strikeouts from the Topeka, Kansas native.
What's Next?
A quick step away from KJCCC action will see CCCC be back at home on Monday, April 10th when the T-Birds play host for a 2 PM doubleheader against the Baker College JV team. Cloud County will then return to conference play with another home doubleheader on Thursday, April 13th with a 1 PM doubleheader against Garden City Community College.