Cloud County Baseball Stays Unbeaten in Jayhawk Conference Play, Sweeps Doubleheader at Pratt
Resuming Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division action with a road doubleheader, the Cloud County Community College baseball team put together a pair of seven-inning victories to sweep Pratt Community College at Stanion Field in Pratt, Kansas on Thursday, March 14th.
Improving to 17-7 overall, Cloud County won game one by a score of 6-4 before defeating the Beavers by run-rule in game two with a score of 10-0 to remain the lone unbeaten team in conference play in the KJCCC West Division. Pratt has now lost eight straight and falls to 11-14 overall along with an 0-6 mark in conference play.
Game One:
A strong response from being limited to just three hits on Tuesday against Iowa Western saw the T-Birds collect two hits to begin the game with a Paul Schuyler double and Gavin Roy single in the top of the first to bring a run home on a Nolan Freund sacrifice fly as CCCC added two more runs in the top of the second on three more hits to go up 3-0 after two innings of play. Both pitching staffs began to settle in with the start of the third inning as each of the next two innings went scoreless before seeing a Freund leadoff single in the fifth set up a Jakob Poturnak two-run home run which gave CCCC their largest lead of the game at 5-0.
Pratt was unable to do anything with a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth but was able to break through in the bottom of the sixth after Cloud County made their first call to the bullpen as back-to-back singles put runners on the corners to set up a double steal to bring home the first Beaver run of the game and put another runner in scoring position with nobody out. Following a walk, CCCC went back to the bullpen to bring in John Klus who induced a flyout and strikeout to get two outs on the board until a three-run home run from PCC that trimmed a four-run T-Bird lead down to one at 5-4. Cloud County was able to get through the rest of the inning without any more damage occurring before seeing Poturnak blast his second home run of the game in the top of the seventh to give CCCC a big insurance run while making the score 6-4 in favor of Cloud County. Not taking any chances with the top of the order due up for Pratt, the T-Birds made one final call to the bullpen to bring in Hayden Malaise who worked a perfect bottom of the seventh and earned his first save of the season to give CCCC a series-opening win over the Beavers.
Poturnak's two home run day accounted for three of Cloud County's six runs scored in the game as the redshirt freshman went two-for-three and was joined by a three-hit effort from Roy to account for five of CCCC's 10 hits in the game. As a team, the T-Birds stranded eight runners with four walks not leading to any offensive production for Cloud County despite hitting .370 as a team. On the mound, Kevin Mannell threw five shutout innings and struck out six before seeing both Klus and Malaise add one strikeout each in one inning of work with the pitching staff scattering seven hits by the Beavers.
Game Two:
Offensive production was held to just three total innings for CCCC, but the T-Birds made the most of the three innings that they scored in as Cloud County broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third with a Cam MaCleod leadoff home run before getting an Austin Coyle single and Schuyler fielder's choice that saw both runners safely reach to allow the first three batters of the inning to all safely reach base. Following two quick outs with a fielder's choice and lineout, Freund connected on a deep drive into center field that ultimately led to a three-run inside-the-park home run for the Kingman, Kansas native to cap off a four-run inning. Working a second-straight one-two-three inning on the mound, Cloud County pitcher TJ Coats got the T-Birds back to the plate where Schuyler led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run of his own before seeing Freund drive home Roy on a sacrifice fly with two more runs adding to the lead to make it a 6-0 lead in favor of CCCC.
The six-run lead remained until the top of the seventh with Cloud County having the top of the lineup due up as the T-Birds sent nine batters to the plate and scored four more runs on three hits and a Pratt error to go up 10 and sit just three outs away from earning their first run-rule shortened win of the year. A quick bottom of the seventh saw Coats strike out the first two batters of the inning before issuing a walk, with the game ending just one batter later with the 12th and final strikeout of the game for a complete-game win for the Overland Park, Kansas native.
Collecting another 12 hits in the game, the trio of Demitri Shakotko, Freund, and Easton Mould all had two hits with Freund driving in a game-high five runs. Four other players each had one hit in the game, including both Schuyler and MaCleod who hit home runs to give CCCC a total of five home runs across the doubleheader. Improving to 4-1 on the year, Coats faced just five batters over the minimum and worked around four hits from Pratt while allowing one walk and one hit batter with just three base runners moving into scoring position throughout the game.
What's Next?
The second week of KJCCC play concludes for Cloud County on Saturday, March 16th when Pratt makes the return trip to Concordia for a 1 PM doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field. CCCC will look to keep the momentum rolling in conference play by going for a series victory in game one as CCCC is averaging 10 runs per game in conference play.