Cloud County Baseball Team Climbs to No. 5 in National Rankings

The Cloud County Community College baseball team had an eventful week, exacting revenge for their lone loss of the season with an 11-6 home win over Kansas City Kansas Community College before sweeping a four-game home series against Marshalltown Community College. After ending the first month of the regular season with a 14-1 overall record, the T-Birds have made a jump in the latest NJCAA Division I Baseball Rankings Presented by Netting Professionals.

Cloud County has risen two spots, landing at No. 5 in the Week 2 rankings, which were released on Monday, March 2.

The T-Birds are the second-highest ranked team in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC), still sitting behind Johnson County Community College (No. 2). Trailing Cloud County are Hutchinson Community College (No. 18) and Barton Community College (No. 23).

Cloud County opened last week's action with an 11-6 victory over Kansas City Kansas, giving the T-Birds a split in the regular season series with the Blue Devils. Cloud County rode the momentum of an eight-run bottom of the second inning to secure the win. Redshirt freshman Simon Baker, the current Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division Player of the Week, went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and one RBI. Baker also stole two bases. Sophomore Kaden Budke finished with two hits with three runs scored, while sophomore Joey Marino scored two runs.

Sophomore Kai Rempel earned the win after pitching the first three innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits with six strikeouts. Five other pitchers combined to throw the final six innings, tallying four scoreless innings and nine more strikeouts between them. Freshman Jackson Fox retired three Blue Devils batters in a row during the top of the fourth inning, while sophomore Sam Brummund sat down all three batters he faced on strikes in the top of the eighth.

Cloud County then swept Marshalltown in a four-game series over the weekend, including two 12-0 shutout wins. Sophomore right-hander Stocton Timbrook pitched a complete game in Cloud County's five-inning shutout victory on February 27 to earn his second win of the season. Timbrook allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings while striking out six batters. The following day, sophomore Cole Linton improved to 4-0 on the year after pitching four scoreless innings, giving up three hits and one walk while striking out six batters in another 12-0 five-inning victory. Sophomore Ben Soke closed the game, recording three outs with one strikeout in the fifth.

The T-Birds averaged 11.3 runs per game in the series against the Tigers and are now averaging 9.5 runs per game this season. Cloud County finished the Marshalltown series with 35 total hits, including 19 extra-base hits, highlighted by seven home runs, with three of them from Baker.

Cloud County will open KJCCC play on Thursday, March 5, at 12:30 pm against Pratt Community College at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia. Following a doubleheader on Thursday, the series will shift to Pratt for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 7, beginning at 12:30 pm.