Concordia Baseball Splits Two Games at Johnson County Community College
Despite holding the seventh-ranked Johnson County Community College baseball team to just one run in each of the first five innings of both ends of a road doubleheader, the Cloud County Community College baseball team was forced to go into extra-innings in game one as part of a 7-5 win before dropping a 7-6 decision to split two games at the JCCC Baseball Stadium in Overland Park, Kansas on Thursday, February 29th.
Scoring the lone two runs of the extra frame in the first game after seeing a 5-1 lead erased over the sixth and seventh innings, Cloud County also had a multi-run lead in game two with a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth getting erased by a six-run inning by the host Cavaliers. The T-Birds move to 10-5 overall while Johnson County is now 13-5 overall on the year.
Game One:
What started as a true pitcher's duel quickly changed once the bullpens became involved as each team was able to push across just one run through four innings of play on a total of three hits. After giving up the first run of the game in the bottom of the third, Cloud County responded with a solo home run to lead off the top of the fourth from Gavin Roy to tie the game at 1-1 as neither team found much success on the offensive end against two-high end starting pitchers. With the T-Bird lineup getting a third look at JCCC starter Ryan Borberg in the top of the fifth, the bats started to come alive as a leadoff hit-by-pitch for Landon Meyer was followed by a one-out RBI single for Paul Schuyler to take the lead at 2-1. After a Roy single to put two runners on for Demitri Shakotko, a three-run home run broke things open as Borberg was eventually chased from the game later in the inning with CCCC pushing across four runs on four hits to go up 5-1.
One final inning on the mound for T-Bird starting pitcher Kevin Mannell came with a pair of strikeouts to cap off a five-inning outing before exiting with a four-run advantage going into the top of the sixth. Things started to become interesting in the bottom of the sixth as a one-out error allowed a base runner to reach for Johnson County followed by a single and second error in the inning to load the bases with one out. Following a hit batter to bring home an unearned run, Cloud County made a pitching change to bring in TJ Coats who induced a sacrifice fly and strikeout to get out of the inning and limit the damage to just two runs to allow CCCC to maintain a 5-3 lead.
A chance to plate some insurance runs in the top of the seventh was turned away on an inning-ending double play for Cloud County as Johnson County quickly got back up to the plate and made the most of the opportunity as a one-out single and wild pitch put a runner in scoring position before a walk to put the game-tying run on base. After a groundout that moved both runners into scoring position, the Cavaliers pulled within a run on a wild pitch and then got an RBI single to tie the game while putting the game-winning run on base as CCCC managed to strand the runner with a groundout and force extra-innings.
In the top of the eighth, a strikeout to begin the inning was followed by a Nolan Freund single to put the go-ahead run at first. After a lineout into center field to give the T-Birds just one more out to work with, Meyer came to the plate and connected on a pitch which he drove deep into left field and over the wall for a go-ahead two-run home run to put Cloud County back up 7-5 with the third home run of the game by CCCC. Making one final pitching change to try and shut down the Cavaliers in the bottom of the eighth, the T-Birds turned to Conlin Grady who struck out each of the first two batters he faced before getting a lineout to end the game as Cloud County picked up their second extra-innings win of the year.
Schuyler, Roy, and Noah Konings led the T-Birds offensively with two hits each as CCCC finished with nine total hits and stranded six runners despite seeing three of their hits go for extra bases. Shaktoko (three) and Meyer (two) accounted for five of Cloud County's seven RBI with Roy and Schuyler adding one run driven in each as the T-Birds also drew three walks and two hit batters in the game.
Taking a no-decision on the mound was Mannell after striking out six and allowing one run on one hit and one walk to the 17 batters he faced while John Klus also did not factor into the decision after throwing 0.1 innings and allowing a pair of unearned runs. Coats picked up his second win of the year to move to 2-1 overall while Grady earned his first save of the year following a perfect eighth inning.
Game Two:
Jumping out to an early lead with a two-out home run from Demitri Shakotko in the top of the first, CCCC played with the lead until the bottom of the third when a leadoff single for Johnson County came around to score on a fielder's choice and throwing error as the T-Birds were unable to turn a potential inning-ending double play and instead saw the game get tied up at 1-1. Cloud County quickly reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth as back-to-back walks to begin the inning were followed by a single from Freund to load the bases with a passed ball allowing all three runners to advance and put CCCC up 2-1. Following a strikeout to put the first out of the inning on the board, Cloud County saw Cam MaCleod come through with a two-RBI single to score Jakob Poturnak and Freund to finish off a three-run inning as the T-Birds took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the inning.
Retiring the Cavaliers in order in the bottom of the fourth, Cloud County added another two runs in the top of the fifth with a Konings Rbi double and Poturnak RBI single accounting for a pair of runs on two hits as the T-Birds took their largest lead of the afternoon at 6-1 and appeared to be in full control of the game. Both teams stranded a runner in their next offensive opportunity to keep things at a 6-1 CCCC lead until the bottom of the sixth as the first four batters of the inning all safely reached base with two singles, a double, and hit batter bringing home a run and keeping the bases loaded with nobody out as a rally by the home team was coming to fruition. Getting the first out of the inning with a fielder's choice to cut a runner down at the plate, Cloud County saw another hit batter and walk bring home two more runs to make it a 6-4 game with the game-tying run in scoring position with a pitching change needed to try and get out of the jam. Unfortunately for CCCC, a strikeout was followed by a wild pitch and walk to cut the lead down to a single run and load the bases once more as another walk brought home the game-tying run. Turning to their fourth pitcher of the inning, another wild pitch proved to be more costly than the first one that occurred earlier in the inning as the go-ahead and what proved to be the game-winning run came home to score as the T-Birds eventually got out of the inning before being retired in order to end the game.
Six hits were spread across six different T-Bird players with MaCleod finishing as the lone player for Cloud County to drive in multiple runs. 13 strikeouts and six stranded base runners loomed large as Johnson County was able to outhit CCCC 7-6 and limit their strikeouts to four with both teams committing two errors on the defensive side. T-Bird starting pitcher Tyler Elliot went three innings and allowed one unearned run on three hits before seeing Zach Sharshel go two innings in relief as the remaining three Cloud County pitchers all went 0.1 innings with Riley Marsh being tagged with the loss after giving up two runs on a hit batter and walk despite not allowing a hit. Only one Cavalier pitcher threw more than one inning in the game, with starter Brandon Stone going four innings and striking out seven while giving up four earned runs on three hits.
What's Next?
The final two non-conference games for Cloud County prior to the start of Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division play has CCCC hosting Johnson County for games three and four of their four-game series with a 1 PM doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field on Saturday, March 2nd.