Cloud County Baseball to Continue Postseason Play Against Kansas City Kansas Community College
The Cloud County Community College baseball team will face Kansas City Kansas Community College in the double-elimination bracket portion of the 2025 NJCAA Plains District Baseball Tournament. The T-Birds (44-15) and the Blue Devils (37-20) will meet in the first of four tournament games on Tuesday, May 13, with first pitch scheduled for 10 am at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina, Kansas. The contest will be streamed live by the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Network with a payment and can be heard on 1390 KNCK, 98.3 FM, and NCKToday.com. Austin McNorton and TJ Segebart will provide T-Bird fans with a free way to tune into the game.
Cloud County went 2-1 against Labette Community College this past week in its opening round, best-of-three playoff series at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia. The third-seeded T-Birds pounded out six home runs in a 15-6 home win over Labette on May 7. The Cardinals put together a late rally with four runs in the ninth inning to escape with a 6-5 victory in game two on May 8, forcing a winner-take-all third game. Cloud County won the finale, 12-3 in nine innings.
In game three, Cloud County broke a 2-2 tie when sophomore catcher Cam Macleod scored on a passed ball, while freshman designated hitter Vasya Seymour reached on a fielder's choice before being brought home on an RBI single to left field by freshman shortstop Lucas Laukkanen. After Labette cut the deficit to one run in the top of the fifth inning, the T-Birds continued to go to work in the bottom half of the fifth. Sophomore Noah Konings led off the inning with a triple to center field. Freshman Joey Marino followed with an RBI single to left to score Konings. Macleod, the team-leader in home runs this season, then crushed a two-run home run to left field for his 13th homer of the year, scoring Marino and giving Cloud County a 7-3 advantage. The T-Birds then put the game away with a five-run sixth inning. Redshirt freshman Matthew Evans reached on a one-out single to right field. Sophomore Nolan Freund then doubled to right-center field to score Evans. Following a pitching change for Labette, Konings was able to score Freund on an RBI single to right field. After Konings stole second before advancing to third base on a throwing error, he tagged up and scored for the second time in the game on a RBI fly out to center field by Marino to push the T-Birds' lead to 10-3. Macleod, freshman Kaden Budke, and Seymour drew consecutive walks to load the bases, leading to another Labette pitching change. Laukkanen then followed with a single to left field, driving in both Macleod and Budke to give Cloud County the nine-run advantage at 12-3.
The T-Birds now prepare to meet up with sixth-seeded Kansas City Kansas Community College in the NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament for the fifth consecutive season. The Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils swept Dodge City Community College in its opening round series, squeezing by the Conquistadors 12-11 in game one before earning an 8-4 victory in game two. The Blue Devils have won five of their last six meetings with Cloud County, with all five wins coming in the postseason. The T-Birds last beat KCK in their regular season finale in 2022, 6-3.
The winner of the contest will play either No. 2-seeded Johnson County or No. 10-seeded Fort Scott on Wednesday, May 14 at 4 pm. The loser of the game will player the loser of Johnson County and Fort Scott at 10 am on May 14.
The other side of the bracket is No. 1 Barton, No. 8 Coffeyville, No. 4 Cowley and No. 5 Hutchinson.
Tickets to the tournament are now available for purchase at https://www.kjccc.org/tickets.