Cloud County Baseball to Face Kansas City Kansas in Opening Game of Plains District Tournament

NJCAA Region VI
NJCAA Region VI

After surviving an upset bid from 11th-seeded Neosho County Community College last week, the sixth-seeded Cloud County Community College baseball team will play in the NJCAA Plains District Tournament eight-team, double-elimination portion of the tournament for just the second time in program history when they open the 2022 rendition in game one against third-seeded Kansas City Kansas Community College at 10 AM on Tuesday, May 17th. 

With the tournament returning to the format last seen in 2019, Cloud County will enter this week's play at Kansas State University's Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas with a 41-16 overall record while the Blue Devils of Kansas City Kansas will enter with a record of 47-10. The matchup will mark the second-straight year that CCCC and KCKCC have met in the postseason at a neutral site, with the Blue Devils taking a 16-9 decision last May at the NJCAA Region VI Sub-Regional round hosted by Seward County Community College. 

In a matchup between Cloud County and Kansas City Kansas earlier this year on May 3rd, it would be the T-Birds who would hand the Blue Devils just their eighth loss of the year after taking an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first and jumping out to a lead of 4-0 on their way to a 6-3 victory. The victory for CCCC would come behind the arm of sophomore Aaron Hayes who would throw five shutout innings and strikeout three while facing just two batters over the minimum in the outing before turning things over to the bullpen arms of Brady StueweCole Askew, and Brady Kobitowich to get the win. Since that game, Cloud County has played just the three games last week against Neosho County in the NJCAA Region VI Playoff best-of-three series following their wn over the Blue Devils while KCKCC has won four of their six contests following the defeat which includes a pair of victories over eighth-ranked Cowley. 

Also on the Cloud County and Kansas City Kansas side of the bracket in Manhattan will be second-seeded and Kansas Jayhawk Community College West Division Champion Barton Community College and 10th-seeded Hutchinson Community College as the Blue Dragons were the only lower-seeded team to win a best-of-three series on the road last week. HCC took down seventh-seeded Fort Scott two games to none and will square off against the Cougars in game two of four on Tuesday with the game slated for a 1 PM start. 

The opposite side of the tournament bracket will feature top-seeded and KJCCC East Division Champion Cowley taking on eighth-seeded Butler Community College at 4 PM followed by the fourth-seeded Colby Trojans taking on the fifth-seeded Johnson County Cavaliers which is scheduled to begin around 7 PM. Wednesday action will feature elimination games at 10 AM and 1 PM with the winner's bracket games taking place at 4 PM and 7 PM. 

Fans wanting to follow along to the action this week can do so with a live stream courtesy of the KJCCC with all broadcasts of the games being found at www.kjccc.org/sports-network. Those who choose to attend the tournament in person can either purchase tickets in advance (https://www.kjccc.org/tickets) or at the gate, with admission costs being $10 per day with children five and under admitted for free. An updated bracket for the tournament with game times can be found here: Updated Plains District Tournament Bracket