Cloud County Baseball Team Closes Out Seward County Series with Road Split in Liberal

Making their longest conference road trip of the season to close out their third week of Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division play, the Cloud County Community College baseball team matched Thursday's output by securing an 11-2 win in game one over Seward County Community College before dropping a 7-6 decision in game two to split a road doubleheader at Brent Gould Field in Liberal, Kansas on Saturday, March 23rd.

The first conference series split of the season for the T-Birds leaves CCCC with a 22-9 overall record and 10-2 mark in the KJCCC West while Seward County was able to salvage a second-straight KJCCC West split to move to 16-15 overall and 4-4 in conference play.

Game One:
Putting together a three-run top of the second with a Cam MaCleod RBI single and Paul Schuyler two-RBI double, Cloud County saw the Saints respond with an unearned run in the bottom of the third as a two-out error allowed a run to come home and cut the lead down to 3-1 heading to the fourth. The T-Birds followed with a single run in the top of the fourth as a one-out hit batter came around to score three batters later with a MaCleod single, Austin Coyle hit batsmen, and Schuyler RBI sacrifice fly scoring Landon Meyer to put CCCC back up three runs.

Adding to their lead again in the top of the fifth, the T-Birds broke the game open with three straight singles coming off the bats of Demitri Shakotko, Nolan Freund, and Jakob Poturnak to load the bases with Noah Konings hitting a sacrifice fly followed by a fielder's choice that saw all runners safely advance due to an error and hit batter bring home another run to make it a 6-1 game. With the bases still loaded and just one out, Coyle came through with a bases-clearing three-RBI double to force SCCC to make a pitching change as the three-run lead entering the inning had suddenly grown to a commanding 9-1 advantage for Cloud County.

Poturnak put CCCC in position to try and potentially end the game early in the top of the sixth with his team-leading ninth home run of the year, scoring Shakotko on the play to put the T-Birds up 11-1 before seeing a solo home run from Cameron Cartwright to lead off the bottom of the sixth ensure that the seventh needed to take place. Cloud County had a chance to add another run in the seventh with MaCleod drawing a one-out walk and advancing to third before seeing the inning end on a groundout to strand one of six CCCC base runners in the game. Seward was only able to muster a two-out double in the bottom of the seventh, losing by their largest margin in conference play this season.

A four-hit day from Shakotko led Cloud County as the T-Birds racked up 12 hits in the game with four going for extra bases in addition to two walks and five hit batters. Schuyler and Coyle both drove in a game-high three RBI while MaCleod went two-for-two with two RBI and two runs scored. Earning his sixth win of the season and throwing his third complete game of the year, Jack MacIntosh struck out six and allowed just two runs (one earned) on five hits.

Game Two:
Going for their first road sweep in Liberal since the 2018 season, Cloud County wasted no time jumping out to an early lead in the top of the first of the series finale as back-to-back singles from Schuyler and Roy started a three-run inning with Freund hitting a sacrifice fly to score Schuyler before seeing Poturnak hit his second home run of the day to put the T-Birds up 3-0 as part of a four-hit inning. The Saints responded by having their first three batters of the game all safely reach base on hits to score a run along with an RBI groundout to get back within a run as Seward County stranded the game-tying run at third following an inning-ending groundout.

SCCC tied the game in the bottom of the second with three hits leading to a run on an RBI single as the T-Birds made a quick pitching change after 1.2 innings for starter Tyler Elliot, making the move to game one closer Caden Walker to get out of the inning with the game tied at 3-3. Reclaiming the lead in the top of the third, Cloud County used a Poturnak one-out single and Konings hit-by-pitch to set up a MaCleod RBI single to break the deadlock and put CCCC back up 4-3 which is where the game remained heading to the fourth.

Another single run from the T-Birds in the fourth came following three-straight singles to start the inning with Shakotko driving home Schuyler to make it a 5-3 contest in favor of Cloud County. Things remained a 5-3 contest until the bottom of the fifth when two quick outs were followed by back-to-back defensive miscues for CCCC that allowed Seward County to extend the inning and was followed by a walk to set up a grand slam with all four runs being unearned to give the Saints a 7-5 lead. Trailing for the first time on the day, Cloud County used a Roy one-out walk and a stolen base to set up an RBI single from Shakotko that brought CCCC back within a run at 7-6 with the game-tying run stranded at second following an inning-ending strikeout.

The next inning-and-a-half went with both teams facing the minimum defensively to send things to the eighth where the T-Bird again threatened to tie the game with a Roy one-out single and balk moving the game-tying run into scoring position. A groundout to the right side of the infield moved Roy to third with two outs on the board but an infield popup ended the inning stranding the runner to keep SCCC in front 7-6. Another one-two-three inning offensively from Seward County kept the Saints from building any momentum heading into the top of the ninth, but CCCC was unable to take advantage of a leadoff single as pinch-runner Easton Norris was picked off on a throw from the Saint catcher Mason Gilbert to end any type of rally and allow Seward to hang on for the one-run win.

Of the seven runs scored by SCCC, four were unearned with Cloud County outhitting Seward County 15-6 and stranding 10 base runners in the game. Three-hit performances came from Schuyler, Roy, and Poturnak as the trio scored all six T-Bird runs and recorded two of the six RBI as only Shakotko was able to finish outside the three with multiple hits for Cloud County. On the mound, Zach Sharshel fell to 2-1 following a 1.2-inning outing with four unearned runs being given up on one hit to go along with two strikeouts while seeing Elliot (1.2 innings), Walker (1.1 innings) and John Klus (3.1 innings) also throw for CCCC.

What's Next?
A return trip to southwest Kansas comes this coming Thursday for Cloud County as the T-Birds will head to Dodge City to continue KJCCC West play with a 1 PM doubleheader against the Conquistadors at Cavalier Field. Dodge City is 21-9 overall and 6-2 in the KJCCC West but have lost three of their last four games which includes a neutral-site doubleheader defeat to 10th-ranked Johnson County Community College on Thursday in Emporia, KS. Last season, Cloud County split their four-game series with DCCC, winning games two and three of the series in the final regular season series of the year.