NC Kansas News

Baseball Splits Pair At UCO JUCO Fest, Defeating Eastern Oklahoma State Before Falling To NOC-Enid

Scoring nine runs in the final three innings of their first game of the day, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would pick up an 11-5 neutral-site victory over Eastern Oklahoma State College before dropping an 8-7, extra-innings decision to Northern Oklahoma College-Enid to split a pair of games at the University of Central Oklahoma JUCO Fest held at Wendell Simmons Field in Edmond, Oklahoma on Friday, February 17th.

 

The win in game one was the third victory of the year for Cloud County which now sits at 3-1 overall while Eastern Oklahoma State splits a pair of games on Friday after defeating Butler in their first game before falling to CCCC to move to 8-3 overall. Northern Oklahoma-Enid picks up their fifth win of the year in their lone contest on Friday to even their record at 5-5 overall.

 

Against Eastern Oklahoma State:

An early two-out rally in the top of the first from CCCC would see the T-Birds turn a Brock Wollin hit-by-pitch into a pair of runs as freshman Justin Johnson would hit his first home run of the year to put the T-Birds out in front after half an inning of play. Free passes would prove costly for Cloud County in the bottom half of the inning as back-to-back walks to begin the inning for the Mountaineers would lead to a run as a one-out hit batter and walk would cut the T-Bird lead in half and threaten to add more with the bases loaded and just the one out. Sophomore Jack Mount would work out of the jam over the course of the next two batters, however, getting a pair of strikeouts to end the inning and strand all three runners to keep the T-Birds out in front by a 2-1 score.

 

Neither team would have anything to show offensively in the second and third innings as just one hit would be recorded between the two teams while seeing seven strikeouts occur in the two innings. After being set down in order for the second time on the afternoon, Cloud County would see Eastern Oklahoma State threaten again in the bottom of the fourth a leadoff error and base hit single putting two runners on with no outs. Following a strikeout to stop momentum for the Mountaineers momentarily, EOSC would get an RBI pinch-hit single from Cam Talburt to tie the game at 2-2 before seeing their lead runner cut down at third in the next at-bat on a stolen base attempt. With two outs now on the board, Cloud County would see an RBI double give Eastern Oklahoma State their first lead of the contest at 3-2 before a base-hit single to put runners on the corners to force a pitching change from CCCC.

 

Making the move to sophomore Mason Munz, Cloud County would get out of the jam with the very next batter with a strikeout to limit the deficit to just one run and still three innings to work with in a game scheduled for seven innings in length. It wouldn't take long for CCCC to reclaim the lead as a pitching change to begin the inning from EOSC would lead to a quick out before three-consecutive walks would load the bases for the T-Birds. Following another pitching change from the Mountaineers, redshirt sophomore Brock Wollin would clear the bases with a three-RBI double to put Cloud County back up 5-3 before seeing Johnson drive him home with an RBI double of his own. Continuing the rally, Kolden Howerton would drive in Johnson to stake CCCC to a 7-3 lead and force yet another pitching change as the T-Birds would send a total of 11 batters to the plate in the inning while tacking one more run on an RBI groundout from Alex Diaz to take an 8-3 lead.

 

Eastern Oklahoma State would manage to get one run back in the bottom of the fifth as another free pass was issued by the T-Bird pitching staff leading to a run for the Mountaineers. CCCC's four-run lead would grow to six in the top of the sixth as a leadoff Paul Schuyler single would be followed by an Infante home run to give Cloud County a six-run lead at 10-4. The T-Birds would add one final run in the top of the seventh as a one-out single from Anthony Taggart would set up an RBI double from Schuyler to give the T-Birds their largest lead of the game. Needing just three outs to close out a victory, CCCC would turn to Mason McConnaughey on the mound as the Topeka, Kansas native would allow a leadoff single that would eventually come around to score on an RBI single before getting a game-ending strikeout to secure the victory for Cloud County.

 

For the third-consecutive game to start the season, CCCC would finish with 11 runs on nine hits while committing two errors defensively. Three different T-Birds would finish with two hits in the game with Schuyler, Infante, and Johnson accounting for six of Cloud County's seven hits in the top four spots of the lineup to go along with nine RBI. Of the seven hits from the T-Birds, five would go for extra bases as CCCC would offset 14 strikeouts with seven free passes and two hit batters.

 

Taking a no-decision in his season debut would be Mount following an outing of 3.2 innings while allowing three runs (one earned) on four this and four walks while striking out seven of the 20 batters he faced. A 1.1 inning relief appearance from Munz would lead to a pitching victory for the Kingman, Kansas native after allowing one run after hitting two batters in a hitless outing that included two strikeouts. Pitching an inning each to finish off the game would be Cayden Castellanos and McConnaughey while combining for three strikeouts and each facing five total batters.  

 

Against NOC-Enid:

Allowing four runs in the top of the second, Cloud County would get one run back in the bottom of the third and fourth to cut the NOC-Enid lead in half before seeing the Jets get a run back in the top of the fifth. Trailing by a score of 5-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth, CCCC would have another inning with a lone run to continue to cut into the Northern Oklahoma lead before holding the Jets scoreless in the top of the seventh. Needing to score at least two runs to extend the game into extra innings, Cloud County would take advantage of a one-out walk by getting a game-tying home run to knot things at 5-5. The T-Birds would then put the game-winning run 90 feet away following a walk, stolen base, and wild pitch but be unable to end things in the bottom of the seventh to head to their first extra-innings game of the year. Issuing two walks and a hit batter in the top of the eighth would lead to a pair of runs for NOC-Enid in the top of the eighth as CCCC would suddenly find themselves in the same situation as the bottom of the seventh. 

Remaining patient at the plate in the bottom of the eighth, Cloud County would score the must-have two runs despite recording just one hit as four walks would be the biggest factor for the T-Birds to send the game on to another extra inning of play. Neither team would score in the ninth to send things to the 10th where a leadoff walk and three errors by the CCCC defense would allow Northern Oklahoma to score a go-ahead run and lead 8-7. Facing a must-score situation for the third time in the game, Cloud County would be set down in order to see things end in a one-run defeat. 

Individual statistics were not available for the Cloud County nightcap with the Jets at the time of this release. Information will be updated as statistics are made available.

Original source can be found here.