T-Birds bounce back to beat Butler

Back on its home diamond for the first time in 2019, the Cloud County Community College baseball team grinded out a split of Thursday's doubleheader against Butler Community College as the T-Birds bounced back from a 3-2 loss in game one to run away with a 10-3 victory in game two.
Cloud County (19-12 overall, 8-6 KJCCC) played error-free baseball on the day, getting back to the formula of good pitching, good defense and timely hitting that helped the T-Birds get off to a 16-7 start before some hiccups in the last two weeks.
"That was very comparable to how we played early on," said Cloud County head coach Eric Gilliland said. "It was good to see us get back to the way we're capable of playing against a really good team like Butler."
The T-Birds exploded for an eight-run fifth inning in game two, blowing the top off what was a 2-2 tie entering the frame. Seven of the runs came with two outs and were unearned as Cloud County made Butler (20-13 overall, 11-7 KJCCC) pay for a fielding error that helped ignite the rally.
Sophomore designated hitter Jackson Dietel broke the tie with a RBI double off the wall in left-center. Two batters later, he trotted home on a clutch two-out, two-run single off the bat of freshman outfielder Kyler Charchun.
"It was a really good at-bat from Kyler to kind of pop the game open," Gilliland said. "That's been big for us this season, being able to capitalize in those situations so we don't get stuck playing from behind. It's huge to get a big inning, especially when we're playing the series in back-to-back days. That chased Butler's starter early and made them eat up some bullpen guys."
The single by Charchun, getting the start in game two after providing a pinch-hit single in Game One, opened the floodgates as the T-Birds continued to torment Butler relievers with RBI singles from freshmen Griffin Larsen and Davis Pratt.
Cloud County's next three hitters, freshman Clayton Loranger, redshirt freshman Ramon Vingochea and Dietel, capped the inning with two RBI hit-by-pitches sandwiched around and RBI walk by Vingochea to balloon the lead to 10-3.
Prior to the fifth-inning surge, sophomore Grant Schmidt carried the torch for the Cloud County offense as he homered in back-to-back plate appearances in the second and fourth innings, respectively, to give him a team-leading eight long balls on the season.
"That's what Grant is good at. He's instant offense," said Gilliland of Schmidt, who finished 2-for-4 with the two home runs and three runs scored. "We got a little bit of everything in our offense, but he and Dietel are really the ones that can leave the ballpark and put us on the board quick."
Not lost on the afternoon was the relief pitching performance of freshman right-hander Joseph Karall, who came into the game with the score tied in the top of the fifth and worked three and two-thirds innings out of the bullpen to pick up his second win of the season.
Karall struck out a career-high seven batters while limiting the Grizzlies to one run on four hits to eat up important innings that will allow Cloud County to keep a fresh bullpen heading into Friday's final two games.
"Joe was awesome today. He had three pitches working for strikes and he throws hard," Gilliland said. "We challenged our entire pitching staff after what happened on Tuesday (20-2 loss to Iowa Western) and I thought they all responded."
As for game one, the pitcher's duel between Cloud County sophomore Austen Seidel and Butler's Zach Bravo lived up to the billing as the two teams combined for just five runs on nine hits in a tight 3-2 win for the Grizzlies.
Cloud County held an early 2-0 lead, scoring both runs in the third inning via a RBI single from Loranger that scored a leadoff triple by Alex Rice, and a sacrifice fly by Dietel.
Unfortunately for the T-Birds, the momentum shifted in the top of the fourth when Seidel was called for a bases loaded balk, plating the first run for Butler.
In the same at-bat, Butler's Austin Portner was able to poke a single into shallow left field to score two more runs and give the Grizzlies the lead for good at 3-2.
Seidel, an early signee to Wichita State University, was saddled with the tough-luck loss after throwing all seven innings, allowing the three runs on four hits while striking out eight.
Bravo also went the distance as he pitched all seven innings, allowing two runs, one earned on five hits while striking out 10.
"That's just game one baseball. Two pitchers against each other who are each NCAA Division I signees and you just can't flinch," Gilliland said. "Bravo is one of the best pitchers I've seen in a few years and it was a great pitcher's duel. But in those types of games, everything is magnified. You can't flinch and we unfortunately did. Bottom line is we have to be better and we can't make mistakes that are controllable."
The two teams will resume the four-game series at 2 p.m. tomorrow down in El Dorado, as the final doubleheader was moved up a day due to rain in the forecast for Saturday.