T-Birds bounce back to defeat Redlands

EDMOND, Okla. — Bouncing back from a disappointing 12-8 loss to Eastern Oklahoma State College, the Cloud County Community College baseball team defeated Redlands (Okla.) College 4-1 on Friday.
Eastern Oklahoma State scored six runs in the ninth inning to rally past Cloud County in the first game.
The T-Birds the capped off a two day road trip to Oklahoma, with the victory over Redlands.
Cloud County trailed Redlands 1-0 going into the top of  the seventh inning.
Alex Rice scored on a sacrifice fly by Clayton Loranger to pull the T-Birds even at 1-1.
Cloud County shut out Redlands in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Scoring three runs in the top of the eighth inning, the T-Birds went up 4-1.
Rice drove in two runs with a double and scored on a single by Cooper Schlochtemeier.
Corben Peters worked a perfect eighth inning to protect the lead for Cloud County. He struck out one.
Bradan Pierce pitched the first two innings and gave up one run on one hit. He struck out five.
Carson Marsh limited Redlands to one hit over five innings. He struck out eight and walked two.
“We kind of expected game two to be a complete staff game. We knew Bradan was only going to be able to give us two innings, but Carson Marsh settled in and gave us an awesome five innings. It made it hard to take him out,” Cloud County coach Eric Gilliland said, “ He's a quality left-hander who can throw three pitches for a strike and he threw a ton of strikes.”
The T-Birds scored four runs on 10 hits.
Schlochtermeier, Kade Wallace and Blake Manuel had two hits each.
Cloud County (3-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning against Eastern Oklahoma State.
Jackson Dietel had a two-run single in the inning.
The Mountaineers closed the gap to 4-3 with three runs in the top of the second inning.
Cloud County would manage just one run over the next seven innings.
“We came out with a lot of energy, but then let their starter settle in and he did a really nice job the rest of the way through seven innings,” Gilliland said.
A run in the fourth inning put the T-Birds on top 5-3.
Eastern Oklahoma State tied the game at 5-5 with two runs in the top of the sixth inning, and then scored a run in the eighth to go up 6-5.
Scoring six runs, four with two out, in the top of the ninth inning, the Mountaineers led 12-5.
Cloud County added three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Josh Laukkanen pitched the first six innings for Cloud County. He gave up five runs, four earned, on seven hits, struck out 13 and didn't walk any.
“He's a strike thrower. On a day when it was cold and the wind blew in, he pounded the zone with three pitches,” Gilliland said, “That's what he does really well to both sides of the plate and he has a good fastball to go with it.”
Trey Asher allowed seven runs, six earned, on eight hits in three innings. He struck out two and walked one.
Manuel, Loranger and Ramon Vingochea had two hits each for Cloud County.
Cloud County is scheduled to play a doubleheader against Northwestern Oklahoma State University junior varsity on Tuesday.