T-Birds pound out 10-3 win over Hesston

HESSTON — Despite heavy winds blowing in on Tuesday, the Cloud County Community College baseball team was able to pound out 13 hits en route to a convincing 10-3 road win over non-conference foe, Hesston College.
"I thought we played pretty well all the way around, especially offensively," said Cloud County head coach, Eric Gilliland. "We swung the bats really well and got to see a couple different guys on the mound."
The trio of freshmen, Davis Pratt , Alex Rice, and redshirt freshman Ramon Vingochea, combined for 10 hits, five runs driven in and five runs scored.
Alex was dynamic in the leadoff spot, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored. Pratt feasted in the heart of the order as he went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two driven in, and Vingochea knocked in a team-high three RBI via a pair of singles.
"Those guys were excellent (Tuesday) and, really, up and down the lineup, I thought we swing the bats well. We had a lot of loud outs," Gilliland said. "Grant Schmidt hit two balls that would have been home runs any other day if the wind wasn't blowing in as hard as it was. We squared up balls all day long, which was great to see."
Sophomore infielder Cooper Schlochtermeier, who also stole a base Tuesday, freshman designated hitter Josh Laukkanen and freshman catcher Clayton Leathers — his first collegiate hit — accounted for the other three hits for Cloud County.
The T-Birds took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, courtesy of a two-run single by Vingochea, and were able to methodically build their lead up with a run in the third, two in the fifth, and capped their scoring with a five-run sixth inning.
On the mound, freshman David Acosta made his first career start and tossed three shutout innings, limiting the Larks to three hits while striking out two.
It was the best outing of the season for Acosta, who is a tantalizing right-handed talent already drawing interest from scouts as he stands at 6'10, 245-pounds.
"Obviously, he had high expectations going into the year and it got off to a tough start, but it was good to get him out there (Tuesday) and see him pitch well," Gilliland said. "I thought he had good stuff. He commanded the fastball and the breaking stuff was good. There's still a lot in the tank with him and that's what everybody sees with him: his projectability. Today he had good enough stuff to get a lot of teams out."
Freshman left-hander Trey Asher took the baton from there and threw two shutout innings and allowed just one hit en route to picking up his second win of the season.
Sophomore right-hander Jack Theilen and freshman right-hander Brayden Radcliffe each worked scoreless innings of relief on Tuesday, as well.
Due to potential rain in the forecast Wednesday and Thursday, Cloud County has announced a schedule change for this week's KJCCC West series against Barton Community College.
The two teams will get the series started at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Friday in Concordia, while the final two games in Great Bend will be played at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.