Pratt, Kan.- Over the weekend, March 19-20 the Pratt Community College (PCC) Beavers played a four-game series against the Cloud County Community College (CCCC) T-Birds. The Beavers traveled to Lee Doyen Field on Saturday, March 19th for the first two games of the series. The T-Birds then turned around and traveled to Stanion Field to finish the series on Sunday, March 20th. Pratt entered the weekend series after winning their first conference game against Barton. Cloud County had been ranked the previous week, but dropped three out of four against the Colby Trojans.
Up next for the Beavers is a Thursday/Saturday March 24/26 four game series against the Colby Community College (CCC) Trojans. The Beavers will travel to Colby on March 24 for the first two games and then will host the Trojans on Saturday, March 26 for the last two games.
Game One
Sophomore Caleb Cude pitched all seven innings in game one for the Beavers. In the top of the first inning, the T-Birds were able to bring across two runs off a homerun. In the bottom of the inning, the Beavers brought across one run to make it 2-1 heading into the second inning. The Beavers took the lead in the bottom of the second inning as three runners came across home plate. Freshman Tyler Gates hit a single in the inning to bring in one runner. Two batters were hit by pitch and one was walked to bring the score to 5-2.
In the top of the fourth inning, both freshman Michael Acosta and sophomore Mitchell Smith homered to bring across three more runs. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the T-Birds brought home one runner off a solo homerun. Pratt scored two more runners in the top of the sixth inning off a single by freshman Gavin Djurovic and a ground out by sophomre Marcelo Aguirre. The Beavers won game one in seven innings 9-3.
Game Two
Sophomore Ryan Eglich got the starting nod in game two for the Beavers. In the second inning, both teams scored one run. Pratt scored off a sacrifice fly by freshman Miles Hartman. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the T-Birds took a run one lead 2-1. Freshman Bryson Dill was first out of the bullpen for the Beavers in the fourth inning with the bases loaded with two outs. In the next inning, Cloud was able to grow their lead by three runs off two hits and a balk.
In the sixth inning, both teams were able to score a run. Pratt scored off a double by sophomore Josue Vazquez. Cloud grew their lead in the bottom of the seventh inning by two more runs 8-2. In the top of the eighth inning, freshman Garryn Plummer hit a solo shot to left field for the Beavers third run in game two. The T-Birds won game two 8-3.
Game Three
Aguirre started game three on the mound for the Beavers. In the bottom of the first inning, the Beavers were able to bring across one run. In the top of the third inning, the T-Birds brought across two runs to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth inning. Pratt was able to tie the game 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Remaining a tie game after seven innings it continued as the nine-inning game originally scheduled for game four. Cloud brought across the winning run in the top of the ninth inning and held on to win 3-2.
Game Four
In game four, sophomore Conner Hall got the starting nod for the Beavers. Pratt pulled ahead with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. In the top of the fourth inning, the T-Birds were able to bring across four runners to take a two-run lead 4-2 into the final three innings. In the top of the sixth inning, the T-Birds scored two more runs as the Beavers were just able to bring across one more run to lose game four 6-3.