The Pratt Community College baseball team is back in action this Thursday, Mar. 14 and Saturday, Mar. 16, taking on the Cloud County T-Birds. The Beavers will host the first two games of the series on Thursday with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The team will then travel to Concordia, Kan. for the final two games on Saturday. Those games are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. as well.
Last Time Out
The Beavers opened conference play with a four-game series against Dodge City. The Conquistadors swept Pratt in the series. Game one was a close seven inning game with Dodge City taking the 5-4 advantage. In game two, a lot of runs were scored by both sides with Doge City taking a 23-13 victory for the 2-0 series lead. The series transitioned to Pratt on Saturday, Mar. 9 with game three going to extra innings with a 13-9 Conquistador win in twelve innings. The final game of the series ended with a 7-1 Dodge City victory to complete the sweep.
"The Jud"
The Beavers kicked off the next chapter of "The Jud" on Saturday against Dodge City. Stanion Field has been under renovation since November with a fully turfed field being installed earlier this month. The anonymous donors of the project will be recognized at the April 20 ballgame.
J Flo Hitting Bombs
Sophomore Jaden Flores leads the team with six homeruns in 23 games thus far this season. Flores also has 24 RBIs with 23 hits. This past weekend, Flores was credited with hitting the first home run in the newly renovated Stanion Field.
Waliczek Hitting .427
Ben Waliczek is tied with Gavin Djurovic with the most hits with 32. He is currently hitting a .427 batting average with four doubles and 17 RBIs. In addition, Waliczek leads the team with 33 runs and 26 stolen bases.
Depth in Bullpen
On the mound the pitching staff is averaging an 8.48 ERA with 7.57 strikeouts per nine innings. Two strong arms that have been consistent coming out of the bullpen are Nick Noble and Gavin Phippen. Noble has a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings pitched with nine strikeouts while Phippen has a 2.89 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched with 13 strikeouts. Josh Doelitsch has been the most consistent starter for the Beavers with a 6.26 ERA in 23.0 innings pitched and 21 strikeouts.
Scouting the T-Birds
The Cloud County T-Birds are currently 15-7 overall with a 4-0 conference record. The T-Birds opened conference play against Colby Community College and swept the Trojans. The team enters this series having been defeated by No. five ranked Iowa Western 6-2.
Noah Konings and Demitri Shakotko lead Cloud County each with 30 hits. Konings has 10 RBIs with nine doubles and one homerun. While Shakotko leads the team with 29 RBIs with seven doubles and five homers. On the mound, Jack Macintosh has a 4-1 record with 24.2 innings pitched and an era of 3.28.
Up Next
The Beavers will face the Barton Community College Cougars in their next conference series. The four-game set gets underway on Thursday, Mar. 21 in Great Bend, Kan. with the final two games taking place on Saturday, Mar. 23 in Pratt, Kan.
