Cloud County takes game two

Concordia, KS-Phil Brennaman struck out nine, Alexander Diaz homered, and Cloud County routed Garden City, 15-1 Thursday afternoon at Lee Doyen Field.   

Brennaman improved to 4-0 on the hill, allowing just one hit in six dominating innings. His only mistake came when he gave up a solo home run to Brett Barber in the first inning. But after that, the sophomore retired 17 straight batters before reliever Mason Munz issued a leadoff walk to Konner Hatfield in the seventh.  

With the game tied 1-1 in the third, Danny Infante, who homered twice in game one, hit a sacrifice fly, Anthony Taggert singled up the middle, and Cloud County had a 4-1 lead.  

The Thunderbirds scored three more times in the fourth, which included Diaz's solo blast to left. Landon Meyer singled home a run, and Demetri Shakotko swiped home on a double steal to make it 7-1. They added five more in the fifth and three runs in the sixth to induce the run rule. 

Starter, Taylor Dooley fell to 3-4, allowing seven runs on eight hits in four innings for Garden City, which was held to just one hit for the second time this season. He walked three and struck out one.  

Meyer knocked in four runs for Cloud County, which improved to 24-15 and 11-7 in Jayhawk play. Paul Schuyler finished 3-for-3 with four runs scored.