Steven Taft earned the win for CU by holding LC State without a run for four innings.
Concordia Knocks Off No. 6 L-C State 7-6
BOX SCORE
LEWISTON, Idaho— For the second straight season, the Concordia baseball team got its first victory of the year against a top-10 team as the Cavaliers defeated No. 6 Lewis-Clark Start 7-6 on the second day of action at the Regence Tournament held at Harris Field.
With the win, Concordia improved to 1-2 on the season while LCSC fell to 1-1. Last year, the Cavs edged the then No.1-ranked Warriors 5-4 in the season opener for both teams. The Cavaliers will finish the tournament on Sunday with an opponent and time to be determined. The top two teams in the four-team field will square off at 2 p.m. while the other two squads will face each other at 11 a.m.
College of Idaho is set to face LC State at 12:30 p.m. and Corban at 3 p.m. to conclude the tournament’s preliminary contests.
After being tied through four innings of play, Concordia pitcher Steven Taft tossed four shutout innings to pick up the win before handing the ball to teammate Zac Manor who pitched a clean ninth to earn the save.
Concordia took the early lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first as the Cavs used two singles and three walks, all coming with two outs, to plate Odie Hollingshed and Sean Myrom.
The Warriors managed single runs in the first and second frame to tie the game at 2-2, but a two-out double to right field in the third by Derek Kirkland scored two more to give CU a 4-2 lead. The lead would once again prove to be short-lived as Brian Burke connected on a two-run homer to left-center field in the bottom half of the inning.
Taking their first lead of the game, LC State used a second long ball, this time by Connor Moore into center field with a runner on to stake a 6-4 advantage.
With Taft taking over on the mound, allowing four hits and five walks nut not allowing a run to score in four innings of work, Concordia scraped together single runs in the fifth and the seventh inning before putting together the winning run in the top of the ninth. Ryan Kolstad smashed a solo homer to left center in the fifth while Tim Reavis scored on a wild pitch in the seventh.
After a leadoff strikeout, Calvin Nagy got the scoring threat started with a walk and immediately found his way home on an Andrew Reid single to center field. On the play, Nagy took advantage of a fielding error and darted past third base and safely across the plate.
Manor managed a groundout and a line out before striking out the final batter to preserve the Concordia win.
Concordia collected 11 overall hits to 10 for the Warriors. Kolstad and Reid were the lone CU players with multiple hits with Kolstad going 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI and Reid finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI.
LC State used four pitchers with David Luna getting charged with the loss, going 3.1 innings and allowing for hits and two runs.