Sophomore Justin White pitched the first complete game of his young career, as Corban defeated No. 11-ranked Lewis-Clark State Sunday in this weekend's NAIA West series finale.
White Pitches Corban to Upset of No. 11-Ranked L-C State
BOX SCORE
LEWISTON, Idaho – Sophomore Justin White became the first pitcher since the 2010 season to shut out the NAIA's No. 11-ranked Lewis-Clark State at home, as Corban's baseball team salvaged the final game of this weekend's series with a 4-0 upset victory over the host Warriors Sunday at Harris Field.
With today's win, Corban improves to 9-5 overall and 1-3 in NAIA West play. The Warriors also snapped a lengthy losing streak against Lewis-Clark State, who was shutout for the first time this season. L-C State also had its six-game winning streak snapped falling to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in NAIA West games.
White would go the distance for Corban allowing only five hits that included just one extra base hit, while striking out a game-high four LCSC batters. The victory was White's fourth of the season in five appearances, while freshman Marc Gallegos and sophomore Gregg Romero led the Warriors offensively with two hits each.
Corban would get on the board first scoring a single run in the top of the second inning, as senior Steven Candelaria earned a one-out walk before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Following a strikeout, freshman Peter Martin reached on a fielding error that allowed Candelaria to move to third before he came home on another LCSC error off the bat of sophomore Daxton Deal to giving the visiting Warriors an early 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Corban added another run when Romero reached on a fielding error by Lewis-Clark State before stealing second. One batter later, senior Colby Sokol ripped a double to center field allowing Romero to score easily from second to give Corban a two-run lead (2-0).
Lewis-Clark State would have scoring opportunities in both the fifth and sixth innings, as the host Warriors put a runner at third only to have White get out of the jam with a much-needed strikeout before Corban's defense came up huge with an inning-ending double play with a LCSC runner on second in the sixth inning.
Corban would add two more runs in the top of the ninth inning when Gallegos drew a one-out walk before coming around to score on Romero's RBI double down the left field line for a three-run lead. Immediately following Romero's run-scoring hit, senior Cody Atkinson ripped a double to left center to bring home Romero and cap the game's scoring at 4-0.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lewis-Clark State would get a one-out runner via a hit by pitch only to have White and the Warriors' defense close the door on LCSC for the four-run victory.
Five different Lewis-Clark State players would register hits, while Mitchell Wilhite suffered his first loss of the season going the opening 5.0 innings allowing two unearned runs on four hits with a team-high three strikeouts. LCSC's Zach Clanton and Terik Gofinch would come into the game in relief combining to allow two earned runs on four hits over the final four innings.
Corban will return to action with a double header that opens a four-game weekend series on Friday, March 9th, against the NAIA's No. 20-ranked British Columbia starting at noon on Warrior Field in Salem.