Izaac Garsez had his NAIA leading 11th triple in the Game 2 win
CALDWELL, Idaho - Three pitchers combined on a shutout in the opener, with The College of Idaho pounding out 23 hits in Game 2, as the Coyotes completed a four-game sweep of Oregon Tech with 6-0 and 17-3 victories at Wolfe Field.
The Yotes (29-11, 14-6 NAIA West) extended their win streak to five - opening up a three-game lead on British Columbia for the No. 1 seed in the NAIA West Tournament with 12 games remaining in the regular-season.
Game 1 was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, as with two outs, Zach Fabricius lined a two-run single into left-center for a 2-0 lead. An inning later, the Yotes got some two-out magic from Tanner Hodges, as he doubled home two runs to make it 4-0. In the sixth, it was Todd Griffiths turn, as he plated two through a drawn in infield with a single, pushing the margin to 6-0.
Taylor Nicholson threw six shutout innings, allowing six hits with five strikeouts to earn the win. Michael Garza tossed a scoreless seventh, with Izaac Garsez closing the game with four strikeouts in his two innings of work. Griffiths, Fabricius, and Nick Muncy all had two hits in the win. Zach Earle had the lone multi-hit game for the Owls (15-24, 8-12), going 2-for-4.
Game 2 saw the Yotes take a 4-0 lead after two innings - as Hodges doubled in a run in the first, with Garsez scoring two with his NAIA leading 11th triple of the season in the second, followed by an RBI triple from Jarel Lewis. OIT got a pair back in the fourth on a Ryan Grant RBI groundout and a Hayden Wolfe RBI single, before Garza came in from the pen to get the final outs to thwart the rally.
The Coyotes responded with a four-run fourth, as Garsez and Hodges had run-scoring singles, with Jeffrey Harris blooping a two-run single to make it 8-2. The C of I broke the game open in the sixth, batting around for seven runs on nine hits - as Harris and Fabricius had RBI singles, Riley Humberger laced a pinch-hit two-run double, and Griffiths, Garsez, and Cameron Packham followed with RBI singles.
Garza got the win, allowing just two hits in two-plus innings of relief, with Griffiths picking up his fourth save of the season with three innings of one-hit relief, striking out three. Garsez went 4-for-5 with four RBI in the win, with Lewis and Harris each recording three hits. Dustin Norman went 3-for-3 in the loss for OIT.
The C of I returns to action next weekend, traveling to Oakland, Calif., for a four-game series with Patten University, beginning Saturday.