Cavs Split with Owls in Sunday Doubleheader
BOX SCORES : Game 1 I Game 2
PORTLAND—A day after sweeping Oregon Tech to open NAIA West Grouping play, the Concordia baseball team split with the Hustlin’ Owls in a Sunday doubleheader played at Porter Park, giving them the 3-1 series win over OIT.
With the results, Concordia moved to 10-11 and 3-1 in league play while Oregon Tech moved to 8-15 and 1-3 in the NAIA West Grouping.
“I’m glad we got the series win,” CU head coach Rob Vance said. “We have so many new guys that need to learn how to handle the grind of four NAIA West games over a weekend so I’ll take a 3-1 start to the league season.”
The Cavaliers will return to action Tuesday, March 12, when they host NCAA Division III Willamette University at 6 p.m. The Cavs will play their next NAIA West games when they travel for a four-game series at the University of British Columbia over the weekend.
The Hustlin’ Owls, meanwhile, play their next games when they travel for a four-game series against No. 8 Lewis-Clark State over the weekend.
Game 1—Oregon Tech 3, Concordia 2
Oregon Tech claimed its first game of the series against Concordia in the early game Sunday, winning 3-2 on the back of a complete game from starting pitcher BJ Wilson.
Wilson had a shutout through the first eight innings of the game as the Cavs did not break through against him until the ninth.
The Cavs’ rally in the ninth had to put the thought of a comeback in Wilson’s mind, however, especially considering the Cavs scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to complete a 4-3, comeback win in the first game against OIT on Saturday, their fifth comeback win after trailing in the sixth inning or later this season.
The Cavs’ Carl Beckert was the first to make things interesting in the ninth as he tripled down the right-field line to score Ross Hasegawa, who had subbed in after C.J. Watson got hit by a pitch, for the Cavs’ first run of the game. Ryne Briley then followed Beckert with another hit-by-pitch, putting runners on the corners with no outs in the inning.
Wilson settled down a bit for OIT after that, though, as he struck out the Cavs’ Jared Young for the first out of the inning after hitting Briley. Wilson then got the Cavs’ Jimmy Sanchez to ground into a fielder’s choice, giving him two outs in the inning, though Beckert did score to bring the Cavs’ within a run at 3-2.
Now one out away from the win, Wilson got the Cavs’ Julian Burgess to line out to left to end the Cavs’ threat and give OIT the 3-2 win.
OIT first took the lead with three runs in the top of the seventh. OIT’s runs broke up what had been a solid game from CU starter Alex Bos, who had eight strikeouts and a shutout before running into trouble in the seventh.
The Cavs’ trouble in the seventh couldn’t even be attributed to Bos as all three OIT runs in the inning were unearned. The Cavalier defense committed two errors with one out to aid the start of OIT’s rally, and OIT’s Ryan Hayden took advantage, doubling down the left-field line to plate teammate Tyson Dahl for the first run of the game.
Hayden’s double left OIT runners on second and third, and the Cavs intentionally walked Dylan Rogers to load the bases after that. The walk to Rogers finished Bos’ day as the Cavs replaced him with reliever Blake Evetts.
OIT’s Aaron Bocchi was the first to face Evetts and reached after his sacrifice fly to left was dropped in the Cavalier outfield. OIT’s Spencer Reed then followed with another sacrifice fly—this one caught—to bring home the Hustlin’ Owls’ third and final run of the ball game.
Both teams had chances to score earlier in the game, but could not string enough hits together for a run before OIT broke through in the seventh.
OIT stranded five runners on base before scoring in the seventh, while the Cavs stranded eight runners on base before they scored in the ninth. OIT’s defense helped frustrate the Cavs offensively as they turned three double plays in the game.
Rogers led OIT overall in the first game, going 3-for-4 from the plate.
On the flip side, Beckert led the Cavs offensively, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.
Game 2—Concordia 3, Oregon Tech 2
The Cavs bounced back from their loss in the first game to take the series, 3-1, with a 3-2 win over OIT in the second game Sunday.
Freshman pitcher Austin Hadley led the Cavs to the win as he came on with two outs in the second and OIT up 2-1, and promptly shut out OIT over the next 6.1 innings. Hadley gave up only two hits in his 6.1 innings of work, while striking out six.
Hadley’s performance earned him the first win of his Cavalier career and put a cap on what was an impressive series from the Cavalier pitchers. All told, the Cavs only gave up eight runs to OIT over the four games, while only five of those were earned.
“I’m excited about our pitching,” Vance said. “We had a feeling that we’d be pretty good before the season, but several guys have stepped up and been phenomenal for us so far.”
The Cavalier offense, meanwhile, gave Hadley all the runs he’d need when they scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to take back the lead, 3-2.
Sheldon Austria brought home the Cavs’ first run of the fourth when he plated Ryne Briley with a single through the right side of the infield. OIT first baseman Dylan Rogers dove to try and stop Briley’s ball, but the ball squirted away from him, allowing the Cavs’ Jordan Keeker to advance all the way to third on the play. Elliot North then scored Keeker from third with a single through the left side of the infield.
North’s single put the Cavs back up, 3-2, after OIT erased an early 1-0 CU lead with their two runs in the second.
The Cavs had another chance to give Hadley run support in the sixth when they loaded the bases with no outs, but OIT retired the next three Cavalier batters to get out of the inning without any damage done.
Christian Bannister took over for Hadley in the ninth and retired OIT in order for his second save of the season.
Offensively, Keeker was perfect from the plate for the Cavs, going 3-for-3 with a run scored. Besides him, Jared Young went 2-for-3 with a run batted in, and even added an unassisted double play in the field during the fifth inning.
On the flip side, six different players recorded OIT’s six hits in the game.