KEIZER –
Austin Guzzon struck out 12 batters in seven innings Friday to give Corban a split of a NAIA West baseball doubleheader with visiting Menlo at Volcanoes Stadium. The visiting Oaks won the opener, 11-7, before Guzzon and the Warriors took the second contest 8-2.
Corban is 13-9 overall and 5-2 in the league while Menlo is now 9-14 overall and 2-5 in the NAIA West. The teams conclude their four-game series on Saturday with a nine-inning game slated to start at 11 a.m. at Corban's Warrior Field.
MENLO 11, CORBAN 7
The Oaks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning and did not look back, collecting a total of 14 hits against six Corban pitchers.
Daniel Comstock was 3-for-4 with two runs batted in from the No. 2 spot in the lineup, and three of his teammates added a pair of hits. Alex Boucher had two hits and scored twice, Mickey Phelps added two hits and two RBI, and Chris Freeman also had a pair of hits. Aaron Suarez-Lopez drove in three runs in the winning cause.
After falling behind 4-0, the Warriors cut their deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth on
Tyler Bennett's two-run.
Daniel Orr drove in a run with a single in the fifth, plated another with a ground ball in the seventh, and contributed his third RBI with a base hit in the ninth inning.
He joined
Marc Gallegos and
Landon Frost with two hits apiece as the Warriors managed 10 against two Menlo pitchers.
Eric Davila picked up the victory for the Oaks, allowing six earned runs on eight hits in eight innings. He walked three and struck out nine. Colton Heckerl pitched the final inning.
CORBAN 8, MENLO 2
Guzzon, a hard-throwing left-hander, gave up a run in the third inning but otherwise was nearly untouchable while winning his third straight. He gave up just the one run on four hits while fanning 12 and walking one to improve his record to 4-3. He has cut his earned run average nearly in half to 2.80 in his last three starts totaling 21 innings.
Stockton Taylor and
Tony Davidson both worked an inning in relief.
The Warriors scored three unearned runs in the first inning to give Guzzon all of the support he needed.
Gallegos led off with a walk and
Landon Frost followed with a bunt base hit. An error on Orr's scorched line drive allowed Gallegos to score, and Frost came in on
Davis Alderman's squeeze bunt. Taylor drove in the final run of the inning with a single.
Menlo got its first run when Nate Harris led off the third with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Boucher, but Corban got that back when Frost hit a double and scored on Alderman's two-out single in the bottom of the inning.
The Warriors added two more runs in the fifth on four hits, Orr and Alderman providing the RBI singles, and they added two more in the seventh on a RBI double by
Benjamin Liogon and a sacrifice fly by
Vince Gonzalez.
Menlo's final run came on Boucher's RBI double in the top of the eighth.
Frost had three hits and scored three runs, Orr had two hits and scored twice, and Alderman had two hits and drove in three for the Warriors. James Threw and Harris both had two hits to lead the Oaks.