TURLOCK, Calif. –The second ranked Lewis-Clark State College baseball team seemed to have the game in hand, but the bullpen allowed four runs in the final two innings to give Cal State Stanislaus the 6-5 win on Tuesday night at Warrior Baseball Stadium.
The final run came on a walk-off, bases loaded walk, something that hasn't happened to LC State since May 8, 1989 against Central Washington, also on the road. It is also the first time LCSC has lost back-to-back games since Apr. 2-3 at the College of Idaho.
The loss drops Lewis-Clark State to 24-4 on the season and 77-16 when facing an opponent for the first time. CSS improves to 15-12 on the year.
LCSC right-hander Shane Desmond (JR/Fresno, Calif.) toed the rubber for his first start this season and ran into some early trouble as Scott Stetson led off the game for Stanislaus State with a triple and scored on Gino Franceschett's single. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly plated another run, but Desmond settled in, allowing just three more base runners in his 5.1 innings.
The LC Warriors tried to scratch across a run in the second as Micah Brown (SO/Medord, Ore.) followed a Tyler McDowell (SO/Puyallup, Wash.) single with a double, but McDowell was thrown out at the plate. It was a sign of things to come as LC tallied two runs on a hit and an error in the third.
Logan Griffin (JR/Apple Valley, Calif.) led off the frame with a walk and advanced to third as Jacob Zanon (JR/Beaverton, Ore.) reached on an error. Robert Smith, Jr. promptly singled to tie the game. A Cabe Reiten (SR/Spanaway, Wash.) walk put two on with one out, but a groundout and fly out ended the threat.
Desmond was chased in the sixth after a single and a sacrifice put a runner at second, but Matthew Fish (JR/Kalamazoo, Mich.) escaped the inning unscathed.
The offense got back to work with three runs in the seventh on just one hit. A pair of walks to Micah Brown and Chase Hafer (SR/Meridian, Idaho) started the inning and Zanon was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Smith, Jr. collected two more RBI with a single through the left side and Reiten followed with an RBI groundout to give LC the 5-2 lead.
A single and a double cut the lead to two, 5-3 in the eighth and a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs. LC Head Coach Jeremiah Robbins called on David Wilson (SR/Yorba Linda, Calif.) in relief and he induced a fly out to end the inning.
In the fateful ninth, CSS opened the inning with a pair of singles and the Warriors failed to convert a Stanislaus State Warriors sacrifice bunt into an out loading the bases. Franceschett again tallied a pair of RBI with a base hit through the left side to tie the game. A sac bunt put runners at second and third and LC loaded the bases internationally. Wilson then induced a strikeout, but walked in the winning run.
LC State finished the game with five hits, five walks, five strikeouts and a pair of hit by pitches while the home team collected nine hits and seven walks against nine strikeouts.
Desmond's final line was 5.1 innings, two runs, one earned, on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Only three Warriors, Smith, Jr., McDowell and Brown, tallied a hit with Smith, Jr. and McDowell collecting two each. The former also had four of LC's five RBI while Zanon scored twice.
LC State is now 4-2 on their season long 12-game road trip that continues tomorrow, Mar. 30 with a trip to Atherton, Calif. to face Menlo College. LCSC is 15-2 against the Oaks including a 7-2 road mark and have won the last five meetings. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.