Noel Gonzalez notches eighth save, two from single season record
Pitching leads Warriors past Corban in Saturday sweep
Zachary Shore, LCSC
LEWISTON, Idaho – Four Lewis-Clark State College pitchers held Corban University to just one run over 18 innings of baseball on Saturday as LCSC improved to 43-7 with a pair of wins at Harris Field. LC State took game one 7-0 before finishing the sweep with a 4-1 victory in game two.
Lewis-Clark State collected 14 hits and plated 11 runs in the wins, while the pitching and stellar defense held Corban in check as the visitors posted one run on 12 hits. LCSC got off to a fast start and finished strong in the opener before doing just enough in game two for the sweep.
It looked as though the home team would continue their torrid offense from the midweek thumping of Central Washington as LC plated two in the first and one in the third of the opener, but then fell silent until a four run eighth.
Jacob Zanon drew a two-out walk to get things going in the first. J.J. Robinson and Tyler McDowell followed with back-to-back singles, the latter of which scored two runs. Dylan Tashjian doubled to lead off the second and a Julian Ramon walk put two on for Gunnar Buhner who moved the runners up 90-feet with a sacrifice bunt. Logan Griffin followed with a sac fly and a 3-0 lead.
LC State’s best chance to score in the middle innings came in the fourth when they loaded the bases, but a double play and a fly out ended the threat.
Kevin Hamann got the start and improved to 7-1 as he scattered six hits over 5.2 innings, walking two and striking out three. His day ended in the sixth when Corban loaded the bases with two outs. Noel Gonzalez was called on in relief and induced a groundout
The righty reliever collected his eighth save of the season, which is tied for third on the all-time single season list. He allowed just two hits, one walk and struck out two in 3.1 innings of work.
The offense broke through in the eighth as Robert Smith Jr., Zanon and Robinson singled to begin the inning and a balk scored a run. McDowell walked to load the bases again and Micah Brown lined a ball to third, which the Corban third basemen couldn’t handle, plating Zanon. A Ramon RBI groundout scored Robinson and accounted for the 7-0 win.
Zanon, Robinson, Brown and Tashjian each finished with two hits with Zanon and Robinson each scoring twice.
It was all Quin Grogan in game two as the senior right-hander continued his string of strong outings, allowing just one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over eight innings, improving to 4-1.
After Grogan worked around a one-out double in the first, Robinson gave his starter the lead with one swing, depositing a 2-2 pitch over the center field wall for a two-run home run, his 14th of the season.
Griffin drew a one out walk in the third and scored on a Corban throwing error to make it 3-0, but the visitors got one back in the fourth.
A leadoff walk and a double put runners at second and third, but a fielder’s choice RBI groundout and a line out ended the inning with just one run scoring.
And Zanon got that run back in the fifth as he clobbered his 10th home run of the year, also to center field, to make it a 3-run margin.
After the double, Grogan sat down 12 straight Warriors until the eighth. A double and a walk put two on with one out, but Grogan induced his third double play of the game to escape unscathed. LC turned the ball to Matthew Fish in the ninth and he walked just one batter in a scoreless inning for his first save.
Zanon was the lone Warrior with multiple hits in the contest with the top four batters each scoring a run.
The wins push LC to 43-7 overall and 28-5 in the NAIA West while Corban falls to 24-23 and 19-14 in the West. The host of the NAIA West tournament, May 5-8 will be hosted by the team that finishes second in the conference, which is currently British Columbia who holds a 1.5 game lead over College of Idaho with two games to play.
LC State and Corban will wrap up the regular season with a doubleheader on Sunday, May 1 at 11 a.m. It’s also Little League day with all little leaguers in uniform receiving free entry while all fans will also receive one pack of LC Baseball trading cards while supplies last.
For those that can’t make the game, live coverage is available
here.