Rilyn Lewchuk earned his fifth win of the year for the Warriors. (Photo Credit: Doug Pfeiler)
KEIZER, Ore. – Thanks to some phenomenal defensive plays and shut down pitching, the Corban University baseball team swept the University of British Columbia on Saturday at Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Stadium. After winning game one, 1-0, the Warriors took down the Thunderbirds in game two, 5-2.
In the opener, Corban junior catch Jackson Smith (Salem, Ore.) led the game off with a single, and it proved to be a crucial hit for the Warriors. Junior Tyler Reitz (Billings, Mont.) pinch ran for Jackson, and he eventually came in to score on a passed ball later in the inning to give Corban the early 1-0 advantage.
Reitz then came up big defensively for the Navy and Gold in the fourth inning, when after catching a fly ball in fairly deep left field, he gunned down a Thunderbird runner trying to score at home plate, keeping UBC off the board and ending the inning in the process.
The Warriors flashed the leather once again in the seventh when junior third baseman Vince Gonzalez (Kennewick, Wash.) made a great defensive play to keep the Thunderbirds at bay, and then again in the ninth frame, junior shortstop Ryan Rosas (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) made a fantastic diving play and threw the runner out at first.
Corban finished the contest out and secured the 1-0 shutout win over the Thunderbirds, and sophomore pitcher Rilyn Lewchuk (Oregon City, Ore.) earned his fifth win of the year, tossing eight scoreless innings while striking out eight UBC batters. Fellow sophomore pitcher Jarett Thoren (Nampa, Idaho) came on for the Warriors in the ninth and sat the UBC batters down 1-2-3, earning his third save of the campaign.
“We saw another great performance by Rilyn Lewchuk in game one,” said Corban head coach Jeff McKay. “He is becoming our leader on the mound. The defense continues to be a strength of this Warrior team.”
Gonzalez led the way offensively for the Warriors at the plate, going 2-for-2, while junior first baseman Alex Storaci (Kennewick, Wash.) went 2-for-3 at the dish for the Warriors.
As a team, the Thunderbirds totaled five hits in the game-one loss, with no player recording a multi-hit game.
In game two, Corban jumped on top in the second inning via an RBI single from Rosas to make it 1-0. Freshman outfielder Zach Penrod (Nampa, Idaho) extended the lead to 2-0 thanks to an RBI double in the fourth for the Warriors.
UBC showed its resiliency, however, and came back with a pair of runs in the fifth. Lucas Soper ripped an RBI single to left-center to halve the deficit, and then Bruce Yari hit a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing in the tying run.
Unfazed, Corban scored one run in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to regain the advantage. Junior outfielder Benjamin Liogon (Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico) came up with what turned out to be the game-winning hit, lining a double to left field, scoring Warrior senior Hayden Calvert (Canberra, Australia) on the play.
Up 4-2 in the seventh, Calvert made it a 5-2 ballgame when he crushed a ball well over the left field wall, notching his team-leading fifth home run of the 2016 campaign.
Thoren earned the win, hurling 2.1 innings in relief while allowing no runs and no hits. Senior righty Daniel Gober (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) picked up the save, tossing two scoreless innings of one-hit baseball, securing the vital victory for the Navy and Gold.
At the plate, senior Braden Wolgamott (Bellevue, Wash.) went 2-for-2, while Penrod went 3-for-4 and Calvert went 2-for-5 for the Warriors.
Leading the way for the Thunderbirds (29-14, 15-8 NAIA West) were Soper and Yari, as both players tallied a pair of hits in the game-two defeat.
“We broke through with some key hits late in the game to break open another well-pitched game for the Warriors to get the sweep today,” said McKay. “We showed in the series we can match them with our pitching when we play them and they are very deep on the mound. It is good to have Calvert beginning to get healthy to be a force in the middle of the order,” said McKay. “We are looking for the return of Landon Frost to also give us a big lift offensively.”
Corban (16-21, 11-12 NAIA West) takes to the road next week for five games. The first of which will be a non-conference contest against NCAA Division I Seattle University. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. in Bellevue Wash. The Warriors then close out the week with four games in Redding, Calif. vs. Simpson University next Saturday and Sunday.