Corban Baseball Earns Day One Victories in Opening Home Series against CWU
SALEM, Ore. – The Corban University baseball team, led by the long ball, rallied for two hard fought victories over NCAA Division II opponent Central Washington University on Friday at Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Stadium. The Navy and Gold came out on top after overcoming a 4-2 deficit in the eighth inning for a 6-5 victory in game one, while using dominating pitching and the long ball in game two for a 4-0 triumph.
"I was glad to play at home today," said head coach Derek Legg. "I thought the boys came out and competed well. The pitchers made big pitches when it mattered, and we had a couple of big hits when we needed to. I am excited to see the mentality that we bring out tomorrow."
In the fourth inning of game one is where the scoring got its start. Mitch Lesmeister and Austin Ohland each had an RBI two-base hit in the stanza, leading the Wildcats into the fifth inning with a narrow 2-0 lead.
The bottom half of the fifth began with a base hit for Kairos Torres-Umi, who was then driven in by a two-run moonshot over the left-center field fence by Dakota Fingar. It was Fingar's first homer of the young season. The Warriors entered the top of the sixth all knotted up at two.
Some fortunate events took place for the Central Washington offense in the sixth. Zach Filos had taken over for the starter Mason Shaw, and was tasked with a bases-loaded, one-out jam. Filos induced a lazy popup into shallow right field, and the Warrior defenders miscommunicated allowing a run to score. Corban was able to get the force at second on the play, but would allow another run on a pickoff attempt that went awry during the following at-bat. Entering the bottom half of the eighth down 4-2, the Warriors needed a big hit, which is exactly what they received from wunderkind Torres-Umi.
After Estenio Sede reached on a bunt single, Justin Tow was hit by a pitch, and Nate Cantonwine slapped a base knock into left field, Torres-Umi stepped to the plate and drove a frozen-rope line drive over the left-field fence for a grand slam to boost the Navy and Gold to a 6-4 advantage heading into the top of the ninth. Filos would get the first two outs of the frame before coach Legg opted for Jacob Bowser out of the pen. Bowser delivered with a one-pitch performance, netting a tapper back to the mound which he then threw on to first to complete the victory.
In game two, the Warriors rode three talented arms to a shutout triumph while only mustering three hits on the offensive side of the game. Jackson Arnsdorf, Zack Simon, and Jacob Asa toed the rubber for the Warriors in Game two, generating nine innings of shutout baseball. Arnsdorf earned his first win of the season with five innings of work, while Asa recorded his second save by working the eighth and ninth innings.
Dakota Fingar and Jared Bell accounted for all of the Corban offense in the second game of the day, as Fingar blasted his second homer in as many games and Bell was a catalyst on the base paths, stealing two bases and scoring a run on a wild pitch. He also delivered an RBI single of his own in the seventh inning, which ended the scoring for the Navy and Gold.
The Warriors (4-10) will look to finish off the sweep of the Wildcats on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at Volcanoes Stadium, before beginning their conference schedule next weekend as host to College of Idaho.