LEWISTON, Idaho – Led by strong pitching that limited Corban University to three runs and 11 hits on the day, the 24th-ranked Lewis-Clark State College baseball team swept a Cascade Collegiate Conference doubleheader by scores of 4-2 and 11-1 at LC State’s Harris Field on Saturday.
In a battle of teams nicknamed the Warriors, LC State used a big three-run home run by Dillon Plew in the seventh inning of the opener and then home runs from Jack Johnson and Dalton Harum in the second game to back solid pitching of four LC State hurlers to capture the sweep. LC improves to 12-2 overall and is alone in first place in the league standings at 5-1, while Corban falls to 4-14 and 3-3.
“I thought we had good pitching all day,” LC Coach Jake Taylor said of Tallon Thomason, Jesse Parker, Trent Sellers and Brooks Juhasz. “They threw well and we only gave up three total runs.”
The two teams will meet in another league doubleheader on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m.
GAME ONE: LC State def. Corban 4-2
Despite the efforts of Thomason and Parker, LC State trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh when a rather bizarre play helped set up Plew’s key homer.
After Corban reliever Jacob Asa retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh, LC’s Zach Threfall hit a long fly ball to deep left field that took Corban left-fielder Kyle Clay back to the wall. Clay jumped up in the air and came down with the baseball and acted like he made the catch. However, the third-base umpire sprinted to the outfield when the ball was hit and heard the loud thud of what sounded like the ball hitting the wall. The umpire immediately ruled the ball hit the ball and then landed in Clay’s mitt, and despite an argument from the Corban coaching staff, Threfall wound up with a double.
“It was a weird play but the umpire ran out there and called it immediately,” Taylor said.
The play seemed to shake up Asa, who then proceeded to walk Riley Way and then served up the three-run home run by Plew to right field, his team-leading fifth of the season.
“Dillon Plew’s at bat in the first game was a big one,” Taylor said. “That was a clutch knock for us.”
Plew was the only LC player with more than one hit in the game. He finished 2-for-4 with three RBI.
LC’s other run in the game came in the fifth inning when Threfall singled with one out and was replaced by courtesy runner Alex Light. Way followed with a double to center field, which scored Light.
Thomason went 5.1 innings and allowed six hits and two runs. He struck out four and walked one. Parker, who picked up his first win of the season, went the final 3.2 innings. He allowed an RBI double to the first batter he faced, but then retired the next 11 in a row, including four by strikeouts. Only one of those 11 final batters was able to hit the ball to the outfield.
Rees Fawley had two of Corban’s seven hits in the game and also drove in a run.
GAME TWO: LC State def. Corban 11-1 (seven innings)
Corban’s very first batter of the game, Maxwell Jeffry, singled and eventually came around to score on an error. Unfortunately for Corban, that was the team’s only highlight in the second game.
Sellers, the LC starter, allowed two walks and a single in the opening frame, but then settled down to pitch five solid innings. He gave up three hits, three walks and one unearned run, but struck out six, including five in a row in one stretch. He improved to 2-1 on the season.
Juhasz pitched the final two innings and allowed just one hit and recorded one strikeout.
LC took control of the game early with four runs in the first inning. Johnson started the two-out rally with a single and scored on a double by Matt James. After an error scored another run and put Luke White on second, Harum hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot to center field.
LC State scored three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings for a 10-1 advantage. In the fifth, Way drew a one-out walk and Plew was hit by a pitch to set up a three-run homer by Johnson, his fourth of the year. In the sixth, Linscott had an RBI single and later scored on a ground out by Plew.
LC ended the game with a run in the seventh on the 10-run rule on a sacrifice fly RBI by White.
“We were able to group some at bats together in the second game,” Taylor said. “We had a little more offense, but we are still looking to get better. We’ve been struggling a bit with the sticks the last two weeks. We need to get a little more aggressive. We are pressing too much, guys trying to do too much, and hit bombs all day long. We’ve got to stick with the right approach.”
Johnson finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Harum went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while White also drove in two runs. Linscott and James added two hits apiece.
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