KEIZER, Ore. – The Corban University baseball team clinched its first series sweep of the season on Sunday, downing Eastern Oregon University by final scores of 7-4 and 6-3. The Warriors were relentless with two outs in the triumphs, as 10 of the squad's 13 runs on Sunday were scored with two outs.
"That was a big series for the Warriors," said head coach Derek Legg. "I'm proud of the way the guys competed and grinded all weekend, and I'm excited to see this team compete down the stretch."
Timely hitting was key for the Navy and Gold in its game-one win. The Warriors scored runs in four-consecutive innings starting in the second, and the squad collected a two-out RBI in each of those frames.
After an RBI single from Juan Guardado gave the Mountaineers a first-inning lead, the Warriors responded with three runs in the bottom of the second. Back-to-back run-scoring doubles from Chris Grayson and Cole Foley—which happened on consecutive pitches—plated the first two runs of the frame. Later in the half inning, a gritty at-bat from Nate Cantonwine ended with a two-strike, two-out RBI single up the middle, expanding the lead to two.
Eastern Oregon scratched one of those runs back in the next half inning, but Corban was just getting started offensively, stringing together two-out runs in each of the next three stanzas.
After narrowly missing out on extra bases on the pitch before, lacing a ball that landed just fall down the left-field line, Reese Fawley roped a two-out double to left to score Morgan Hostetler in the third.
It was Dakota Fingar's turn in the next stanza, as his gapper in the fourth plated Cantonwine to make it a 5-2 Warrior advantage. In the fifth inning, Grayson continued his impressive day at the plate by slicing another two-out RBI knock in front of Mountaineer right fielder Easton Watterson to score Corban's sixth run.
Meanwhile, Zack Simon was in the middle of yet another quality outing on the mound, as he finished the day with five innings of work, allowing just two runs and scattering four hits en route to his sixth win of the season. Tanner Lundberg took over in the sixth, and saw the Warriors to the finish in his first save of the campaign.
Eastern grabbed a pair of runs against him in the seventh to make things interesting, but a solo blast from Fawley (4) in the bottom of the eighth provided some valuable insurance for the hometown squad.
The Mountaineers compiled a threat in the top of the ninth, as each of their first two batters reached. The game came to an unorthodox conclusion, with the Warriors recording a game-ending 9-3-6 double play to seal the series win. With runners on second and third and one out, Mountie leadoff man Blake Loftus lifted a fly ball to right that was caught and immediately fired in by Grayson, first baseman Justin Tow cut off the throw and made a heads-up play to pick Adrian Roa off at second, who had strayed too far off the bag on the wild play.
Fingar got things started for the Warriors in game two, blasting a solo shot to left to give the squad an early 1-0 advantage. That lead lasted until the top of the third, when Guardado lifted a two-run double to center to briefly give the visitors the lead.
Corban issued a strong response in its half of the inning, when Tow laced a two-run double into the left-center alley to help the squad reclaim the advantage. The Warriors hung another two-spot up in the fourth, and Tow was once at the center of the action. With two outs and two runners in scoring position, Fingar hooked a hot-shot single off the third baseman Isaac Chamberlain to score the first run of the stanza. Tow followed that up with his second RBI double in as many at-bats, plating Cantonwine to push the lead to three.
Both teams plated a run in the seventh, but Warrior pitchers Jackson Arnsdorf (W, 5 IP, 2 R, 8 K) and Braedyn Chong (S, 4 IP, 1 ER, 5 K) combined for another strong performance on the hill for the Navy and Gold.
Anchoring the middle of the order out of the three and four spots, Fingar (2-4, 2 RBI) and Tow (2-4, 3 RBI) combined for four hits and five RBIs for Legg and company.
Corban (15-25, 14-14 CCC) will close out its home slate next weekend, hosting Simpson University for a non-conference series on Saturday and Sunday. On the following weekend, the Warriors will head south to Klamath Falls, Ore. for a pivotal four-game set against Oregon Tech to wrap up the 2021 regular season.