LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 9-ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors completed the four-game sweep of No. 2 LSU Shreveport on Sunday with a pair of victories. Carter Booth put the Warriors on top 1-0 in the resumption of Friday's suspended contest before LC State outlasted the Pilots in a 14-8 offensive battle in the finale.
"Great weekend for us all the way around," Head Coach Jake Taylor said. "Super grateful for Shreveport traveling all the way out for the series. Excellent teams playing this weekend at Harris Field."
The wins keep LC State perfect at home with a 16-0 record at Harris Field. The Warriors have won eight straight and sit at 27-9 overall. LC State is the first team this season to hand LSUS consecutive losses.
GAME ONE: No. 9 LC State def. No. 2 LSU Shreveport 1-0
The series opener was a pitchers' duel from the start. The Warriors worked around a one-out single on Friday with a pair of flyouts before Drake George ended the top of the first with a strikeout. He fanned one more in a1-2-3 second before adding three more through the third and fourth.
George kept the Pilots off the board with a quick fifth inning and a strong defensive sixth maintained the scoreless contest.
The game was suspended at 7:35 p.m. on Friday due to rain and resumed at 11 a.m. on Sunday after 29 hours and 25 minutes. Things were paused with the contest in the bottom of the seventh in a 0-0 tie.
Booth drove in the game's lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Bulla Ephan and Magnum Hofstetter notched back-to-back singles and Alex Sol took over on the bases for Ephan. Booth sent a fly ball to deep center field to plate Sol for a 1-0 lead.
Jake Green took the mound in the top of the eighth and struck out the first batter he faced. Nick Seamons made a diving catch in left center to end the eighth before a big punchout by Green ended the contest in the ninth. The portion of the game on Sunday was played in just 23 minutes.
George earned the win for his work on Friday. The LC State ace went seven innings and struck out eight without allowing a run to earn his fifth win of the season. Green was awarded the save after two innings with two strikeouts. Warrior pitching did not walk a batter throughout the contest.
Signorelli tallied two hits and Booth drove in the lone run.
GAME TWO: No. 9 LC State def. No. 2 LSU Shreveport 14-8
LSU Shreveport scored first with a sacrifice fly in the top of the first. Hiroyuki Yamada struck out a batter to end the inning with minimal damage. A bases-loaded hit in the second plated two to end Yamada's day and Tucker Grote came out of the pen and induced a groundout to conclude the frame.
The Warriors put up a run in the bottom of the second on back-to-back doubles by Jack Sheward and Charlie Updegrave. LC State trailed 3-1 through two frames.
A 1-2-3 top of the third was aided by a diving catch by Booth in center field.
LC State evened the score in the home half of the third on just one hit. Booth and Seamons each drew a walk before Dominic Signorelli was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ky Yamamoto took over on base for Signorelli and a sacrifice fly by Sheward made it 3-2. Brandon Cabrera wore a pitch to reload the bases and a single hit hard right back at the pitcher by Pu'ukani De Sa knotted things up 3-3.
A rough inning on the mound for the Warriors resulted in three LSUS runs to give the Pilots a 6-3 advantage. LC State got a run back in fourth when Booth walked and came around to score after a base hit by Seamons and RBI-double by Signorelli.
The Pilots added a run in the fifth to push the margin to 7-4, but the Warriors answered in the bottom of the frame.
Updegrave was hit by a pitch before Ephan and Hofstetter walked to load the bases. A base hit off the wall in center by Booth brought in two to cut the deficit to one run.
It was Shreveport's turn for pitching miscues in the sixth to give LC State its first lead of the game. Cabrera led off the inning with a solo shot to tie the game before walks became a factor. Updegrave earned a free pass and moved to second on a base hit by De Sa. Ephan walked to load the bases before walks to Hofstetter and Booth put the Warriors in front 9-7. Sheward came to the plate next and dropped a two-out, two-RBI single into left center to push the advantage to 11-7.
Zachary Ediger worked a quick top of the seventh and LC State added a run in the home half of the inning. De Sa singled up the middle and advanced on a groundout by Ephan. Evan Overmars took over on the bases and scored on a hit by Booth to make it a 12-7 lead through seven frames.
A double play and strikeout by Jadon Williamson made for a scoreless top of the eighth. Updegrave put the exclamation point on the contest with a two-run shot. Cabrera singled before Updegrave crushed a ball to right to make it a 14-7 LC State advantage.
LSUS scored one in the top of the ninth before Jantzen Lucas came in and struck out a batter to complete the sweep.
De Sa led the Warriors with four hits in the game. Booth drove in four runs while Sheward and Updegrave each knocked in three.
UP NEXT
LC State heads north of the border next weekend to take on UBC in a four-game Cascade Conference series in Vancouver, B.C.
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