CU catcher Ben Talbot went 1-for-3 for the Cavs in their 13-7 loss to No. 5 Lewis-Clark State on Friday.
No. 5 Warriors Power Past Cavs, 13-7
BOX SCORE
PORTLAND—The No. 5-ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors broke open a 5-5 tie with three runs in the sixth and five more in the eighth en route to a 13-7 victory over the Concordia baseball team at Porter Park on Friday.
The Cavs had tied the game at 5-5 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Warriors’ rally in the sixth gave them the lead for good.
The Warriors improved to 28-8 overall and 14-3 in the NAIA West with the win, while the Cavs dropped to 17-19 overall and 8-9 in the NAIA West.
The Warriors broke through in the sixth against CU reliever Austin Hadley with Zach Holley plating Brian Corliss for the first run of the inning on sacrifice fly. Leadoff hitter Jake Shirley then followed with a single before Bobby Joe Tannehill scored Kyle Knigge for the Warriors’ second run of the inning on a one-out double to right. Shirley then scored himself during the next at bat when Brady Steiger hit a sacrifice fly to center.
The sixth-inning rally made it an 8-5 lead for the Warriors, and they’d add to the lead in the eighth with five more runs in the top of the inning. Tannehill came up big again for the Warriors, as he highlighted the Warriors’ five-run eighth with a two-run home run to left, becoming the first player to hit a home run at the spacious Porter Park during the 2013 season. Tannehill’s home run was also just the fifth home run in 43 Concordia games at Porker Park since the park opened before the 2012 season.
Tannehill was not alone in the eighth, though, as the Warriors hit for the cycle in the inning as a team, becoming the first team to ever hit for the cycle in an inning at Porter Park. Besides Tannehill’s home run, Shirley tripled in the inning for the Warriors, Ryan Sells doubled, while Steiger and Kyle Blackwell each singled.
The Cavs got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth, but the Warriors still led 13-7 at that point and the score held from there.
The Cavs took the lead initially in the game, as Blake Drake hit a triple with the bases loaded to score three runs for the Cavs in the bottom of the second.
The Warriors tied things with three runs of their own in the top of the fourth, however, then went ahead with two runs in the top of the fifth.
The Cavs, meanwhile, came back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth after the team loaded the bases with no outs in the inning. The Cavs had chances to score more runs in the inning, but the Warriors’ David Murillo came on in relief after the Cavs scored their first run of the inning, and promptly got the next three Cavalier batters out.
Murillo finished the game with 3.2 innings of work, and held the Cavs to just one hit to pick up the win for the Warriors. On the flip side, Hadley picked up just his second loss of the season for the Cavs, though no Cavalier pitcher held the Warriors scoreless in their turn on the mound.
Offensively, Shirley, Tannehill, Steiger, Sells, Blackwell and Corliss all finished with multiple hits in the game for the Warriors. For the Cavs, Jimmy Sanchez led the team with three hits in the game, two of which were doubles, while Drake went 2-for-4 with a run scored, three runs batted in, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
The teams will resume their series tomorrow, Saturday, April 6, with a doubleheader at 2 p.m.