Central Washington held its own against Lewis-Clark State, a commendable though not necessarily expected feat for a team that has made a habit of appearing at Harris Field on opening weekend.

The Wildcats' pitching was adequate, their defense relatively solid, and they displayed some power-hitting flair -- even more than the home team.

But their home run prowess had a negligible impact next to a couple of lunging catches and a triple play.

Those fielding jewels, some instances of timely hitting and a bona fide save by Scott Fairbanks gave the Warriors 8-3 and 3-2 victories in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader, completing their sweep of this three-game season-opening series.

The highlight of Saturday's opener wasn't the game's decisive sequence -- those came in the Warriors' three-run outbursts in the sixth and seventh innings -- but it did douse Central Washington's only chance for a late rally.

Mike Causey, who relieved Ryan Heil at the start of the eighth, walked leadoff batter Willie Kahn then yielded a single to Owen Sanford, which moved Kahn up one base.

The next Wildcat batter, Scott Wilson, lashed a sharp grounder to the left side of the infield -- or so it initially appeared. The ball never touched the ground before it was gloved by shortstop Derek Bruce, who stepped on second to force off Kahn then rifled a throw to first, completing L-C's first triple play in ... well, a long time.

"I'm sure we've had one," said Warrior coach Ed Cheff, starting his 28th year at L-C, "but I don't know when it would have been."

Daniel Ruberte drove in four runs for the Warriors, three on his second homer of the weekend, a seventh-inning shot to right-center field. Allen Balmer keyed L-C's sixth-inning spurt with a pinch-hit two-run double.

Heil, who relieved starter Ben Newton in the third, worked 41/3 shutout innings, striking out five and allowing two hits, to pick up the victory in his Warrior debut.

L-C used five pitchers in the second game, including Clay Johnson, a senior transfer from Washington who had played at Lewiston High as a ninth-grader. The right-hander went the first four innings, holding the Wildcats scoreless while giving up two singles and striking out six.

Johnson got the win -- largely because Fairbanks was around for final relief.

The senior right-hander, one of four current L-C pitchers who a played prominent role on last year's staff, was summoned from the bullpen in the top of the ninth with two down, the bases full of Wildcats and a run already in (Nate Kuhns had walked the previous hitter, Kahn, also with the bases loaded).

Fairbanks got Jerame McKereghan to fly out to left to end the game.

"It doesn't hurt for guys to see pressure situations," said Cheff, whose team's save total most seasons is primarily made up of ones earned by satisfying that statistic's simplest parameter -- pitching effectively over the final three innings, regardless of the score.

The Warriors got on the board in the first inning via an RBI single by Brandon Morris, then added two in the fifth on an infield RBI single by Morris and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Miguel Padilla.

Central Washington, which outhit the Warriors 7-6 -- three of those were ninth-inning singles -- got a home run from Kahn to lead off the eighth.

Two other Wildcat threats were extinguished with impressive grabs by L-C left fielders. Tyson Dietz provided the first, making a hard-running catch of a Ryan Rockhill drive, ending the CWU fourth inning with runners at second and third. Then John Anderson came up with a seventh-inning gem, making a straight-ahead stab of a shallow fly off the bat of Scott Wilson, then relaying the ball to first for the inning-ending double play.

"We've got to string hits together, because although we've got some power we can't sit back and rely on the home run," said CWU coach Desi Storey, whose team had five homers on the weekend to L-C's four. "That goes to show you -- home runs aren't always big plays."

FIRST GAME

CENTRAL WASH. LEWIS-CLARK ST.

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Kahn lf 2 1 1 1 Slagle cf 2 1 1 0

Stanford dh 4 0 1 0 Litchfield lf 1 0 0 0

Wilson c 4 0 2 0 Fuller 2b 4 2 2 1

Beerbower pr 0 1 0 0 Bruce ss 2 2 0 0

Thomson 3b 4 0 1 1 Rubrte dh 3 1 2 4

Mullendore 1b 4 0 1 0 Celigoy 1b 2 0 0 0

Chubb 2b 4 0 1 0 Balmer 1b 2 1 1 2

Beavert rf 2 0 0 0 Best c 4 0 1 0

Martin rf 1 0 0 0 Andrsn cr 0 0 0 0

Rockhill cf 3 1 2 1 Rodrgz 3b 2 0 0 0

Esparza ss 2 0 0 0 Stevrmn lf 2 0 1 1

McKereghn ph 1 0 0 0 Stevnsn cf 1 0 0 0

Sasa rf 4 1 1 0

Totals 31 3 9 3 Totals 29 8 9 8

Central Washington 003 000 000--3 9 2

Lewis-Clark State 101 003 30x--8 9 2

Central Washington ip h r er bb so

Esparza (L, 0-1) 5.2 6 5 2 2 1

Archibald 2.1 3 3 3 2 1

Lewis-Clark State ip h r er bb so

Newton 2.2 6 3 3 0 1

Heil (W, 1-0) 4.1 2 0 0 0 5

Causey 2 1 0 0 1 2

SECOND GAME

CENTRAL WASH. LEWIS-CLARK ST.

        ab r h bi       ab r h bi

Kahn lf 4 1 1 2 Bruce ss 3 1 2 0

McKereghn 2b 5 0 1 0 Currin ph 1 0 0 0

Thomson 3b 4 0 0 0 Rodrigz 2b 4 1 0 0

Mullendore 1b 4 0 0 0 Ruberte rf 4 0 2 0

Martin dh 3 0 0 0 Morris 3b 3 0 2 2

Miller c 1 0 0 0 Padilla dh 2 0 0 1

Chubb ph 1 0 1 0 Bowmn dh 1 0 0 0

Knutsen c 1 0 0 0 Hunt 1b 4 0 0 0

Beerbower cf 3 1 1 0 Stevnsn cf 2 0 0 0

Beavert ph 1 0 1 0 Benton cf 2 0 0 0

Rockhill rf 4 0 2 0 Slagle cf 0 0 0 0

Esparza ss 2 0 0 0 Dietz lf 2 0 0 0

Wilson ph 1 0 0 0 Concpcn c 2 0 0 0

Andersn lf 2 1 0 0

McCauly c 0 0 0 0

Totals 34 2 7 2 Totals 32 3 6 3

Central Washington 000 000 011--2 7 3

Lewis-Clark State 100 020 00x--3 6 2

Central Washington ip h r er bb so

Finch (L, 0-1) 5 5 3 1 1 3

Carlson 3 1 0 0 0 4

Lewis-Clark State ip h r er bb so

Johnson (W, 1-0) 4 0 0 0 0 6

Fisher 3 1 0 0 1 3

Seely 1 1 1 1 0 1

Kuhns 0.2 3 1 1 1 2

Fairbanks (S,1) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0