Dyche,Warriors clobber Coyotes; Lewis-Clark State center fielder goes 2-for-4, maintains .500 average in 12-6 win over Alberston
Copyright of The Trib

With roughly a month and exactly 15 games to go in the regular season, Lewis-Clark State is getting to the point where talk of records is fashionable and only a bit premature.

So here's the synopsis after Thursday night's 12-6 victory over Albertson at Harris Field: Warrior pitchers are impressively frugal though certainly not lapse-proof, and Joey Dyche continues to swing a bat with startling proficiency.

Those circumstances, along with Albertson's persistent problems on the fielding end, shaped L-C's ninth consecutive victory over the Coyotes. These adversaries will play two more times this spring, heading to Caldwell for games Saturday and Sunday.

The dynamic Dyche belted a three-run homer and rang up five RBI for the third time this month. His 2-for-4 effort kept his batting average at an even .500 and promoted his pursuit of one of L-C's most renowned individual records -- Chad Miltenberger's .482 season average, set in 1983.

The fifth-inning homer was Dyche's ninth of the year, matching him with Brandon Morris for the team lead, and moved him to the top of the RBI column with 42.

He also had a two-run single in the second-ranked Warriors' five-run fourth.

The evening was no doubt less satisfying for L-C pitchers, Ben Newton in particular. Giving up his first three runs of the year, the senior left-hander could reap solace from a solid seven-inning start (seven hits, two walks, four strikeouts) that pushed him to 3-0.

"The thing about (Newton) is he's going to keep you in the game, he's going to give you a chance to win," L-C coach Ed Cheff said. "He'll make some mistakes, but he's not going to get you into a lot of trouble."

The primary adversity the Warriors faced, and it was negligible considering they held an eight-run advantage at the time, came in the Albertson eighth. Kyle Reichert, who relieved Newton to start the inning, faced only five batters, walking two and plunking three. The Coyotes ultimately plated three runs in the frame, and their entire scoring output was the most L-C has given up in 12 games.

That swelled the Warriors' earned run average to 2.21, which is still the lowest mark in Cheff's 29 years at L-C. The season-long standard is 2.30, established in 1977.

Despite limiting L-C (34-6) to eight hits, Albertson (19-4) committed four errors and yielded four unearned runs.

"We struggled playing defense these past two games, and we got shelled," Albertson coach Shawn Humberger said. "We would make things a lot easier on ourselves if we could just play catch."

In those games -- L-C beat Albertson 8-1 on Wednesday -- the Coyotes gave up only 12 hits but suffered nine errors and seven unearned runs.

Albertson starter Matt Zachary (4-2) lasted 43 innings, giving up five hits while walking four and striking out as many.