L-C, Cougars to meet for Banana Belt supremacy
Copyright of the Lewiston Morning Tribune

Today at 1 p.m., aged rivals Washington State and Lewis-Clark State will square off at Harris Field in a game that will almost assuredly determine the champion of what is believed to be college baseball's longest-running regular-season tournament. Both, remarkably enough, are pursuing their 19th Banana Belt crown.

Junior right-hander Kyle Wright (1-0, 1.23 ERA) is expected pitch for the Warriors while WSU, the defending BBT champ, will counter with sophomore right-hander Wayne Daman Jr. (2-0, 1.23 ERA).

The Cougars are 2-1 in the tournament after Friday's 15-8 victory over Portland. Since today's game will be their BBT finale, a win would guarantee them the title.

Things are less certain for L-C, which moved to 2-0 with Friday's 7-1 win over Gonzaga. The Warriors have another tournament game remaining, Sunday against Portland, so their title designs may not be decided until then.

That, however, depends on how the Pilots, 1-1, fare today, when they face Gonzaga, 0-2, at 10 a.m.

Gonzaga and Utah Valley State, 1-2, both close out their BBT experience this afternoon at 4.

L-C 7, Gonzaga 1

In his previous two outings this season, Carlos Fisher was a victim of early-season circumstance. He was relatively effective in those appearances, but not to the point where the scorer awarded him the victory (that's how wins are figured when predetermined pitching splits are used).

On Friday, Fisher removed subjectivity from the equation. The senior right-hander worked seven tidy though not trouble-free innings, yielding seven hits while striking out seven and walking none.

"Carlos was OK -- nothing special, but he got a rush (of adrenaline) when he needed them," said L-C coach Ed Cheff, whose team goes to 8-2. "He worked his way out of a couple tough spots."

The Bulldogs (6-5) had baserunners in each of the first five innings, and stranded three in the fifth behind two Fisher strikeouts.

The Warriors did the bulk of their damage in the third, scoring six times on seven hits, including a two-run homer by Josh Celigoy and RBI singles by D.J. Kooken, Joey Dyche, Dan Morrow and Matt Vogel.

Kooken also had an RBI double in the seventh.

Gonzaga, which had 10 hits to L-C's 11, got its first run of the tournament -- it lost 9-0 to WSU on Thursday -- when Aaron McGuinness dropped a bloop RBI single into shallow right field with two down in the ninth. That came off Jon McCaslin, who relieved Fisher to start the eighth.

Junior infielder Justin Fuller, who made his first start of the season -- he sat out the first two weeks with a broken hand -- gave the Warriors another injury scare when he fouled a pitch off his leg in the third inning. Fuller had to be removed from the game -- Jose Castenon took over at the plate with two strikes and struck out -- but is expected to play today.

Click here for GONZAGA LEWIS-CLARK ST. Box Score

WSU 15, Portland 8

Jeff Miller's go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning may well have been the biggest hit of his Cougar career. But the resulting thrill was short-lived -- and not just because Portland retook the lead in the bottom of the frame.

The sophomore second baseman would dramatically one-up himself in the seventh, belting his first collegiate home run to key the definitive surge of Friday's final game.

The Cougars (9-8) scored five times in the seventh, three on Miller's drive into the left-field bleachers, en route to their biggest offensive outburst of the season.

"One thing you can say about our hitters -- they stick with it," said WSU coach Donnie Marbut, whose ballclub had 14 hits and scored runs in every inning other than the second and fourth, yet still had to come from behind twice.

"And Jeff Miller had a great game. You're going to see better and better offensive contributions from him in the future."

Miller finished with five RBI. Brady Everett, Zach Kosturos and Jim Murphy drove in two runs apiece, with Murphy's coming on a ninth-inning home run, his second in as many games.

Eric Dingwall (1-0), who came on in relief in the sixth inning after Nik Kosach's two-run homer had given Portland (5-7) an 8-7 lead, finished the game in shutout fashion. The junior right-hander gave up three hits and a walk while striking out six.

WASHINGTON ST. PORTLAND

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Rubin rf 4 2 1 0 Little 2b 5 0 0 0

Kimbrel rf 0 0 0 0 Krohn 3b 4 3 2 2

Freeman cf 6 2 2 1 Kosach dh 4 1 3 3

JaMiller lf 5 1 2 1 Peters 1b 5 0 0 0

Everett c 2 2 1 2 Pierce lf 5 1 2 0

McAngus 3b 4 2 1 1 Wiltshre rf 2 1 0 0

Kosturos dh 2 2 2 2 Krause cf 4 1 1 1

Hall dh 1 1 1 0 Ehlers ph 1 0 0 0

Alexander 1b 2 0 0 0 Snell c 2 0 0 0

Franklin ph 0 0 0 0 Watson c 2 0 0 0

Suttmeier pr 0 1 0 0 Rodgrs ss 5 1 2 2

Murphy 1b 1 1 1 2

JeMiller 2b 5 1 2 5

McClure ss 5 0 1 0

Totals 37 15 14 14 Totals 39 8 10 8

Washington State 201 103 512--15 14 4

Portland 001 502 000-- 8 10 4

Washington State ip h r er bb so

Oye 3.2 5 6 3 3 3

Kost 2 2 2 2 2 3

Dingwall (W, 1-0) 3.1 3 0 0 1 6

Gonzaga ip h r er bb so

Kutz (L, 2-2) 6.1 8 10 5 1 2

Siegfried 2.2 6 5 5 2 2

Portland 8, Utah Valley St. 2

In a game featuring 10 errors equally divided between the two teams, the Pilots took better advantage, scoring four unearned runs.

Gustaf Little had five of Portland's 13 hits.

Portland 012 130 010--8 13 5

Utah Valley State 010 010 000-- 2 5 5

Sargent, Ball (7), Ehlers (9) and Watson. Tash, Giles (8) and Newton.

W -- Sargent (2-1). L -- Tash (1-3).

Portland hits -- Little 5 (2-2B), Krohn 2 (2B), Peters 2, Pierce 2, Watson (2B), Rodgers.

Utah Valley State hits -- Drew 3 (2B), Vance, Connor.

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Browitt may be contacted at jbrowitt@lmtribune.com