Warriors bag second
straight tourney title
Copyright of the
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Two losses Sunday by Oregon
Tech and a resounding victory by Lewis-Clark
State gave the Warriors their second college
baseball tournament title in as many weeks.
L-C clinched the championship of the Guardian
Tournament with a win in the last of the
round-robin event's 10 games, trouncing Eastern
Oregon 18-2 at Harris Field.
That left the Warriors, 6-2 overall, with a
3-1 tournament record. Oregon Tech (3-3),
Albertson (3-2) and British Columbia (4-7-1) all
finished with 2-2 marks, while Eastern Oregon
(2-6) went 1-3.
In Sunday's other games, Oregon Tech lost
20-8 to British Columbia and 7-3 to Albertson.
The Warriors' first true offensive explosion
of the season was the sum of 13 hits, three
Eastern Oregon errors -- though none of L-C's
runs was unearned -- and 16 walks.
Two Warriors, Allen Balmer and Nic Benton,
each drove in four runs despite having just one
hit apiece, and L-C stranded 13 baserunners.
Balmer and Benton both had run-scoring
triples, while Toshi Sasa belted L-C's first
home run of the weekend, a two-run shot to
left-center in the eighth. Sasa had three RBI
and was one of five Warriors with two hits.
Twenty-three Warriors batted in the 3-hour,
10-minute game, including three pitchers. Derek
Landavazo, who pitched the last two innings for
L-C, had an RBI single in the ninth.
Nick Colborn, the first of four L-C pitchers,
was awarded the win for a prearranged
three-inning stint, during which yielded two
hits and struck out three. It was the junior
right-hander's Warrior debut.
Eastern Oregon, which beat L-C last weekend,
managed just six hits, two of which came during
its two-run fourth inning.
The Warriors play host to their final
regular-season event this spring, welcoming four
teams to Harris Field for the 49th edition of
the Banana Belt Tournament. Gonzaga, Utah
Valley, Portland and defending champion
Washington State will join the Warriors for the
four-day, 10-game tournament, which begins
Thursday.
Click
here for the Box Score of LCSC-Eastern Oregon
UBC 20, Oregon Tech 8
The Thunderbirds scored 15 runs over the
fourth and fifth innings in blowing away the
Owls.
British Columbia had 18 hits and got home
runs from Brett Murray, Adam Campbell, Chris
Ames and Tyler Hughes. Murray and Hughes had
four RBI apiece.
Oregon Tech 002 100 41-- 8 10 5
British Columbia 002 690 03--20 18 1
Heim, Bocchi (5), Mott (6) and Mortenson,
Garrett. Forest, Herman (7), Tobin (7) and
Bell-Irving.
W -- Forest (1-0). L -- Heim (0-1).
Oregon Tech hits -- Norris, Garrett 2 (2B),
Wilson, Desbiens, Baca 2, Bodeen 2, Belhardt.
British Columbia hits -- Tobin 2, Murray 2
(2B), (HR), Campbell 2 (HR 3B), Ames (HR), Janes
3 (2B), Capone 2 (2B), Hughes 3 (HR, 2B),
Prescott (2B), Bell-Irving, Kornberger.
Albertson 7, Oregon Tech 3
Nate Freese homered and drove in three runs
for the Coyotes, who prevailed despite being
outhit 11-8 and committing four errors.
Lewiston's Jeremy Feucht, a freshman at
Albertson, pitched a shutout inning in his
collegiate debut.
Oregon Tech 100 100 001--3 11 2
Albertson 012 103 00x--7 8 4
Guthrie, Baca (4), Merritt (7) and Garrett.
Zubizarreta, Feucht (7), Taysom (8), De La Paz
(9) and Burke.
W -- Zubizarreta (1-0). L -- Guthrie (0-1).
Oregon Tech hits -- Norris, Mortenson 3,
Bodeen, Thompson 3 (2B), Garrett, Chapman, Mauch.
Albertson hits -- Strandlund 2 (2B), Burke,
Freese 2 (HR), Arko, Cauffman 2. |
