LCSC improves to 10-0 with triumph over Utah Valley

3-1-07

LEWISTON, Idaho – Matt Fitts struck out 10 in six innings and leadoff batter Mark Thompson was successful in setting the table to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team defeat Southern Utah 10-4 in the opening round of the 52nd annual SPORT Banana Belt Baseball Tournament at LCSC’s Harris Field on Thursday. 

The six-team round-robin tournament, which features five NCAA Division I schools and the top-ranked NAIA team in LCSC, managed to get both games in at Harris Field despite occasional snow and hail storms. In the opening game, Gonzaga defeated Air Force 3-1 in the opener. In a late game at Pullman’s Buck-Bailey Field, Washington State and Utah Valley were playing the final first-round game. 

In LCSC’s victory, Fitts managed to scatter nine hits and allowed two earned runs to pick up his second win of the season and stretch the Warriors’ win streak to 10 games to start the season. Southern Utah fell to 2-10. 

Thompson, who is tied for the team lead in runs scored at 16, again was able to get on base and spark LCSC scoring rallies. Thompson finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored. He also was hit twice by pitches and reached on an error to get on base in all six trips to the plate. He was, however, caught stealing for the first time this season, but later stole his team-leading 11th base. 

The Warriors led 3-2 after three innings, but pulled away with two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to win by at least six runs for the ninth time this season. 

Three of the first five Warrior runs in the game came via errors as Southern Utah committed four in the game. Thompson added an RBI triple and Paul Martin added an RBI single to help LCSC to a 5-2 lead. 

After Southern Utah made it 5-3 in the top of the fifth, the Warriors made it 8-3 when Thompson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Brent Wyatt followed with a two-run triple. LCSC’s final two runs came in the eighth when Jessie Mier hit a two-run double to right. 

In all, Thompson, Wyatt and Mier finished with two RBI, while Thompson had three hits, followed by Mier, Kyle Greene, and Ikaika Lester with two each. 

The Warriors had 11 hits in the game, while Southern Utah had 10. Cameron Nelson and Chester Wilson had two hits apiece for Southern Utah. 

In the early game, which was delayed twice by snow and hail, Gonzaga pitchers Josh Monroe and C.J. McClure combined on a four-hitter to lift the Bulldogs. 

Monroe went the first seven innings and allowed just two hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. McClure went the final two innings and gave up a run, but struck out two. 

Air Force pitcher Alex Truesdale took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but Mark Castellitto led off the inning with a  double and later scored ona wild pitch. Evan Well’s suicide squeeze bunt in the eighth scored the second run, while Mark Castelitto added an RBI double in the ninth to make it 3-0. 

Air Force’s lone run came in the bottom of the ninth when it sent the potential tying run to plate. Addison Gentry’s RBI ground out brought in the Falcons’ run. 

In Friday’s action at Harris Field, Gonzaga takes on Utah Valley at 11 a.m., followed by Lewis-Clark State and Air Force at 2 p.m. In Pullman, Washington State plays host to Southern Utah at 4 p.m., and then Air Force at 7 p.m.