Warriors keep rolling, defeat Corban 6-2

4-27-07 

SALEM, Ore. – The Lewis-Clark State College baseball team moved within one victory of wrapping up the top seed in the Region I baseball tournament by defeating Corban College 6-2 on Friday afternoon. 

The Warriors, the top-ranked team in the NAIA, need only two victories in their final five Region I contests to wrap up the top seed in the regional tournament, which will be held the second week in May. The Warriors have won 22 of 23 Region I contests, which gives them a three-game lead for the top seed in the Region I tournament. 

LCSC, which is 42-3 overall, established the best start in school history after 45 games. Previously, the best start by an LCSC squad was 41-4, set by the 1983 squad, which went on to win 20-straight contests after suffering its fourth loss of the season. 

This year’s squad, which is riding a 14-game win streak, only has eight regular-season games remaining until the postseason. LCSC cannot play host to either the Region I or Super Regional tournaments, but will receive an automatic berth into the Avista NAIA World Series, which will be held May 25-June 1 at Lewiston’s Harris Field. 

Against Corban on Friday, the Warriors did all of their damage in the third inning, scoring six runs on seven of their 13 hits in the game. 

LCSC broke a scoreless tie when Donnie Ecker and Mark Thompson hit consecutive singles and Ecker eventually scored on a ground out by Brent Wyatt. Beau Mills then doubled to center to drive in a run, and Paul Martin and Jesse Roehl followed with RBI singles. Ecker, in his second trip to the plate in the inning, drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, while Thompson was hit by a pitch, also to force in the final run.

Corban answered with both of its runs in the bottom of the third off LCSC starter Mike Miller, who gave up three hits in the inning. 

Miller, the reigning NAIA Region I pitcher of the week, tossed six innings and gave up six hits and two runs in the game to improve to 4-0 on the season. He also struck out two. Brad Schwartzenbach allowed on hit over the next two innings and struck out two, while Brian Bird pitched the ninth. 

Corban falls to 11-29-1 with the loss.  

The two teams will play a doubleheader today, starting at 11 a.m. LCSC brings a season-high 14-game win streak into the contest.  

Mills now has 88 RBI on the season, which ties him for fifth on the LCSC all-time single season list. He is tied with Allan Peterson, who had 88 RBI in the 1984 season. Next up is Dave Martinez (1983) and Pat Mackey (1989), who both had 89 RBI. Mills also has a 24-game hitting streak, which ranks fifth all-time on the LCSC list.  

Thompson stole two bases in the game to give him 30 on the season, also fifth on the all-time single season list.