LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State College baseball team set season highs for runs and biggest inning, and tied a season high with four double plays, all coming in the team’s first shutout of the season, a 16-0 roll over Whitworth at LCSC’s Harris Field on Tuesday.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic to come from the game, however, is that LCSC now has held Whitworth scoreless for 40 straight innings, which covers five ballgames.
LCSC was able to shut out Whitworth for the fourth straight time over the last two seasons. LCSC also shut out Whitworth 14-0, 5-0 and 7-0 last season and also held the Pirates scoreless for the final four innings in a 10-2 win last February.
Everything went the Warriors’ way in Tuesday’s ballgame, but it wasn’t until LCSC put together an eight-run seventh inning – its highest output in an inning this season – that the game was decided. LCSC led only 2-0 going into the seventh but put up 14 runs in its final two at-bats to roll to the victory.
The Warriors, 13-6 overall, scored 14 runs in a win over Corban in the season-opening Regence BlueShield of Idaho Tournament, but had scored in double digits in only three of its last 14 games.
In Tuesday’s win, the Warriors collected 12 hits and took advantage of five errors by the Pirates’ defense and 12 walks from eight Whitworth pitchers. In the meantime, LCSC pitcher Michael Guerrero, Colby Hawk and Zach Clanton were able to combine on a five-hitter with just one walk and three strikeouts. Whitworth managed to get two baserunners to third base but stranded both.
Whitworth falls to 4-15 overall after losing for the 10th time in 11 games.
The Warriors used several players in the game and three even made their season debuts. Ben Ornelas, who was out because of transcript problems, started at third base and eventually moved to center field. He finished 2-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI. Kyle Cruikshank, a pitcher who underwent Tommy John surgery last year, made his debut at the plate and drew a walk in the bit seventh inning and eventually scored. And Bret Spencer made his debut in left field and drove in a run.
Ten Warriors drove in a run in the game, led by Vaughan Prow’s three RBI, while Josh Ashenbrenner, Danny Anguiano, and Jaime Ballesteros added two apiece. Ten Warriors also had at least two hits, but only Anguiano and Ornelas (two each) finished with more than one.
Guerrero, a senior left-hander, improved to 3-0 on the season. He went six innings and allowed five hits and one walk. He also struck out two. Hawk pitched two innings of hitless relief and picked up a strikeout, while Clanton retired the side in order in the top of the ninth.
LCSC broke a scoreless tie in the third on Paul Martin’s sacrifice fly RBI, and made it 2-0 in the sixth when Prow drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Warriors then sent 14 batters to the plate in the seventh. Anguiano had an RBI double to start the scoring, while Kavika Emsley-Pai and Ornelas added RBI singles. Prow then drove in two with a single and Kyle Melton’s grounder drove in another. Ashenbrenner singled in a run and the Anguiano completed the scoring with his second RBI of the inning on a bases-loaded walk.
It was more of the same in the eighth inning when Ballesteros hit a two-run single, Ashenbrenner and Spencer drew bases-loaded walks, Bryson Tajiri drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and a dropped fly ball allowed the final run to score.
The Warriors return to action on Thursday and Friday for a three-game series with Corban College in Salem, Ore. Thursday’s doubleheader begins at noon, while Friday’s single game is at 10 a.m.
