LEWISTON, Idaho -- Using four home runs, including the first of the season for catcher Jessie Mier, the Lewis-Clark State baseball team bounced back from a rare loss to defeat Dixie State 13-9 in a nonleague contest at LCSC's Harris Field on Thursday night.

 

The Warriors, 29-3 overall, dropped a 4-3 decision on Wednesday to Cal Baptist University when they collected only five hits in the game.

 

Thursday, the Warriors had six extra-base hits and pounded out 14 hits overall to hold off the visitors from St. George, Utah, who fall to 18-12 overall.

 

Mier, who hit two balls to the warning track for long fly outs in his second and third at-bats of the game, got it over the left-field wall in the sixth for a three-run home run, which put the Warriors ahead 12-7. Mier also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to give him a game-high four RBI on the night.

 

Beau Mills and Kyle Greene added two-run blasts for the Warriors, who entertain Dixie State again in single games at 6 p.m. Friday and at 11 a.m. on Saturday to complete a string of nine games in nine days.
(Starter, Mike Miller, throwing in the 1st inning)

 

Greene's third home of the season, a two-run shot to left-center field, put the finishing touches on a four-run rally in the third, which countered a four-run top of the third for Dixie State. An inning later, Mills hit his team-leading 13th home run, which also finished off a four-run inning to help LCSC to a 9-4 lead. Mills finished the game 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored.

 

Brent Wyatt, who has been swinging a hot bat during the long stretch of games, added a solo home run in the bottom of the first to put the Warriors up 1-0. Wyatt finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored.

 

In all, the Warriors first five hitters, Mark Thompson, Wyatt, Mills, Mier, and Greene went 9-for-20 with 12 RBI and 10 runs scored. Zach Evangelho had the Warriors' other RBI and finished with two hits, as did Donnie Ecker, who also scored twice.

 

After taking a brief lead at 4-1, only to see the Warriors put up four runs apiece in the next two innings, Dixie State managed to keep the game close with three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh to cut the margin to 12-9.

 

Abe Candaleria hit a three-run home run for Dixie State in the sixth and finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Kyle Pratt and Ammon Zitting both went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Pratt also drove in two runs.

 

The Warriors used five pitcher on the night and although he gave up three runs and three hits in 3.1 innings of work, left-hander Matt Duryea (2-0) picked up the win for LCSC. Dixie State starter Skyler Southwick (3-4) took the loss after allowing eight hits and nine runs in four innings of work.
























(Right fielder, Eric Epperson, diving back to second base in the second inning versus Dixie State College)