Warriors defeat Oregon Tech in series opener

  4-24-07

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Beau Mills hit his 24th home run of the season and extended his hitting streak to 21 games to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team defeat Oregon Tech 15-8 on Tuesday in the opening game of a three-game NAIA Region I series. 

The win was the 11th straight for the top-ranked Warriors, who are now 39-3 overall and 19-1 in Region I action. Oregon Tech Falls to 7-25 and 5-20. 

Mills hit a grand-slam home run in the second inning jumped out to a 9-1 lead and cruised from there. Mills leads the NAIA in home runs and is now tied for third on the LCSC single-season home run list with Doug Blume, who hit 24 home runs in the 1979 season. The all-time school record is 30 held by Jim O’Dell. 

Mills finished 1-for-4 at the plate with five RBI. 

Mike Rivera added three RBI and accomplished the unusual task of hitting for the sacrifice fly cycle. He had a sacrifice fly to left field, center field, and right field, all of which drove in a run. He finished 1-for-2 at the plate with three RBI. 

Zach Evangelho went 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Jessie Mier was 2-for-5 with two RBI. 

In all, the Warriors collected 15 hits, eight of which went for extra bases. 

Oregon Tech knocked around Lewis-Clark State pitchers to an unusual degree, collecting 13 hits. 

Oregon Tech roughed up Will Morgan (3-1) in his first start of the season, tagging the junior right-hander for nine runs on seven hits through six innings. The junior right-hander, who typically shares L-C's late-game relief duties with Brian Parker, struck out eight, but saw his ERA more than double, rising to 1.26.

The Owls got three runs and four hits off reliever Brian Bird, who worked the final three innings.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Wednesday beginning at 11 a.m.