Warriors do it all in romping past Air Force 16-1

 3-2-07

LEWISTON, Idaho – Brad Schwarzenbach (shown left) and Brian Bird combined on a two-hitter and Mark Thompson continued his hot streak at the plate to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team defeat Air Force 16-1 in the second day of the 52nd annual SPORT Banana Belt Baseball Tournament at LCSC’s Harris Field on Friday. 

In the earlier game at Harris Field, Gonzaga defeated Utah Valley 6-5. In two late games in Pullman, Washington State University played both Southern Utah and Air Force. 

With its victory over Air Force, LCSC improved to 11-0, which is the second-best start to a season for the Warriors in coach Ed Cheff’s 31 years at the helm. The Warriors went 17-0 to start the 1991 campaign. 

LCSC improved to 2-0 in the tournament with another dominating performance. LCSC has only had one close ballgame this season and has outscored opponents 108-23 this season. 

Schwarzenbach made sure Friday’s game wasn’t close by dominating the Falcon hitters. He allowed only two hits in six innings of work, one being a solo home run by Geno Salazar that temporarily tied the game in the top of the third at 1-1. Schwarzenbach also struck out 11 and walked win in picking up his first win of the season. 

Bird pitched the final three innings and allowed just a walk, while recording a strikeout. At one point, the Warrior pitching staff retired 12 consecutive hitters. 

Thompson made sure the Warriors’ offense didn’t stutter as he went 3-for-4 with four RBI and five runs scored. Thompson reached base in his first four appearances to the plate before Air Force was finally able to get him out. That ended a streak of 13 consecutive plate appearances that Thompson reached base, which covered the last three Warrior games. 

Air Force, 0-2 in the tournament and 4-9 overall, used four pitchers in the game and all were touched for at least one run. Gary Whiteman allowed solo runs in the first and third innings on ground outs by Paul Martin, both of which scored Thompson. 

The Warriors then broke the game open with a four-run fourth inning, and followed it with a seven-run fifth for a 13-1 lead. In the fourth, Ikaika Lester and Kyle Greene started the rally with consecutive doubles to produce a run, while Eric Epperson tripled in a run and scored on a ground out by Zach Evangelho. Thompson then hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot to center. 

In the fifth, seven hits and two errors did the damage. Thompson had the big hit again with a three-run triple, while Lester, Evangelho, and Rivera added RBI singles. Jessie Mier added an RBI triple for the final run. 

The Warriors kept rolling with a run in the sixth and two more in the eighth for their highest run total of the season. 

Martin, Bryson Tajiri, and Evangelho finished with two RBI apiece, while Epperson had three hits, and Mier and Lester two each. Mier batted in the cleanup spot for the Warriors, marking the first game Beau Mills has missed this season. Mills was the only Warrior to start in the first 10 games of the season. 

After Friday’s play, the tournament finishes up with the final two days, all at Harris Field. On Saturday, Air Force and Utah Valley open play at 10 a.m., followed by LCSC and WSU at 1 p.m. The final game features Southern Utah and Gonzaga at 4 p.m. 

On Sunday, Utah Valley and Southern Utah meet at 11 a.m., followed by Gonzaga and LCSC at 2 p.m. 

In Air Force’s 6-5 win over Utah Valley, the Zags improved to 2-0 in the tournament and 7-8 overall by scoring twice in the bottom of the eighth inning. Utah Valley, 0-2 and 2-8, had a one-run lead at 5-4, but Darin Holcomb’s RBI single tied the game. Gonzaga’s Ryan Wiegand appeared to hit into a doubleplay grounder back to the mound, but after recording the force out at second, Utah Valley shortstop Eli Slesk couldn’t get the ball cleanly out of his mitt and failed to get a throw off to first as the eventual winning run crossed the plate. 

Wiegand had two hits and two RBI to pace Gonzaga, while Dan Bulow had two RBI for Utah Valley.