Blaine Hardy and Justin Mace combined on an eight-hitter and Sean Halton hit his first home run as a Warrior to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team win its seventh consecutive game with a 4-3 win over Dixie State at LCSC’s Harris Field on Friday night. 

The contest was the opener of a three-game series between the Warriors, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA with a 13-2 record, and the NCAA Division II Rebels, who are 10-7 overall. The two teams meet again on Saturday at 2 p.m., and then at noon on Sunday. The two teams also will play a three-game series in St. George, Utah on April 4-6. 

LCSC also had its consecutive inning errorless streak reach 33 innings, the top mark in over a decade, before a fielding error in the fifth inning brought it to an end. The streak started in the seventh inning against Western Oregon and then went through three consecutive games and two outs in the fifth inning before the error was made. 

Hardy improved to 2-1 on the season in the tight contest. He pitched seven innings and allowed seven hits and three runs. He also struck out four and walked one. 

Mace again looked sharp and picked up his fourth save in LCSC’s last five games. He pitched two innings and allowed one hit and one walk, but struck out four. The hit and the walk, combined with an error, came in the eighth inning when Dixie State loaded the bases but a fly out ended the threat. Mace then struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the win. 

The two teams went back-and-forth early in the game as Dixie State scored solo runs in the top of the first and third, but LCSC answered to tie the game in the bottom of each inning. 

After a fielder’s choice grounder pushed across the Rebels first run, LCSC tied the game in the bottom of the first when Nic Benton and Brent Wyatt singled, and an error on a ground ball allowed Benton to score. 

In the third, Dixie State used a triple and a ground out for a 2-1 lead, but the Warriors again evened things when Wyatt walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Paul Martin’s RBI single to left.

The Warriors then scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Halton, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound junior, smacked a solo home run over the left-field fence in the fourth. Consecutive singles by Paul Martin and Ikaika Lester started the rally in the fifth and a grounder by Kyle Greene allowed Martin to score. 

Dixie State used three hits, including an RBI single by Jimmy Dever, to produce a run in the seventh, but stranded two on base in the inning. 

For the game, Dixie State left 10 on base, while the Warriors stranded eight. LCSC collected 11 hits in the game, but Halton’s homer was its only extra-base hit.  

Benton, Martin, and Mickey Pingree finished with two hits apiece for the Warriors, while Klint Anderson paced Dixie State with a double and a triple. 

Dixie State pitcher Cody Hansen went the distance to fall to 1-2 on the season. He allowed 11 hits in eight innings and struck out three with two walks.