Wyatt and Lester homer to propel Warriors over College of Idaho 8-3

2-15-08

LEWISTON, Idaho – Brent Wyatt connected on a three-run home run to break a tie in the sixth inning and Ikaika Lester (shown left) added a two-run blast in the eighth to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team defeat the College of Idaho 8-3 in the opening day of the Regence BlueShield of Idaho Tournament at LCSC’s Harris Field on Friday. 

In the other game on Friday, Mayville State of North Dakota opened its season with a 7-5 win over College of Idaho. 

LCSC is now 4-1 on the season and three of the wins are over the College of Idaho.  The Coyotes are 2-4 on the season. 

The Warriors, the two-time defending NAIA champions and ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, scored single runs in each of the first three innings to grab a 3-0 lead. Nic Benton singled in the first and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Lester, while Travis Georgius doubled and scored on Benton’s sacrifice bunt in the second to make it 2-0. Wyatt walked in the third and eventually scored on a single by Sean Halton. 

The damage could have been worse because the Warriors stranded six base runners in the first three innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the third.  

College of Idaho used a solo home run from Richie Snider in the fourth to break an eight-inning scoreless streak by LCSC pitcher Matt Fitts to begin the season. Last week, Fitts threw five scoreless innings against the Coyotes. 

College of Idaho tied the game in the sixth with Snider again providing the key blow.  After Fitts issued two walks with one out in the sixth, Snider doubled off the wall in center field to score two runs. 

The tie, however, was short-lived. In the bottom of the inning, Kyle Melton’s one-out single was followed by a walk to Josh Ashenbrenner. Wyatt then hit his first home run of the season, a shot to right-center field, to put the Warriors ahead 6-3. 

Lester then added his first homer of the season with one out in the eighth inning when his blast cleared the left-field fence. The hit scored Wyatt, who started the rally with a one-out single. 

Wyatt finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored. He was the only LCSC player with more than one hit. Lester was 1-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored, while Melton went 1-for-2 with two runs scored.

Fitts (shown left) improved to 2-0 on the season, but gave up three runs, three hits and two walks in six innings. He also struck out five. Justin Mace allowed two hits and a walk over the final three innings, but struck out five to earn the save. 

Chris Larson (0-1) took the loss for College of Idaho. He allowed five hits and five runs in three innings. Jake Bottari pitched the first five innings and gave up five hits, four walks and three runs. 

Both teams will be back in action on Saturday in the tournament. College of Idaho and Mayville State will play at 10 a.m., followed by Whitworth and Lewis-Clark State at 12:30 p.m. Mavyille State and Whitworth then meet at 3 p.m. Action concludes on Sunday with Mayville State and LCSC at 10 a.m., followed by College of Idaho and LCSC at 1 p.m.