LEWISTON, Idaho -- Three home runs helped the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team pound Patten University 11-3 on Saturday at the Regence BlueShield of Idaho Tournament at LCSC's Harris Field. The win is the first for the Warriors in their 2009 campaign to win a fourth straight national title.
Unlike Friday’s 5-4 loss to Concordia when runs for the Warriors were few and far between, LCSC scored eight runs in the first three innings against the Lions and finished the game with 13 hits and four extra-base hits.
In his first start as a Warrior, as only two of the Warriors who started Friday’s game started on Saturday, Todd Muecklisch went 3-for-4 with four RBI, three runs, and a two-run home run to left center in the seventh. Vaughan Prow also pushed the Warriors’ run total as he went 2-for-2 and drove in three runs.
Lewis-Clark State started the game off with a bang—two bangs actually—when Rene Escobar and Kawika Emsley-Pai hit back-to-back solo home runs in the first inning.
In the second inning, LCSC used four hits, including a timely two RBI single from Prow, to score three more runs; and in the third, a double by Matt Allen, a single by Chris Lum, and single to right center by Muecklisch scored two more. Eventually, a dropped fly ball brought Muecklisch back around to score to make the score 8-1 by the end of the third.
The Warriors used three pitchers to hold Patten, which is from Oakland, Calif., to six hits.
Matt Stabelfeld pitched the first four innings and struck out seven while giving up only one run to earn the win. Tyler Knigge came to the mound in long relief and went four innings, and Brian Erickson threw six pitches in a three-up-three-down ninth to end the game.
Patten University scored its three runs in the third the sixth and the eighth as Jeremy Wells, Brian Peat, and Anthony Phillips finished with one RBI apiece. No Lion had more than one hit.
Both teams committed three errors each.
With the win LCSC moves to 1-1 in the tournament and 1-1 on the season, while Patten falls to 0-1 in the tournament and 0-7 on the year. This was the first meeting between the two teams in school history.
Tournament action continues on Sunday as Concordia takes on the College of Idaho at 10 a.m., Concordia will then face Patten at 12:30 p.m., and the Warriors will round out the day with a 3 p.m. game against Corban College.
