McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Slugging a season-high five home runs, the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team held its own home run derby in a 13-3 win over Concordia University on Thursday afternoon. LCSC’s hot streak continues as it has now won seven straight.
The home runs of Paul Martin, Sean Halton, Bernard Pena, Matt Allen, and Bryson Tajiri helped the Warriors put 15 hits on the scoreboard, score in seven different innings, and hit a home run in four consecutive innings. Entering Thursday’s contest, Halton was the only one of the five home run hitters to have a homer under his belt.
Warrior pitchers Tom Peale and Stephen Foster put the clamps down on Concordia’s hitters allowing just seven hits while striking out 10. Peale threw the first six innings and gave up two runs to earn the win, and Foster, in only his third appearance of the season, eased through the last three innings to earn his first save.
Allen got the round-trip hitting contest started when he knocked a solo shot to left center to put the Warriors on the board in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the second, Concordia use two hits including a two-run double by Mike Dickman to gain a 2-1 lead, its only lead of the game.
Then with the score 4-2 in the fifth, Halton muscled a home run down the left field line to plate three runs. An inning later, Martin led-off with a stroke to left field that landed on the other side of the fence. In the seventh, Tajiri, playing in his second start and fifth game of the season, drove in two with a blast to left center. And, last but not least, Pena brought two more runs in with his long ball to left field in the eighth.
Not to be outdone, Concordia’s Danny Brown drilled a home run to left field in the ninth, but it was way too little way too late for the Cavaliers who now fall to 11-21 on the year.
Tajiri and Allen led LCSC’s hit totals with three apiece, while Halton, who has a team-leading eight home runs this season, had a game-high four RBI to go with his two hits. Martin and Josh Ashenbrenner also had two hits each.
The win gives the Warriors an 18-6 record as they now travel to Lacey, Wash., to face Saint Martin’s for three games. The series starts with a 2 p.m. game on Friday, and continues with 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday.
