Josh Ashenbrenner drove in four runs and Tyler Lichty made an impressive debut with a three-hitter to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team defeat Corban College 6-0 in the rain-delayed championship game of the Regence BlueShield of Idaho Tournament at LCSC’s Harris Field on Sunday.

The contest, which was played in a constant rain, was stopped after the sixth inning for a 1 hour and 11 minute rain delay with LCSC ahead 1-0. The field was covered with a tarp and because the contest was close, the Corban coaching staff wanted to finish the game. However, when the rains did not let up and the forecast called for continued showers through the evening, the contest was resumed despite it raining harder than when the contest was stopped.

LCSC proceeded to put up five runs in the seventh and roll to the victory to improve to 3-1 on the season, while Corban fell to 4-3.

College of Idaho claimed third place in the tournament by defeating Concordia 6-5 before the rain hit. College of Idaho is now 2-2 overall, while Concordia is 1-3.

In the title game, both teams collected only one hit through the first three innings as both starting pitchers looked sharp. Lichty, a junior college transfer from Lower Columbia Community College, was especially impressive in his Warrior debut. He struck out seven and allowed just three hits, all singles. He also walked one. Of his 85 pitches, 60 were for strikes.

Reliever Cody Fassold took over after the rain delay and allowed one hit and three walks in the final three innings to earn the save. He also struck out four.

The shut out was the second straight for the Warrior pitching staff, which hasn’t allowed a run in 18 straight innings and has held three of the team’s four opponents to one run or less.

Corban starter, freshman right-hander Craig Baker also was sharp. He went six innings and allowed four hits and a run. He also struck out two and walked two. Baker retired the first eight hitters he faced before Kevin Lovelace doubled with two outs in the bottom of the third. Baker, however, got Jason Hague to foul out to end the threat.

Todd Muecklisch grounded out to start the fourth inning for LCSC, but Ashenbrenner, a senior from Kirkland, Wash., smacked a Baker offering over the center field fence for his second home run of the season and the eighth of the tournament for the Warriors for the lone run before the rain delay. The Warriors eventually put runners on first and second in the inning, but left them stranded.

The Warriors did their damage in the seventh inning with five runs on five hits off new pitcher Quinn MacNab. With one out, Gino Casini, Lovelace, and Hague hit consecutive singles to produce a run. Todd Muecklisch then reached on a fielding error to load the bases and Ashenbrenner followed with a three-run double down the right-field line. Ashenbrenner is 6-for-14 on the season with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI.

Hague, who went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI in the leadoff position, improved his team-best batting average to .571. Loveless added two hits and it at .500 for the season. In all, LCSC hit .338 for the tournament while it held opponents to a .203 batting average with a 1.00 ERA.

Josh Warner, Kyle Taylor, Trevor Winsor, and Nate Hiebert had singles for Corban.

LCSC will play host to another tournament this weekend when five teams take part in the Guardian Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Tournament at LCSC’s Harris Field on Thursday through Sunday. Joining LCSC will be Linfield, Central Washington, St. Martin’s, and Western Oregon. All teams will play four games in the round-robin tournament, which starts with LCSC against Linfield on Thursday at 1 p.m.

C of I 6, Concordia 5

Ray Santiago, Alex Reyes, and Gavin Gamboa hit consecutive run-scoring singles in the bottom of the eighth inning to help College of Idaho rally past Concordia for third place.

The Yotes entered the eighth trailing 5-3 but put together four hits and a hit batter to push across three runs.

Santiago and Gamboa both had two hits and two RBI apiece and Santiago also scored two runs and had a solo home run in the contest. Tony Flanagan went 3-for-4 with an RBI to pace Concordia.