LEWISTON, Idaho – Strong outings from Tyrell Poggemeyer and Cody Fassold helped the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team roll to its ninth straight win on Thursday. The Warriors muted Azusa Pacific University 5-1 to take game two of the four-game series.
The win lifts LCSC to 26-2 overall, and drops APU to 13-17. The two teams will wrap-up the series with a doubleheader starting at noon on Friday. Fans are reminded that the annual Warrior Easter Egg Hunt at Harris Field will be held after the second game.
Poggemeyer (photo) and Fassold made LCSC’s job on offense a lot easier on Thursday. Poggemeyer started the game and notched four strikeouts and surrendered just one run and five hits over six innings to earn the win, while Fassold kept the Cougars scoreless for the remainder of the game to grab his second save of the season.
Poggemeyer, who is now 2-0 in 10 appearances with a 0.92 ERA, danced out of trouble with an unconventional double play in the second inning, but had relatively smooth sailing through the first five. The twin killing came when Warrior center fielder Jason Hague outran a deep fly ball to left-center and doubled-off a Cougar running who had gone from second to home with the crack of the bat.
In the sixth, a single by Ryan Henley followed by a steal, wild pitch, and a single up the middle by Josh Leite plated the Cougars’ only run.
Fassold took the ball to start the seventh and made quick work of APU over the final three frames. He allowed just one hit and had four strikeouts.
While Azusa Pacific’s offense was being quieted, LCSC’s offense, although far from deafening, made just enough noise to get the job done.
After a three-up-three-down attempt for the Warriors in the first inning, Pat Murray extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a leadoff single in the second. The next batter walked, and the next two were hit by pitches to score a run. This brought Connor Moore to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs, and the sophomore from Spokane, Wash., came through with a single up the middle to score two more. LCSC ended the inning with runners stranded on second and third.
Hustle from Gino Casini and small-ball tactics helped LCSC plate its final two runs.
In the fourth, Casini led off with a single through the left side. He then stole second, advance to third on a fly out to right field, and scored on a ground out to the right side by Moore.
In the sixth, Casini again led the inning off with a single and a swipe of second base. This time, a wild pitch advanced him to third, and a ground ball through the legs of the second baseman brought him home.
LCSC had seven hits on the day including the two from Casini and two from Murray. Casini scored three of the five Warrior runs, while Moore was responsible for driving in three. LCSC had only one extra-base hit in the game, a two-out double by Travis Georgius in the eighth.
Leite led Azusa Pacific with two hits in the game. The Cougars left seven runners on base to LCSC’s nine.
Surrendering five runs (four earned) over five and one-thirds innings, starter Michael Oeser was tabbed with the loss. The right-hander gave up six hits and had two walks and two strikeouts. Tim Lu pitched the final two and one-thirds innings, allowing one hit and no runs, and strucking out two.
