LEWISTON, Idaho – Tyler Barrett struck out 10 and Braxton Miller clobbered his fifth home run of the season to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team take down Saint Martin’s University 5-0 on opening day of the Guardian Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Tournament on Friday.
The win lifts the Warriors to a perfect 6-0 on the season as they dig in for four games in the next four days.
Barrett, a 6-foot-3 left-handed junior, cruised through the Saint’s lineup allowing just three hits and one walk. Second base was as close as Saint Martin’s came to scoring in the game.
Leadoff hitter Kevin Lovelace got things rolling for LC early with a line drive into left field to start the game. Three batters later, Miller knocked a single up the middle to give the Warriors a 1-0 edge.
The game stayed close until a clutch two-out, two-strike single in the fifth inning by Trent Bridges brought two runs in and gave LC some breathing room at 3-0.
In the sixth, a single by Jason Hague followed by a double off the wall in right-center from Cody Weiss added one more, and then Miller blasted one over the left field fence in the seventh to arrive at the game’s final score.
Miller, playing as the designated hitter, went 2-for-4 with two RBI and now has hit three homers in his last two games, and is leading the team with 17 runs batted, a .500 batting average (10-for-20), and a 1.350 slugging mark.
Hague finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and he also had a great diving catch on a line-drive hit in front of him in center field in the sixth.
Jorge Sanchez came in for Barrett and held the Saints scoreless in the eighth, and then Zach Clanton pitched the ninth and ended the game with a strikeout.
LCSC outhit Saint Martin’s 9-3.
The Saints are now at 1-8 on the season as their starter Tommy DeBoer went 5.2 innings and surrendered eight hits and four runs to be tabbed with the loss.
The tournament will continue with three games on Saturday and two on Sunday. Saturday’s slate pits Saint Martin’s against Linfield at 10 a.m., LCSC against Western Oregon at 12:30 p.m., and then Western Oregon against Central Washington at 3 p.m.
