LEWISTON, Idaho – Catcher Billy Silvestri smacked three doubles and drove in four runs to lead the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team’s pounding of Dickinson State on a sunny afternoon at Harris Field on Monday. The Warriors scored five runs in the second inning and six in the seventh to win by a final score of 14-1.
Starting for the first time this season, Silvestri, a junior from Huntington Beach, Calif., made the most of the opportunity by going 4-for-5 on the day.
“He hasn’t had a chance to play a lot, but he got the chance today and did well,” said LCSC head coach Gary Picone. “I was happy for him.”
Silvestri (photo) seemed to be at the center of all of the Warriors’ offensive rallies against Dickinson, an NAIA school from North Dakota. He had an RBI and one of the team’s five hits during the five-run outbreak in the second, plated the Warriors’ two runs in the fifth with a double down the left field line, and then had another double down the left field line to score one of LC’s six runs in the seventh.
The Warrior record for doubles in a game is four, set by D.J. Kooken against Eastern Oregon in 2005.
Overall, LCSC, now 8-1 on the season, had 15 hits on the day including three from Jake Eccles, and two apiece from Kevin Lovelace and Jason Hague. Lovelace also finished with three RBI, and Hague stole two bases.
All the offense ended up feeling like a little bit of an overkill, however, because Warrior pitchers Anthony Armanino and Casey Edelbrock kept the Hawk hitters from getting much of anything going.
Armanino pitched the first four innings and, with the exception of the first inning, cruised most of the way. He surrendered three hits and run in the first, but then held the Hawks to just two hits for the next three frames. He struck out five.
Edelbrock earned the win by keeping Dickinson scoreless for the following four innings. He surrender just two hits, and struck out three.
Dickinson State, now 0-3, had seven hits in the game and left 10 men on base. Justin Elizondo and Derek Carley led with two hits each. The Hawks used three pitchers with starter Tucker Slagle being tabbed with the loss.
The two teams will play one more time on Tuesday, with the first pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
