LACEY, Wash. – After a 45-minute rain delay in the first inning, the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team pushed 10 runs across the plate in the sixth to roll to a win over Saint Martin’s University on Tuesday. Led by four hits apiece from Connor Moore and Trent Bridges, the Warriors defeated the Saints 15-3.
Tuesday’s game wrapped up a four-game road trip for the Warriors during which they went 2-2. The trip first took them to Vancouver, British Columbia for three games against UBC and featured a whole lot of rain and not a whole lot of Warrior offensive production. In Lacey on Tuesday, the rain was still an issue for the Warriors, but scoring runs was not.
Lewis-Clark State had 15 hits in the game including six hits in the big sixth inning rally.
Moore, the lead-off batter, did a good job of setting the table for the Warriors as he reached base five times and scored a season team-high four runs on the day. Bridges drove in three runs with his 4-for-4 effort.
In all, four Warriors had multiple hits and four drove in multiple runs. Garrett Patterson, playing in just his second game of the year and making his first start, went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in; Kevin Lovelace had three runs and three RBI; and Brian Gaylord went 2-for-4 with a home run (fourth of season), two runs scored, and two runs batted in.
With more than enough run support, LCSC starter Zach Hull cruised to his third win of the season. The lefty, now 3-0, went six innings, gave up just four hits and one unearned run, and struck out five.
Saint Martin’s began the game with back-to-back walks to the first two Warrior hitters, who eventually would come around to score about an hour later as heavy rain coupled with a wind caused the delay.
When the two teams returned to the field, Bridges lined a double down the left field line to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
A leadoff triple by Kyle Baskett led to one Saint’s run in the third, but LC responded in the fifth via a two-out, two-run single by Patterson to bring the score to 4-1.
The Warriors’ sixth inning fireworks began with a double by Moore, was filled with walks and hits including a three-run double by Lovelace, and was capped with Gaylord’s two-run blast to left-center.
The win improves LCSC to 13-5, while Saint Martin’s, an NCAA Division II school, drops to 9-11. The Warriors are now 50-5 against the Saints all-time, and have won 24 of the last 26 meetings.
The Warriors are scheduled to play their next seven games at home starting with Whitworth University at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. On the weekend, they’ll play single games against Central Washington University at 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
