LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State College baseball team looked sharp at the plate, on the mound, and in the field and rolled to two wins against the College of Idaho in a doubleheader on Saturday. The Warriors snapped the Coyotes’ 12-game win streak by defeating them 8-3 in game one and then 7-1 in game two.
With 12 hits in the first game and 15 in the second, LCSC had 27 hits on the day including go-ahead home runs by Alfonso Casillas and Trent Bridges.
“We had a better approach at the plate all day,” said LCSC head coach Gary Picone. “When we have the right approach we can be a pretty good team.”
Beyond putting runs on the board, the Warriors also did a good job of holding a team that averages six runs per game to just four runs in two games.
Zach Arneson and Cody Garner shared the pitching duties for LC in game one with Arneson going 4.2 innings and surrendering two runs, and Garner pitching the final 4.1 to earn the win. Garner struck out four.
In game two, Cody Fassold struck out six and held the Coyotes scoreless for the first four innings before being relieved by Paul Anaya who pitched 1.2 innings. Jorge Sanchez threw the final 3.1 frames and earned the win as he gave up just one hit to go with one strikeout and no walks.
“I thought Sanchez, Fassold, and Anaya did a good job in the second game, and Garner came in and threw well for us in the first.”
The win lifts the Warriors to 16-6 overall and 6-5 in NAIA West play, and drops College of Idaho to 19-12 and 9-6.
Casillas, a junior who missed the early part of the season because of an injury, had the big hit in game one, a three-run bomb to left-center which put the Warriors ahead 3-2 in the fifth inning.
The home run seemed to be somewhat of a catalyst for LC’s offense as the team came up with three hits and three more runs in the sixth inning. The inning began with a bunt single on the third-base side by Gino Casini and was highlighted by a line-drive two-run single to left by Kevin Lovelace.
LCSC also added a couple of insurance runs in the later innings, one via a sac fly by Billy Silvestri in the seventh and another thanks to a double by Casillas in the eighth.
Lovelace and Casini finished 3-for-4 and Casillas went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in.
Izaac Garsez topped the Coyotes’ offensive efforts in the first game with two hits including a home run and two RBI.
In game two, Bridges, a junior and the Warriors’ usual third baseman, put his team on top early by blasting a 3-1 pitch over the left-field wall to make the score 1-0 in the first.
Then in the third, Brian Gaylord, a senior, took his turn at trotting around the bases by hitting a two-run shot over the wall in straight-away center field. Casillas followed this with a double, and Casini drove him in with a single through the right side to make the score 4-0.
The College of Idaho used a lead-off double by Todd Griffiths to work its way to a run in the sixth, but the Warriors answered with two runs on three hits in the eighth to keep the game out of reach.
Bridges was 3-for-5 with two runs scored in game two, while Casini went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Griffiths was the only Coyote with multiple hits in the game as he finished 2-for-4.
The Warriors had a very strong day in the field as they committed just one error on the day and had multiple web gems including a great diving catch by Connor Moore in the eighth inning of the second game. The center fielder used the full reach of his body to dive at and snare a line drive to the gap in right-center.
The two teams will wrap up the four-game series with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.
The two teams will wrap up the four-game series with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.
