LEWISTON, Idaho – With dominant pitching by senior Mike Noteware and 17 hits, including seven doubles, the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team roared to its second win of the season on Saturday afternoon at Harris Field. The No. 8-ranked Warriors toppled Concordia (Ore.) 15-0 on day two of the NAIA West Tournament.
“I thought Mike Noteware did a very good job,” said first-year Warrior head coach Jeremiah Robbins. “After he got settled down a little in the first, he came in and competed very well.”
Noteware (pictured above), a 6-foot right-hander from Tujunga, Calif., threw six scoreless innings, surrendering only two hits while striking out three. He needed just 68 pitches to mow through Concordia’s lineup.
“We didn’t want to get him above 70 (pitches),” said Robbins, who says pitch counts will be monitored closely in the early portion of the season. “Take away that first inning and I think his pitch count would have been even lower than that. It was his first start of his senior year, and he might have been a little bit nervous, but he had good offense to back him up today.”
The Warriors (2-0) put six runs on the board in the second inning thanks to four hits, two walks, and a Cavalier error. Right fielder Cody Lavalli started the inning off with a double and came back around to hit a two-run single later in the inning.
LCSC’s bats quieted down for the next few frames before erupting for four runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. Left fielder Jake Shirley highlighted the seventh-inning rally with a two run double, while Eric Peterson came off the bench to add an RBI double in the seventh and a one-run home run in the eighth.
“I like the way we swung the bats again today. We had a good approach and stuck with it for the most part.”
With an 11-1 win over British Columbia on Friday, the Warriors have scored more runs in their first two games than any season since 2000 when they scored 27.
Six Warriors finished with multiple hits on Saturday. Center fielder Tariq Staton led with three.
Noteware, who improves to 1-0 after going 9-3 last year, was backed by relievers Seth Haehl and Sal Arena. Haehl threw two scoreless, and Arena, who is considered the team’s closer, pitched a perfect ninth.
Concordia (2-3) finished with six hits and came closest to scoring in the eighth inning when Jimmy Sanchez lined a single to left field. The drive looked capable of scoring the runner from second, however, Shirley threw a one-hop strike to home plate to nail the runner there, and then catcher Will Thorp threw to third to catch the runner who was trying to advance from first to third. The double play ended the threat and the inning.
Prior to the LCSC-Concordia game on Saturday, British Columbia (1-2) fell to the Cavaliers 7-5. Concordia scored six runs in the eighth inning to pick up the win.
The three-team round-robin event will close with two games on Sunday. The Warriors face British Columbia at 11 a.m. and Concordia at 2 p.m.
Concordia 7, British Columbia 5 (box score)
Lewis-Clark State 15, Concordia 0 (box score)
