This Week In Warrior Athletics

April 23, 2007

EVENTS: 

Baseball – at Oregon Tech, Tuesday, April 24, 3 p.m., Klamath Falls, Ore; at Oregon Tech (2), Wednesday, April 25, 11 a.m., Klamath Falls, Ore.; at Corban, Friday, April 27, 4 p.m., Salem, Ore.; at Corban (2), 11 am., Saturday, April 28, 11 a.m., Salem, Ore.

Men’s and women’s golf – Frontier Conference Tournament, Salt Lake City, Monday-Tuesday, April 23-24.
 

Baseball: 

The Warrior hit the road for six Region I games this week and the best start in school history within reach.

LCSC stands 38-3 overall, equaling the 1983 squad, which also had the same record at 41 games. That team started 40-3 before it lost its fourth game.

That record is reachable as the Warriors play the bottom two teams in the Region I standings this week in Oregon Tech and Corban. The two are trying to claim the fourth and final spot in the Region I playoffs, but both are at least four games behind Concordia in the standings and need victories over the Warriors to stay alive in the playoff hunt.

LCSC leads the Region I standings at 18-1, while British Columbia is second at 15-4. The two teams had two games of an earlier series in Vancouver, B.C. rained out and those two games could possibly be made up next week when UBC comes to Lewiston for a series, which will wrap up Region I play for LCSC.

Although the Warriors could have the region title wrapped up by then, British Columbia and Albertson College are battling for second place and the right to hold the regional tournament. Because LCSC is guaranteed a berth in the Avista NAIA World Series, it will not play host to the region tournament. That honor will go to the second-place team. If Albertson can catch UBC by the time the Canadian school visits Lewiston, the scheduled three-game series between UBC and LCSC will likely become a five-game series.

First for the Warriors, however, is a three-game series against Oregon Tech, which is 5-19 in Region I play and 7-24 overall. LCSC has owned OIT this year, outscoring it 40-7 in the three games played at Lewiston in late March.

The two teams will play a single game on Tuesday at 3 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Wednesday at 11 a.m. LCSC then heads to Salem from Klamath Falls to meet Corban in a three-game series. The two play a single game on Friday at 4 p.m., and an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Saturday.

Oregon Tech did win two of three games from Corban over the weekend. OIT is hitting .247 as a team and has been outscored 216-123 this season.

Corban, 5-18 in region play and 11-28-1 overall, snapped a 13-game losing streak by beating Oregon Tech on Sunday. Corban only scored more than five runs once during that stretch and was either shut out or held to one run on five occasions. Corban is hitting .287 as a team, but its pitching staff has an earned run average of 7.10. Corban has been outscored 297-181 this year, including 34-5 in a three-game series against the Warriors in Lewiston.

LCSC, the top-ranked team in the NAIA, has outscored the opposition 421-115 this season. The team is hitting .343 while averaging better than 10 runs a game. The pitching staff is holding opponents to a .218 batting average and has a 2.38 ERA.

Senior shortstop Mark Thompson is now tied for eighth on the LCSC single-season stolen base list with 26. The record is 42 set by Mike Lester in 1975.

Junior third-baseman Beau Mills has a 20-game hitting streak, just 10 shy of the school record. He also has 23 home runs, which ranks him fourth. His next home run will tie him with Doug Blume for No. 3 on the list. Jim O’Dell holds the record with 30.

 Paul Martin, a sophomore outfielder, is coming off a big week in which the Warriors went 4-0. Martin went 7-for-14 with eight runs scored and five RBI. He hit two home runs and two doubles, and went 4-for-4 in stolen bases.

Chris Kissock leads the pitching staff with a 10-0 record. Relief pitcher Will Morgan has pitched 44 innings and a 0.61 ERA.

After the UBC series, LCSC will have three games left in the regular season, two against Linfield at home, and the finale against Washington State in Pullman. 

Region I standings – LCSC 18-1, 38-3; British Columbia 15-4, 17-11; Albertson 14-10, 24-13; Concordia 9-14, 14-23; Corban 5-18, 11-28-1; Oregon Tech 5-19, 7-24.

Golf: 

The Warrior men are trying to keep a grip on first place, while the Warrior women are looking to make a big move in Westminster’s portion of the 54-hole Frontier Conference regular-season tournament on Monday and Tuesday.

The tournament features 36 holes on Monday, with the final 18 on Tuesday.

Each team in the conference plays host to a 54-hole regular-season event. The Montana schools had their tournaments in the fall, while LCSC and Salt Lake are holding their tournaments in the spring. This is the last regular-season tournament in the conference.

Entering this final tournament, the LCSC men have the overall lead at 3,548. Montana Tech is second, 17 shots behind, at 3565.

On the women’s side, only two conference teams have fielded full teams for each conference tournament. Rocky Mountain has the advantage with a 3,200 total, while LCSC is 23 shots back at 3,223.

All conference teams will head to Christian Lake, British Columbia for the Region I Tournament, set for April 30-May 1.