March 10, 2008

Baseball hits the road for six games; basketball teams await pairings

BASEBALL

Riding a nine-game win streak and the No. 1 ranking the NAIA, the Warriors hit the road for only the second time this season to play six games in a five-day stretch.

The Warriors 15-2 overall, take on College of Idaho, 8-6, in a noon doubleheader on Tuesday at Simplot Stadium in Caldwell. The two also will meet in a 2 p.m. contest on Wednesday.

LCSC then will head to Salem, Ore., for a three-game series against Corban College, which is 5-7 on the season heading into a game on Tuesday against Western Oregon. LCSC and Corban will meet at 1 p.m. on Friday and then play a doubleheader at noon on Saturday.

The games kick off a stretch of 17 straight contests against NAIA Region I opponents for the Warriors. Like last year, however, the Warriors must play a 30-game schedule against Region I foes, but their games do not count in the Region I standings. Region I consists of College of Idaho, Corban, Oregon Tech, British Columbia, and Concordia of Portland, and all will play six games against each other in Region play – three on the road and three in home.

College of Idaho actually handed LCSC one of its two losses this season. The teams have played four times and LCSC won the first three contests by scores of 10-0, 4-3, and 8-3, but then fell 3-2 on Feb. 17, which is the last time the Warriors have lost.

LCSC also owns an impressive streak over College of Idaho at Simplot Stadium. LCSC has won the last 11 encounters there, dating back to the 2001 season. The Coyotes did defeat LCSC at Boise’s Memorial Stadium in 2002 and ’03.

The Warriors lead the NAIA in batters struck out per game at 9.0, and also is No. 3 in innings pitcher per game at 8.93. The Warriors also are ninth in at-bats per game at 33.5, which becomes even more impressive considering the Warriors have not batted in the ninth inning in 14 games.

LCSC is hitting .339 as a team and has outscored the opposition 141-68 this season. Opponents are hitting just .229 off Warrior pitchers and are just 6-of-15 in stolen bases. LCSC is 10-of-13 in stolen bases.

Among the regulars, Paul Martin is leading the team with a .426 average. He is one of four Warriors with two home runs this season and leads the team with 16 RBI. Josh Ashenbrenner is hitting .383 with 11 RBI, while Sean Halton is at .382.  Although he’s cooled off of late, Ikaika Lester is hitting .321 with 15 RBI. Lester has appeared in all 17 games for the Warriors this season while Brent Wyatt is the only Warrior to start every game. Wyatt is hitting .367 and leads the team with 22 hits. He also is one of four players tied for third in RBI with 11.

LCSC has a team ERA of 3.55, while opponents have an ERA of 7.85 against LCSC. Justin Mace leads the team in appearances (7) and saves (4), and is 1-0 with a 1.53 ERA. Matt Fitts leads the team in innings pitched at 23, but was rocked in his last outing and has a 5.48 ERA. He’s struck out a team-best 26, but also has walked a team-high 14.

The Warriors owned Corban College a year ago, posting a 6-0 mark and outscoring Corban 53-8 in those games. 

BASKETBALL

The Warrior men’s and women’s basketball teams will learn about their future this week when the 32-team field for the NAIA national tournaments will be announced Tuesday, and then the pairings for the first round will be announced Wednesday.

Both teams qualified for their respective national tournaments by winning the Frontier Conference tournament titles in Butte, Mont., last week. Both teams were the top seeds in the tournament on the basis of winning the conference’s regular-season titles. The Warrior men actually finished in a four-way tie for the top spot in the regular season, but earned the No. 1 tournament seed based on the conference’s tiebreakers.

Both national tournaments run March 19-25. The women’s national tournament will be played in Jackson, Tenn., while the men’s tournament is in Kansas City, Mo.

TENNIS

The Warrior men’s and women’s tennis teams will warm up for their California trip during Spring Break by playing host to Spokane Community College in matches this week.

The women’s team, 5-2 overall with both losses coming against NCAA Division I schools, will meet SCC Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the LCSC Indoor Tennis Center, while the men’s team 9-5 overall, will play SCC on Thursday at 3 p.m. The men have lost to four NCAA Division I teams as well as UC Santa Cruz, the defending NCAA Division II champion.

The LCSC women a road trip to California coming up March 18-21 where they will meet No. 4 Vanguard, No. 6 Azusa Pacific, and No. 12 Point Loma Nazarene, as well as Concordia. The men make the same road trip and will face No. 1 Azusa Pacific, No. 8 Concordia, No. 13 Point Loma, and No. Vanguard.