Baseball | 03.18.2017

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CALDWELL, Idaho. – Dustin Pedrina hit his fourth career grand-slam home run to help the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team use the long ball to defeat the College of Idaho 10-2 in the first game of an NAIA West Conference doubleheader at Wolfe Field on Saturday.
 
Unfortunately for the Warriors, the pop in the bats wasn't quite there in the second game as LCSC fell to the Yotes 3-2.
 
The split leaves LCSC 12-8 overall and 5-3 in NAIA West play, while College of Idaho, which had dropped its previous nine games against LCSC, is 14-14 overall and 7-4 in conference play.
 
The two teams will wrap up the four-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m., PDT. LCSC took the series opener 8-1 on Friday.
 
In Saturday's opener, LCSC hit four home runs, including the grand slam from Pedrina, a junior outfielder. It was the first grand slam of the season for the Warriors and was part of a five-run fourth inning that broke open the contest. Seaver Whalen, Brock Ephan, and Gunnar Buhner added solo home runs for LCSC in the contest.
 
That offensive output was more than enough for Warrior starting pitcher Connor Brogdon, who pitched seven solid innings and improved to 3-0 on the season. He allowed four hits and two runs. He also struck out eight and walked only one. Anthony Balderus allowed two hits and struck out two over the final two innings.
 
After College of Idaho starting pitcher Anthony Martine retired the first seven batters he faced, Buhner clubbed his fourth home run of the season to right field for a 1-0 lead in the third.
 
In the fourth, Micah Brown drew a one-out walk and scored on a double by Ephan. Buhner followed with a double to shallow right-center to move Ephan to third and Logan Thompson drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Pedrina then got ahold of a fastball and dumped it over the left-field fence for a 6-0 lead. Pedrina, the Warriors' leadoff hitter, leads the team in RBI with 24.
 
Ephan hit his first home run as a Warrior an inning later for a 7-0 lead.
 
College of Idaho put its two runs on the board in the bottom of the inning on Hunter Hansen's RBI triple. Hansen then scored on a wild pitch.
 
LCSC added three runs in the seventh. Whalen started the scoring with his fourth home run of the season. J.J. Robinson followed with a single and Brown drew a walk. Both moved up a base on a balk, and Ephan picked up his third RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to center. On the play, College of Idaho center fielder Austin Van Horne tried to get Brown advancing to third, but his throw wound up getting past the third baseman and the error allowed Brown to score.
 
Ephan finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Buhner was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. The No. 7-9 hitters in LCSC's lineup combined to go 5-of-10 with four RBI and five runs scored.
The second contest belonged to the pitchers as LCSC's Gage Burland and College of Idaho's Niall Manning managed to get out of a few jams. Both teams finished with six hits and the Yotes left eight on base while LCSC stranded seven. The big difference were two LCSC errors.
 
For the first time in the series, College of Idaho had the lead as it scored twice in the first inning. Johnny Hyland led off with a single and with one out, Cole Mansanarez hit a sharp grounder that LCSC shortstop Whalen fielded running to his right. He tried to throw out Hyland at second, but his throw went into right field instead, which put runners on second and third. After a strikeout, the Yotes picked up the two unearned runs on a single by Van Horne.
 
College of Idaho made it 3-0 in the third with its final run. Mansanarez started the rally with a double and scored on a single by Van Horne, who finished 2-for-4 in the game with all three RBI.
 
The Warriors got on the board against Manning in the fourth with their fifth home run of the day, this time it was designated hitter Evan Douglas who went deep for his fourth home run of the season. That made it 3-1.
 
LCSC's second run came in the fifth inning when Cooper Goldby singled and was replaced by courtesy runner Chase Hafer. A single by Pedrina moved Hafer to third and he scored on a single by Whalen. The Warriors, however, left runners on first and third.
 
Yotes' reliever Riley O'Brien picked up his second straight four-inning save. He allowed only one hit in the final four innings and he retired the last eight batters he faced.
 
No Warrior had more than one hit in the contest. Whalen did extend his consecutive game hit-streak to 10, while Pedrina increased his to eight.
 
Burland (1-2) went six innings and allowed five hits and three runs, only one of which was earned. He walked two and struck out seven. David Wilson pitched the final two innings and allowed a hit and two walks. He struck out one.
 
Following Sunday's game, the Warriors will stay in the Treasure Valley to take on Northwest Nazarene, an NCAA Division II school, on Monday and Tuesday in single games.