SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The No. 5 Lewis-Clark State baseball team traveled to Southern California on Thursday to begin a five-game road trip, starting with a single game against the No. 25 Westmont Warriors. Kody Garvin went deep and Jeff Bart had a strong 3-for-4 day at the plate, but LC pitching couldn't hold up against the Westmont offense as LC fell 7-1.
 
Westmont's Grant Gardner had a strong day on the mound, with his only blemish being the Garvin home run. He struck out six in seven innings, gave up one hit and walked one. Kody McLain tossed the final two innings and struck out five.
 
"Gardner kept us off balance at the plate for seven innings and McLain shut us down for the final two," coach Jake Taylor said. "We didn't stick to our approach and need to get more competitive with two strikes."
 
Westmont struck first with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first to get a run off starter Lalo Porras. Third baseman Luke Coffey cranked a solo shot in the home half of the second to grow Westmont's lead to 2-0.
 
Porras' struggles continued into the bottom of the fourth when Travis Vander Molen ran out an inside the park homerun to put Westmont up 3-0. Andrew Najeeb-Brush took over on the mound in relief and got LC out of the inning by forcing a pop up.
 
Garvin sent a no-doubter over the right field wall to get LC on the board with his first home run of the season. His big fly cut the deficit to 3-1 in the top of the fifth.
 
Vander Molen struck again in the home half of the sixth with his second home run of the game, this time with the ball leaving the field of play. Westmont brought in two more in the inning and led 6-1 after six.
 
Dalton Duarte reached on a hit-by-pitch before Jeff Bart sent his third single of the day up the middle to put two on with one out, but Westmont escaped the top of the seventh unscathed.
 
Matt Becker took over on the mound in the bottom of the seventh and held Westmont off the board, but the Warriors from Santa Barbara struck for one in the eighth and led 7-1.
 
LC was unable to respond in the top of the ninth and fell to 2-3 on the season.
 
Bart had a strong day at the plate, going 3-for-4 on three singles. Garvin had the lone RBI for LC with his solo shot in the fifth. Zach Needham and Duarte also notched hits in the contest.
 
Porras took the loss, giving up three runs in three and two-thirds innings. He struck out five and walked three.
 
The Warriors continue their road trip as they head to Lancaster, Calif. to take on No. 7 Antelope Valley. The four-game series begins with a single game at 1 p.m. tomorrow.