PHOENIX, Ariz. – Not much went the way of Lewis-Clark State College Thursday morning as the Warriors fell 11-4 to Taylor University in a non-conference baseball game at the Coach Calderone Invitational at Arizona Christian University.
"We weren't ready to play this morning and flat got beat," said LC coach
Jake Taylor in summing up the 19
th-ranked Warriors' lackluster effort as they evened their early season record at 1-1. The Trojans remained undefeated at 5-0.
The Warriors batted just .171 and stranded five baserunners. They did have just one error but the pitching staff gave up 10 hits with
Cole Acosta taking the loss after coming in in relief of
Cameron Smith in the second.
Jeremy Rabauliman finished the game after replacing Acosta in the fourth.
Smith was given the baseball to make his Warrior debut and recorded a strikeout to end the top of the first inning. He struggled in the second, giving up four, before being lifted for Acosta who ended the Taylor rally with a ground out.
Brock Ephan launched the first home run of the season with a blast to left to put LC State on the board.
Zach Needham reached on an error and a balk moved him to second, and
Jack Johnson ripped a single up the middle top bring the score to 4-2.
Caden Goldby singled to left and a wild pitch moved Johnson to third.
Riley Way tripled into the left field corner and knocked in two runs to tie the game 4-4.
A leadoff walk in the top of the third gave rise to an RBI single to put Taylor back in front 5-4 before a flyout sent the Warriors back to the plate. Aiden Nagle collected a single to start the LC third but that was all the Warriors could muster with three successive outs (one fly out and two strikeouts) closing the inning.
Jeremy Rabaulima replaced Acosta in the top of the fourth after Acosta allowed one run to give Taylor a 6-4 edge. But Rabaulima immediately gave up three runs before getting the final out of the inning as the Trojans expanded their lead to 9-4.
The Warriors had just one hit the rest of the way – a single by Johnson in the bottom of the ninth, while Taylor added two more runs in the top of the final inning to claim the 11-4 decision.
