SALEM, Ore. - Crushing four home runs and nine extra-base hits, the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team set a season high for runs by thumping Corban University 22-0 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play on Friday.
 
The win was the 18th straight – all in conference play – for the Warriors, who are ranked No. 7 in the latest NAIA poll. LC State is 20-1 in league play and 27-2 overall, while Corban falls to 10-11 and 11-21.
 
The contest marked the 10th straight game and 21st time overall this season LC State has scored in double figures. LC's 19 hits tie for the second-most hits in a game this season, only trailing 21 collected earlier this season against the College of Idaho.
 
Senior first baseman Brock Ephan continued his hitting tear as he went 3-for-3 with four RBI and three runs scored. Aidan Nagle went 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. The pair also homered in the game and remained tied for the team lead with 10. Luke White went 2-for-6 with three RBI.
 
"Offensively, we did damage early with two strikes and two outs," LC State Coach Jake Taylor said after the Warriors scored nine times with two outs in the contest. "The production continued throughout the game from our entire lineup."
 
Not to be outdone, four LC pitchers combined on a seven-hit shutout with eight strikeouts. Sophomore right-hander Trent Sellers (4-1) pitched six innings and allowed five hits and a walk, and struck out five. Jacob Bogacz and Joe Ball each pitched a hitless inning and recorded a strikeout, while Cameron Smith allowed two hits and recorded a strikeout in the ninth.
 
"Trent was a bit erratic early but got better as he went," Taylor said. "Bogacz, Ball and Smith all came in and were able to throw up zeros."
 
LC State wasted little time to get rolling Friday. Ephan's RBI double with two outs in the top of the first got the scoring underway and Nagle followed with a three-run home run to center for a 4-0 lead.
 
Ephan's three-run blast to left-center field in the third put LC ahead 7-0. Matt James and Dalton Harum both went deep with two-run home runs in the fifth for an 11-0 advantage.
 
After a throwing error allowed LC two runs in the sixth, the Warriors made it 17-0 in the seventh with four runs. Jack Johnson hit an RBI double and Coy Stout added an RBI single.
 
LC's final five runs came in the eighth thanks to three Lewiston products. White had a two-run single, while Alex Light added an RBI double and Jackson Fuller an RBI single. The other run scored on an error.
 
Despite having 11 CCC games remaining, the Warriors magic number to clinch the regular season conference title is two. LC State can clinch the title Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of Corban. The two teams meet in a noon twinbill and then finish the four-game series on Sunday with a single game, also at noon.
 
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