LA GRANDE, Ore. – The LC State bats tallied 30 hits in two games on Saturday to lead the No. 4 Warriors to a sweep of the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers. LC hammered six home runs and totaled 31 runs in the twin bill and leads the weekend series 3-0 heading into Sunday's finale.
"We were pretty consistent all day offensively," Head Coach
Jake Taylor said. "We showed power to all fields and had solid at-bats throughout the lineup."
Sam Linscott and
Justin Mazzone each collected five hits over the course of the day and the Warriors had solid pitching from start to finish.
"
Eric Chavarria and
Lucas Gregory gave us quality starts, and our bullpen worked with pace and pounded the zone."
GAME ONE: LC State def. Eastern Oregon 18-3 (7 innings)
The Warriors jumped in front early with a six-run first inning.
Riley Way and
Zach Threlfall drew walks to start the game before
Aidan Nagle put LC on top with a three-run blast.
Luke White walked and Mazzone singled to keep the momentum going, and an error on a ball hit by
A.J. Davis plated one.
Jack Sheward stepped to the plate and doubled to make it a 6-0 LC State advantage.
Eric Chavarria worked around a pair of base runners with two strikeouts to keep EOU off the board in the first.
Another four runs in the second put the Warriors firmly in the driver's seat. Threlfall led the frame off with a home run, and Nagle walked before a single by Linscott put two on. A double by Mazzone grew the lead by two before a base hit by Davis brought in one more. A sacrifice fly by
Pu'ukani De Sa capped the inning with LC ahead 10-0.
The Mounties struck for two runs on two hits in the bottom of the inning, but the Warrior offense continued to surge ahead. LC tallied a run without a hit in the fourth, and a two-run shot by Linscott made it 13-2 through five.
Sheward got the ball rolling for the Warriors in the sixth with a double to left. With two outs, Threlfall drilled a double of his own to bring in courtesy runner
Joe Canty, and Nagle walked to keep the inning going. Linscott lined a single up the middle to bring in one before White busted things wide open with a three-run homer to left, pushing the advantage to 18-2.
Back-to-back base hits for EOU in the sixth brought in a run for the Mounties, but two strikeouts by
Joe Ball in the seventh closed out the game.
Chavarria earned his sixth win after striking out four in five innings. He allowed one earned run, two runs total. Ball fanned four in two innings and allowed a run.
Linscott led the offense with three hits, while Nagle, Linscott and White each drove in three runs. Threlfall, Nagle, White, Mazzone and Sheward all had two hits.
GAME TWO: LC State def. Eastern Oregon 13-4
LC State took the lead in the second inning with three runs in the frame. Mazzone led of the inning with a single, and a double by
Coy Stout brought in the first run of the contest. Way was hit by a pitch before Davis doubled to bring in two more.
Linscott doubled to start the third and took third on a single by Mazzone. A base hit by
Matt James made it a 4-0 ball game.
Starter
Lucas Gregory held EOU scoreless through his four innings before turning the ball over to
Trevin Hope. The Mounties tallied a pair in the fifth to cut the lead to 4-2.
LC stretched its lead in the seventh with a three-run shot off the bat of Mazzone. Nagle and Linscott reached with free passes before Mazzone's bomb made it 7-2. A single by James was followed by an RBI-double by
Charlie Updegrave, and Stout drove in Updegrave with a flared single to right.
The Mounties fought back in the home half of the inning with a two-run home run by Elliott Marks.
The Warriors tacked on four in the eighth to put the game away. Linscott and White walked to start the inning and a fielder's choice brought in one. James homered in the next at-bat to bring in three and push the advantage to 13-4.
Eli Shubert struck out the side in both the eighth and ninth to end the contest.
Davis, Mazzone and James each had three hits in the game. Mazzone and James both drove in four.
Shubert was credited with the win after striking out six in his two innings.
The Warriors wrap up the series at EOU on Sunday at 11 a.m.
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