LEWISTON, Idaho – The offense stayed hot for No. 5 LC State with two dominant wins over the visiting Bushnell University Beacons on Sunday. The Warriors matched their home run total from Saturday with seven, hitting two in the first game and five in the second, capped by a grand slam by
Pu'ukani De Sa.
LC had strong starting pitching from seniors
Dawson Day and
Eric Chavarria, and all 12 seniors were recognized in between games of the twin bill sweep.
"Overall, we were very offensive this weekend," Head Coach
Jake Taylor said. "Tremendous pitch recognition, entire field approach and two-strike hitting; it was great to see this time of year."
GAME ONE: LC State def. Bushnell 11-3
Similar to Saturday's contest, Bushnell opened the game with a two-run blast. Day settled in in the second and struck out the side before the Warriors put up three runs in the home half of the inning.
Nick Seamons got the ball rolling by reaching on an error, and
Matt James walked before both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Coy Stout evened the contest with a two-RBI single to right center, then scored on a double by
Aidan Nagle to put LC State in front.
Justin Mazzone showed off his arm behind the plate in the top of the third when he cut down his second runner of the game at second base.
Luke White and Seamons pulled off a double steal in the third to push the lead to 4-2, and Day struck out the side in order in the top of the next inning.
Back-to-back singles by
Riley Way and Nagle in the fourth were followed by both
Sam Linscott and White getting hit by a pitch to bring in a run. Mazzone sent a sacrifice fly to deep center to grow the advantage to 6-2.
Day struck out two more in a 1-2-3 fifth, and Seamons led off the home half of the inning with a solo shot for his third home run of the weekend to make it 7-2.
Cameron Smith took over on the mound in the sixth and struck out his first two batters and faced the minimum in the seventh.
The Warriors added on the in the seventh with a rally sparked by a single by James. He scored on a ball hit by Stout, then came in on a home run by Way.
A walk and stolen base by Linscott started the bottom of the eighth, and the senior came around to score on a single by White.
Eli Shubert got the Warriors out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth with three strikeouts.
Way led LC with three hits, Nagle had two and Stout drove in three runs. Day fanned 11 in his eighth win of the season and gave up two runs.
Cameron Smith,
Lucas Gregory and
Eli Shubert all followed in relief.
GAME TWO: LC State def. Bushnell 16-6 (8 innings)
A.J. Davis legged out an RBI-single in the bottom of the second to score Seamons and put LC up 1-0. Bushnell evened things up with a sacrifice fly in the next half inning.
Back-to-back homers by
Zach Threlfall and
Sam Linscott put the Warriors back in front in the bottom of the third. White singled and scored on a double by Mazzone to keep the momentum going, and an error put Seamons on base. Seamons stole second and a throwing error on the play allowed Mazzone to score from third.
Davis kept the runs coming with an RBI-groundout and
Matt James walked. Way doubled to drive in James and grow the margin to 8-1.
Linscott singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth and came around to score on a double to left center off the bat of White.
Joe Ball took over on the mound in the sixth and gave up an unearned run, but a solo shot by De Sa got the run back in the seventh.
The Beacons added four in the eighth, but the Warriors wasted little time answering when
Joe Canty drove the first pitch of the inning over the wall in center field for the first home run of his career.
Charlie Updegrave, Stout and James all walked to load the bases, and De Sa called game with a grand slam to bring the run rule into play. His second home run in as many innings ended the game at 16-6.
Linscott, Canty, White, Mazzone and De Sa each had two hits in the game, and De Sa had five RBI.
Chavarria went five and gave up one run, striking out five without a walk. Ball and
Greg Blackman came out of the bullpen to finish the game.
UP NEXT
With the top seed locked up, the Warriors will host the Cascade Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, at Harris Field May 9-11. A full preview will be available later this week once seedings are confirmed.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
