LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 2 Warrior Baseball team closed out the series sweep of the College of Idaho on Monday with a 9-4 victory.
Isaiah Thomas and
Dominic Signorelli combined to drive in six of LC's nine runs in the contest.
LC State is 11-3 overall with the win. The series does not count towards the Cascade Conference record.
"Dallas (McGill) gave us a quality start today that set the tone for the final game," Head Coach
Jake Taylor said. "Offensively, we came out swinging and then sat on the lead. We need to continue to improve on playing hard for all nine innings of a game. Overall, it was nice to sweep a very offensive and extremely well-coached C of I team."
The Warriors gained an early advantage with two runs in the first and one in the second. Doubles by Thomas,
Sam Olsson and Signorelli had LC up 2-0 after the first frame.
Dallas McGill worked a quick 1-2-3 top of the second with two strikeouts, and three straight two-out singles by
Isaac Haws,
Carter Booth and Thomas made the lead 3-0 through two innings.
McGill fanned two more to start the third and the Warriors added to the lead in the home half of the inning. Olsson led the frame off with a double and Signorelli drove in courtesy runner
Jordan Justice with a base hit to right.
Jakob Marquez doubled to left to push the advantage to 5-0.
C of I struck for its first runs of the contest in the top of the fourth with three hits to plate two runs. The Yotes threatened once more in the fifth before
Jake Green came on in relief to end the inning.
Green worked a quick top of the sixth with three fly outs and LC added an insurance run in the bottom of the frame on C of I pitching mistakes. Thomas was hit by a pitch and took second on wild pitch. An error moved him to third and a balk brought him across to make it 6-2.
Jonah Hultberg cut the lead to two in the top of the eighth with a two-run blast over the batter's eye and Taylor handed the ball over to
Cameron Smith who ended the inning.
Thomas belted a ball over the wall in left center after a free pass put Booth on to push the LC State advantage out to 8-4 in the bottom of the eighth. Signorelli cleared the scoreboard with a solo shot to give the Warriors a 9-4 cushion heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Smith closed out the game to earn the save and Green was awarded his first win of the season. Starter McGill struck out seven in his 4.2 innings, Green fanned two in three innings and Smith struck out one in 1.1 innings of work. LC walked only one batter.
Thomas went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI, and Signorelli was 3-for-5 with three RBI. Olsson and Marquez each tallied two hits.
UP NEXT
The Warriors host Eastern Oregon in a four-game non-conference series March 4-5. Both days will feature doubleheaders at Harris Field.
Stay up to date on all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com or on social media @LCWarriors.
