KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The weekend's Cascade Conference series between No. 8 LC State and Oregon Tech ended with a 2-2 split after a 9-7 victory by the OIT Owls on Sunday. The contest was a back-and-forth battle with runs being scored in all but three innings.
The loss has the Warriors' overall record at 19-9. LC State is 9-3 in CCC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Jadon Williamson started his outing with two strikeouts in the bottom of the first before LC State put up the game's first run in the second. Dominic Signorelli doubled to lead off the frame and took third on a wild pitch. Pu'ukani De Sa plated the run with a sacrifice fly.
OIT capitalized on LC pitching miscues after a leadoff double and three free passes tied the contest. Hiroyuki Yamada came out of the bullpen and surrendered a pair before striking out a batter to end the inning with the Warriors trailing 3-1.
An error put Nick Seamons on base in the top of the third. Back-to-back singles by Charlie Updegrave and Jake Gish brought LC State within one. Doubles by Brandon Cabrera and Sheward evened the contest in the fourth.
The Owls regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. OIT struck for a pair of two-out doubles to plate a pair before Eli Takalo was handed the ball out of the bullpen. He induced a fielder's choice to get the Warriors out of the inning.
The LC State offense responded in the fifth to tie the contest once again. Gish and Signorelli drew walks and Cabrera was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Sheward grounded into a fielder's choice to bring in a run and De Sa kept things going with a base hit. Leo Rivera tied things up 5-5 with a sacrifice fly.
OIT threatened with the bases loaded in the home half of the fifth. Jake Green took over on the mound with one out and turned a 1-2-3 double play to escape the jam.
The Warriors took advantage of Owl errors as the back-and-forth continued in the sixth. Seamons reached on an error before taking second on a botched pickoff attempt. A groundout moved him to third and a two-out double by Signorelli put LC State in front 6-5.
Green, Dallas McGill and Kolby Solomon combined to hold OIT scoreless in the seventh.
Carter Booth legged out a bunt single and Seamons followed with a base hit of his own to put two on. Updegrave tallied the third straight single of the frame before a groundout by Jakob Marquez plated a run to make it 7-5 in the eighth.
Free passes hurt the Warriors in the bottom of the eighth. Two walks and a hit batter paired with two hits put the Owls back on top 9-7. OIT maintained the lead through the final inning.
LC State went through eight pitchers in the contest with the loss going to Zachary Ediger.
Updegrave, Signorelli and Cabrera each had two hits and Sheward drove in two runs.
UP NEXT
The Warriors host College of Idaho in a four-game Cascade Conference series April 5-7. First pitch at Harris Field is set for Friday at 6 p.m.
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