PORTLAND, Ore. – No. 21 LC State Baseball opened its four-game series with Warner Pacific (Ore.) on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of the Knights. Warrior pitching struck out a combined 26 batters between the two games, including 16 in game one.
Both
Brandon Nguyen and
Sam Weber tallied five hits on the day to help LC State outlast WPU 5-4 in 12 innings of game one, and 7-2 in game two.
The victories improve the Warrior record to 10-2 overall and 3-2 in Cascade Conference play.
GAME ONE: No. 21 LC State def. WPU 5-4 (12 innings)
Evan Canfield struck out five through his first three innings, but an error helped WPU get on the board in the bottom of the fourth for a 1-0 lead. LC State answered in the next half inning to jump in front.
Ryan Prescott, Nguyen and Weber notched three straight doubles to put the Warriors up 2-1. A solo shot by Warner Pac's Mitchell Thoma-Britt evened the game in the bottom of the fifth.
Jace Taylor took over on the mound in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the first two batters he faced before striking out the side in the eighth. He worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
LC State regained the lead in the top of the 10
th. Nguyen singled to center and stole second to be in scoring position for an RBI double off the bat of
Jackson Reed. WPU took advantage of a passed ball to tie the game 3-3 in the home half of the 10
th.
A Warner Pacific error put the Warriors in front in the top of the 12
th. Weber singled and Reed walked to put two on, and both scored on an error on a ball hit by
Kason O'Neil to make it 5-3.
The Knights struck for a run in the bottom of the 12
th, but
Jordan Lennartson shut the door to earn the win in game one.
STAT RECAP
Nguyen and Weber each tallied three hits in the contest and Reed and
Bryce Johnson each had two.
Lennartson earned the win on the mound after he gave up one run on one hit in 2.1 innings. Canfield tossed six innings with seven strikeouts, and Taylor fanned seven in his 3.2 innings of work. The Warriors struck out 16 batters.
GAME TWO: No. 21 LC State def. WPU 7-2
Nguyen put the Warriors on the board with a home run to start the game and the offense continued to roll from there. Weber followed with a hit and took second on a passed ball. He scored on a base hit by
Izzy Madariaga for a 2-0 lead after half an inning.
Landon Webb worked a scoreless three frames before LC State added on at the plate.
Jackson Jaha doubled to lead off the top of the fourth and
Kooper Jones doubled to put two on.
Spencer Zeller and Nguyen tallied back-to-back hits to drive in a run before the pair pulled off a double steal that had Zeller cross home plate to make it 5-0.
A pair of WPU hits plated the first run of the game for the Knights, but Webb settled back in for the fifth with a pair of strikeouts.
Cayden Wotipka opened the seventh inning with a double to left and scored on a triple by Jones to add to the advantage.
Payton Smith took over on the bases for Jones and scored on a base hit by
Jordan Justice to grow the lead to 7-1.
A solo shot in the bottom of the seventh cut the difference to 7-2 and Estrada closed out the contest without another WPU run to earn the three-inning save.
STAT RECAP
Jones led LC State at the plate with three hits and Zeller drove in two runs. Nguyen, Weber, Madariaga and Zeller each notched two hits.
Warrior pitching fanned 10 batters without a walk in game two between Webb and
Joey Estrada. Webb struck out six in his six innings and Estrada tallied four in the final three frames.
UP NEXT
The Warriors wrap up the series with Warner Pacific on Sunday with a doubleheader set for 11 a.m.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
