SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – No. 5 LC State opened its weekend at Bushnell (Ore.) with a doubleheader split on Friday. The Warriors edged the Beacons 4-3 in game one before the Beacons outlasted LC State in 15 innings to take game two 4-3.
The split moves the LC State record to 32-5 overall and 24-5 in Cascade Conference play.
GAME ONE: No. 5 LC State def. Bushnell 4-3
LC State put runs on the board early with a walk to
Brandon Nguyen and back-to-back singles by
Jackson Jaha and
Noah Weintraub to lead off the game. A base hit by
Izzy Madariaga plated a run and kept the bases loaded, and a walk to
Bo Stinson made it 2-0.
Evan Canfield worked a scoreless bottom of the first, but a pair of solo shots by the Beacons tied the game after two innings of play. Bushnell struck for an unearned run in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead.
LC State answered in the top of the fifth.
Bryce Johnson was hit by a pitch and consecutive singles by Madariaga and
Sam Weber loaded the bases. Johnson scored on a balk to tie the game 3-3.
Levi Anderson came out of the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh and worked a quick 1-2-3 inning and the Warriors regained the lead in the next half inning.
Kooper Jones led off the seventh with a base hit through the left side and was lifted for courtesy runner
Spencer Zeller. A wild pitch and sacrifice bunt by
Payton Smith moved Zeller to third, and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nguyen made it 4-3 in favor of LC State.
Anderson struck out a pair in the bottom of the eighth before
Jordan Lennartson took over on the mound with a runner on. The closer worked around a base hit in the ninth to maintain the lead and end the game.
STAT RECAP
Madariaga led the Warriors with three hits in the contest and Weintraub tallied two.
Anderson earned his first win of the season after 1.2 innings of work with two strikeouts and Lennartson earned his CCC-leading fifth save.
GAME TWO: Bushnell def. No. 5 LC State 4-3 (15 innings)
After a quick first inning on the mound for
Mason Goodson, LC State went to work at the plate in the top of the second.
Cade Westerlund and
Ryan Prescott each earned free passes before a base hit by Smith drove in the first run of the game.
Mason Goodson was dominant on the mound and the offense added to the lead with a solo shot by Nguyen in the top of the fifth.
The run proved to be important as a pair of hits by Bushnell in the Beacons' half of the sixth cut the difference to 2-1.
Jackson Cloud took over on the mound in the seventh and held the Beacons off the board through the next two innings.
Down to its last out, Bushnell struck for a run in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of hits to tie the game 2-2.
Weintraub put the Warriors back on top with a home run in the top of the 11
th inning, but the Beacons rallied for a run in the home half of the inning to tie things up 3-3.
Bushnell threatened in the bottom of the 12
th with two on and one out, but a clutch strikeout by
Joey Estrada got the Warriors out of a jam and sent the game to the 13
th inning. The Beacons had two on with one out again in the 14
th and Estrada induced a double play to end the frame.
A triple and walks to Bushnell batters in the bottom of the 15
th proved costly as the Beacons took the extra-innings contest with a walk-off base hit.
STAT RECAP
Offensively, Jaha, Madariaga and Weintraub each had two hits.
Goodson tossed six innings with six strikeouts and one run allowed and Cloud threw five with two runs given up. Estrada surrendered just one run on three hits in his 3.2 innings, but took the loss on the walk-off.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
