SALEM, Ore. – The Corban University baseball team came up against a formidable foe in No. 19 Lewis-Clark State College on Friday afternoon at Warrior Field, and despite throwing two of its top pitchers, Corban fell 8-1 in game one, and then 16-6 in game two.
Overall between the two Warrior squads, L-C State has now won eight straight games against Corban.
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the first frame, but L-C State pitcher Ty Jackson led off the second inning with a homerun to center field to nab the early advantage. The road squad would add one more later in the frame via a sacrifice fly.
Corban pulled one back immediately in the bottom half of the second when senior first baseman Daniel Orr (Kingston, Wash.) blasted a shot to deep center field off the wall for an RBI triple, scoring senior second baseman Stockton Taylor (Brewster, Wash.) on the play.
L-C State tacked on another in the third, but Corban thought it had halved the deficit in the fourth inning when junior right-fielder Nic Coffman (Portland, Ore.) launched a shot to deep right-centerfield, but L-C State's Raymond Pedrina leaped and robbed Coffman of a sure-fire homerun, bringing the ball back with an incredible over-the-wall catch.
L-C State followed that up with a two-run shot in the fifth, extending the lead to four runs.
Corban almost scored its second of the game in the fifth, but another good defensive play from L-C State negated Corban's opportunity as Orr was gunned down at the plate from left field.
L-C State's Jackson helped his own cause in the seventh frame, hitting an opposite-field three-run homer to give the road side the 8-1 advantage.
From that point on, Jackson closed the door on Corban, throwing a complete-game for L-C State. He finished the day scattering nine hits and giving up just one run, striking out a season-high nine in the process.
For Corban, Guzzon went seven innings while allowing eight hits and eight runs. He also struck out four batters along the way.
At the dish, senior Peter Martin (Toledo, Wash.), Taylor, and Orr all tallied two hits for Corban. For L-C State, Jackson went 3-for-5 at the plate with four RBI and two runs scored.
In game two, the road squad jumped in front in the first, and then Julian Ramon hit a solo shot in the second to put L-C State up 2-0.
Michael Sexton then laced a two-run homerun in the third frame for L-C State, doubling the lead.
Corban loaded the bases in the third frame with just one out, and after scoring its first run on a wild pitch, Coffman registered an infield RBI single later in the frame to pull Corban to within two runs.
In the fourth inning, the Navy and Gold saw senior center-fielder Marc Gallegos (Astoria, Ore.) and Orr blast back-to-back long-balls, with Gallegos sending his over the left-field wall, and Orr hitting his over the right-field fence, tying the contest at 4-4. For Orr, it was his first homerun of the 2015 campaign.
L-C State responded in a big way in the fifth frame, however, taking advantage of four Corban errors and ultimately scoring eight runs in the frame to take a 12-4 advantage.
The Navy and Gold pulled two runs back in the fifth frame, cutting the deficit to six runs. Lewis-Clark State though stayed hot at the dish, scoring three runs in the sixth inning.
L-C State would tack on one more in the seventh via a homerun, pushing the lead to 10 runs, and Corban would not score in the bottom half of the frame, ending the contest via the 10-run mercy rule.
Gallegos led the way with two hits and two RBI, while Coffman registered a 2-for-4 performance with one RBI. For L-C State, Cabe Reiten racked up a team-best three hits, while a slew of others registered multi-hit performances for the road side.
Adrian Martinez earned the win for L-C State in game two, pitching four innings while allowing just three hits and two runs, neither of which were earned.
Sophomore pitcher Daniel Aranda (Lebanon, Ore.) picked up the loss for Corban, throwing two innings while allowing six hits and eight runs, only four of which were earned.
"It was a very poor effort by Corban today," said Corban head coach Jeff McKay. "I am not sure why we were not ready to play. We got beat in all parts of the game. Credit Lewis-Clark State – they came to play. This is a tough league – if you are not ready to play, you are going to get beat badly, and that happened to us today."
Corban (21-21, 9-9 NAIA-West) is scheduled to return to action tomorrow against L-C State (29-10, 14-4 NAIA-West) for another doubleheader. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. Stay tuned for details and updates on the games in case of any delays or cancellations due to weather.
