HERMISTON, Ore. – The Corban University baseball team earned a crucial road Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) series win with a pair of triumphs on Sunday against Eastern Oregon University. The Navy and Gold rode an exceptional pitching effort from Zack Simon to a 3-1 victory in game one, outhitting the Mountaineers in a thrilling 13-9 slugfest in the finale.

"I'm proud of the guys today," said head coach Derek Legg. "It's huge to grind back after a disappointing game one yesterday, and it's always big to win a conference road series."

The two victories were starkly different, with timely offense and dominant pitching serving as the key in game one.

Simon continued to showcase elite stuff on the hill, tossing eight innings, striking out seven, and allowing no earned runs. He was credited with the win (3-2), lowering his season ERA to a measly 2.31.

Braedyn Chong came in and shut the door for the Navy and Gold, closing out the ninth to earn his first save of the season.

A defensive miscue from Mountaineer left fielder Kagen Kennedy allowed Morgan Hostetler to score in the fourth, accounting for the Warriors' first run in the battle. The Mountaineers would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame, knotting the game at one.

An RBI single from Estenio Sede—part of a two-hit day for the Corban shortstop—put the Navy and Gold back in front in the seventh, and he would eventually come around to score on another error from the EOU outfield.

That would be more than enough cushion for Simon and Chong, who held the Mountaineers to just five total hits in the contest.

In contrast to Sunday's low-scoring opener, the series finale was a slugfest. The Warriors struck early and often, scoring the game's first five runs.

Maxwell Jeffrey was responsible for two of those, roping a third-inning RBI single and fifth-inning RBI triple. Kyle Clay followed up that run-scoring three-bagger with an exclamation point, plating Jeffrey with a two-run blast to left for his first homer of the season.

Carrying a 5-0 lead at the midway point of the contest, it appeared as if everything was going to be smooth sailing for the Warriors. A shaky bottom of the fifth completely turned the tide of the game, however, as the Mountaineers rattled off six runs to capture the lead.

Warrior starter Tanner Lundberg—who had thrown exceptionally well in the first four frames—began to lose command in the stanza, walking in a run and forcing in another with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.

Jackson Arnsdorf then came in to try to limit the damage, but Mountaineer backstop Elliott Marks would rope a bases-clearing double to tie the game. Garrett Beckman then drove him in with an RBI single, providing EOU with its first lead of the day.

The resilient Warriors would take it right back, however, when freshman Chris Grayson made the most of his first collegiate start by blasting a go-ahead two-run shot to left, making it a 7-6 ballgame in the top of the sixth.

Eastern Oregon tied it in the bottom of the stanza, but Corban once again bounced back with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, this time courtesy of a two-run single from Dakota Fingar.

After the Mountaineers managed to tie the game once more in the bottom of the eighth, Fingar struck again in the top of the ninth with another two-run base hit, helping spark a rally that would help the Warriors pull away for good. A couple batters later, Justin Tow followed that up with a two-RBI single of his own, giving the Navy and Gold valuable insurance in the wild back-and-forth contest.

In an unconventional weekend—which featured a matchup with the conference's newest squad, a late change of venue, and a crazy finale—Sunday's results serve as a testament to the Warriors' talent and their persistency.

Corban (7-17, 6-6 CCC) will now enjoy a bye weekend before returning to the comforts of home on March 27-28, when the Oregon Tech Owls (8-14, 3-5 CCC) visit Volcanoes Stadium for a pivotal four-game set.