KEIZER, Ore. – The Corban University baseball team put together a complete performance in a 7-1 victory over College of Idaho at Volcanoes Stadium on Saturday morning. It was an impressive team effort for the Navy and Gold in the squad's first home game of the 2022 campaign.

Game two of Saturday's doubleheader was canceled due to rain.

"I was pleased with our effort across the board today," said head coach Derek Legg. "Our pitchers did a nice job filling up the zone and we got timely hitting when we needed it."

It didn't take long for the Navy and Gold to strike, with leadoff man Brad Pellkofer and two-hitter Kyle Clay each reaching via singles to start off the bottom of the first. A sac bunt from Cale Thompson advanced them both into scoring position, and then some aggressive baserunning allowed Pellkofer to score on a sac fly from Kairos Torres-Umi that pushed Yote second baseman Jonah Hultberg deep into right field.

From there, Corban would manufacture promising scoring opportunities in each of the next three stanzas, but the Navy and Gold failed to conjure the big hit it needed to expand upon its advantage.  

Clay helped the Warriors finally buck that trend in the bottom of the fifth, hooking an RBI single into left via a beautiful piece of two-strike hitting, doubling Corban's lead to 2-0.

The Yotes got that run right back in the next half inning, helped by some defensive blunders by the Navy and Gold.

That unearned run was the only blemish on an exceptional effort from Mason Shaw on the mound, with the Warrior righty tossing seven innings and scattering five hits, while also striking out four in his third win of the year.

It wasn't until the bottom of the sixth that the Warrior bats finally broke out, putting together an impressive two-out rally to extend their lead to 4-1. After two quick outs in the inning, Scott Artzer drew a two-out walk. Morgan Hostetler then brought the speedy Artzer in to score with a timely opposite-field double into the left-center gap.

Immediately after that, Keenan O'Brien ripped another two-out knock into right field, bringing in Hostetler and pushing the lead to three.

The Navy and Gold broke it open in the bottom of the eighth, when a two-run single through the left side from O'Brien capped off an impressive battle at the dish from the Navy and Gold backstop. A textbook sequence of situational baseball culminated in an RBI sac fly from Zack Simon later in the frame, rounding out the Warriors' seven runs.

Trevor Szczepanek took the ball and relief and earned the save after two strong innings of scoreless work, striking out a pair of Yotes during that span.

Due to the inclement weather in the area, game two of Saturday's doubleheader was canceled.

The Warriors (7-4-1) and Yotes (9-8) will be right back at it tomorrow at Volcanoes Stadium, with first pitch of game one tomorrow slated for a new time of 9:30 a.m.