ATHERTON, Calif. – The Corban University baseball team wrapped up their season opening series at Menlo College this afternoon. The Warriors earned their first series win defeating the Oaks 7-1 in the first game of the day, before eventually ending in a 5-5, extra inning tie, due to darkness, in game two. The Warriors return home with a 2-1-1 record after their opening weekend.
"It was great to get back on the diamond this weekend," said Corban head coach Derek Legg, "I am excited about this group, and we will look to continue to take strides towards our goals this week in practice."
The Navy and Gold jumped out to an early lead in the first contest for the second day in a row. The Warriors scratched an unearned run across in the top of the first inning and immediately followed that with two runs in the second, courtesy of a Brad Pellkofer RBI walk, and a Cale Thompson sacrifice fly.
From there, the offensive attack added on insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings to extend the advantage. In the seventh, catcher Keenan O'Brien drove in a run with a bases loaded walk and rookie outfielder Brad Pellkofer tallied his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly of his own.
The final dagger to the Oaks chances came with two outs in the eighth inning. Newcomer Nainoa Ka'ahanui nestled a 2-RBI single into left field scoring Thompson and Brian Landon to push the Warrior lead to 7-1.
The early offense provided a solid cushion for right-hander Nate Martin who drew the start for the Navy and Gold. Martin went three scoreless innings before turning the ball over to experienced arms in the Corban bullpen. From there, veterans Jacob Bowser and Drew Scherrer scattered five hits over the next six innings to hold the Oaks offense at bay and close out the win. Bowser was credited with the win in the contest, while Scherrer earned his first save of the season.
Game two, which was scheduled to be a seven-inning affair, was eerily similar to yesterday's second game. The Oaks got out to an early lead scoring one run in the first inning, another in the second, and three more in the third to roll out to a 5-0 advantage through three innings of play.
After the rocky start, the Warrior bullpen combination of Evan Olson, Braedyn Chong, and James Arend delivered strong first appearances of the campaign.
On the other side, the Warriors were held hitless until the fourth inning and struggled to string together any offensive production through their first six innings.
The Navy and Gold entered the seventh and final inning trailing by a score of 5-0, but the squad showed no quit with their backs against the wall. The rally started with an Aidan Bunn single off the first base bag to begin the inning. The next hitter, Nainoa Ka'ahanui promptly singled in Bunn, who had advanced to second via wild pitch, to get the Warriors on the scoreboard for the first time in the game. From there, the Warriors reeled of several quality at-bats and the comeback was on. Freshman infielder Ryan Clay earned his first collegiate base hit, veteran Maxwell Jeffrey earned a gritty, pinch-hit walk to load the bases with nobody out. From there, outfielder Brad Pellkofer delivered a clutch opposite-field double scoring both Ka'ahanui and Ryan Clay to cut the deficit to just two, with still no outs in the inning.
After a Menlo pitching change, the heart of the Warrior order delivered as Kyle Clay laced an RBI single to right field scoring Jeffrey, and moving Pellkofer to third base to eventually be knocked in via a Cale Thompson sacrifice fly and to tie the game at five.
The Warriors turned to sidewinder Trevor Szczepanek in the bottom of the seventh to keep the contest tied and he delivered a 1-2-3 inning, forcing the game into extra innings.
Both teams would go down scoreless in the eighth inning before the game was deemed a tie due to darkness.
It was a promising debut for the Navy and Gold as they earned the series victory. The pitching staff allowed just six earned runs across the four games, meanwhile the offense tallied 21 runs on the weekend.
Corban (2-1-1) will have a quick turnaround as the squad leaves for Surprise, Ariz. on Wednesday. The Warriors are slated to take on Ottawa University-Arizona in four game set with one game Thursday (2/10), a doubleheader Friday (2/11) and a series finale on Saturday (2/12).
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