LEWISTON, Idaho – An onslaught of base hits from the No. 7-ranked squad in the NAIA proved to be a difficult hill for the Corban University Baseball team to climb today at Harris Field, as Lewis-Clark State College tallied 25 runs across the 16 innings played to hand the Warriors an 18-3 and 8-1 set of decisions to open their four-game Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) series.
"Got beat today in a lot of aspects of the game, we're going to regroup and try to play more aggressively tomorrow," Warriors' head coach Ryan Harris briefly explained.
The Navy and Gold (11-17, 7-9) led early in game one before LC State (20-3, 12-3) teed off for 18 runs across the next four innings, all of which came around to score earned as the home team lineup tallied an impressive 20 base hits in the opening contest alone. Game two featured a legitimate pitchers' duel through five frames, yet the Corban offense was stymied by a 3.0 inning save by Lewis-Clark State reliever Levi Anderson who allowed just one baserunner across his long relief outing.
Corban's best outing on the mound today came in game four, as senior reliever Joshua Pedronan tossed 3.0 innings out of the pen where he allowed just one run off two hits and a pair of strikeouts. Every other visiting Warrior to throw from the mound today was charged with at least one run per inning pitched.
Senior centerfielder Chase Elliott, redshirt sophomore JC Klee, and senior first baseman Peyton Rickard all produced multi-hit outings today at the plate, with Elliott, Klee, and junior leftfielder Lucas Mertlich all securing at least one base hit in both contests. Redshirt sophomore rightfielder Sean Shaffer tallied two RBI to lead all Navy and Gold student-athletes in the offensive category.
LC State designated hitter Jackson Jaha finished today's doubleheader 7-for-9 at the plate with five runs scored and two RBI to lead all batters, with pinch hitter Cayden Wotipka blasting a grand slam in game one for the day-high four RBI tally.
The two Warrior squads will meet twice more tomorrow before Corban returns to the Willamette Valley, with first pitch times scheduled for 11am and 2pm at Harris Field.
Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter (X) l Instagram l YouTube l Email
