KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Despite a career day for an upperclassman finding his offensive groove as the regular season finale grows near, the Corban University Baseball team dropped both games of today's doubleheader in the Klamath Basin to Oregon Tech, falling 15-5 in a run-rule shortened game one followed by a 16-8 series finale loss. On the season, the Warriors and Hustlin' Owls split their eight head-to-head matchups, with Corban narrowly edging out Tech 4-3 in Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) contests.
"We really struggled on the defensive end today," shared Corban head coach Ryan Harris. "Game one our problem was keeping the ball in the yard and being able to command multiple pitches. Game two, we really struggled in the field to make the routine plays and keep us in the ball game. I like where our offense is trending going into the last two weeks of the conference play, just need to patch up some things defensively and fight until the end of games to give ourselves a shot to get into the postseason."
While the Warriors' (14-28, 10-19) offense continued to tee off on the Oregon Tech (22-20, 14-15) pitching staff, their own defensive efforts both on the mound and in the field were inconsistent when compared to yesterday's opener, as the Hustlin' Owls' offense rattled off 31 runs across 16 innings of action due to a game one run-rule result today. The Dubs scored first and led by multiple runs in both matchups, but were unable to hang on to their leads throughout the late innings.
The silver lining of the day came via the bat of junior leftfielder Lucas Mertlich, who led off the Corban lineup for the first time all season and gave Harris all the reason to leave him there the remainder of the year by registering the first Warrior cycle in well over a decade. He blasted the first pitch of the game to the right field corner for a standup double, then singled to the opposite field in the second before a fourth-inning triple that would turn into a little league home run put him an actual longball away from the cycle. In the top of the seventh, Mertlich hammered a 1-2 pitch deep over the right field fence to clinch his historic day at the plate.
Mertlich scored three runs and tallied two RBI on his 4-for-4 cycle to lead the Navy and Gold offensively in game one, while redshirt sophomore rightfielder Sean Shaffer plated five RBI off two hits in the series finale, scoring a pair of runs himself along the way. Junior catcher Kaden Bruns reached base three times, twice via a base knock, with senior Chase Elliott scoring all three times as his courtesy runner.
Every pitcher that took to the mound today for the Dubs was tagged for runs that either they were responsible for or another member of the bullpen allowed on before they took charge of the rubber, as Tech's lineup slashed base hits all over their home field Monday afternoon. Senior Robert Hayes Jr. and redshirt freshman Josh Allen accepted the losses in games one and two against their season records, respectively.
For Tech, starting pitcher Aiden Lundquist tossed a complete game effort in the opener after allowing five early runs to secure the win, while reliever Enrique Perez was credited with the game two non-conference victory after starting pitcher Hayden Van Acker was tagged for seven runs in 4.0 innings by the Corban reserves. Offensively, third baseman Cal Pickhardt drove home three runs off two bombs to left field, part of a five-homer game for the Owls in the finale CCC contest.
With their five-week road trip finally put to rest, the Warriors will return home for their senior weekend celebration when they're scheduled to host Warner Pacific University (16-26, 9-20) beginning on Friday, April 17th at 2pm with the first of two doubleheaders.
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