GAME ONE
GAME TWO
PORTLAND, Ore.
– Looking like they were going to pick up two
Northwest Conference wins on Saturday afternoon, the Lewis &
Clark baseball team faltered late to the Whitman Missionaries in
games one and two of the series opener. The Missionaries managed to
come from behind to earn a 7-5 win in game one, before taking a 9-7
decision in the nightcap.
The loss
drops the Pioneers to 3-9 on the season and 2-6 in NWC play. The
Missionaries are now 3-13 overall and 3-2 in conference
play.
Michael
Ball kicked things off for the Pioneers in grand style, hitting a
lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning of play on a
3-1 count. Senior Sami Morgan came around to score later in the
inning on a sacrifice fly by classmate Jim Bray, putting the Pios
up 2-0 after one complete inning.
Freshman
Zach Perez came around to score in the next inning, putting the
Pios up 3-0 on a sac fly by Morgan. Whitman posted two runs in the
top of the fourth inning to pull within one run of the Pioneers,
taking advantage of a Pio error and some wild pitching.
Both
pitching staffs settled down in the fifth inning, before the
Pioneers put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth.
Parker Dane led off the inning with a home run over the left center
fence, setting the tone for a solid offensive surge by the Pios. A
Missionary error allowed Bray to reach base and ultimately come
around to score on a Geoff Wertz single, putting the Pioneers up
5-2.
Things
would come crashing down for the Pioneers in the eighth inning with
the Missionaries coming back to score five runs to take a 7-5
advantage. That's all it took for Whitman to earn a win in
game one as the Pioneers were unable to muster up any offense in
the final two innings.
In game
two, the Pioneers once again got on the board first, this time
posting a run in the second inning of play on an error by the
Whitman first baseman that allowed Eliot Smith to score. A triple
by Perez in the fourth inning scored Andrew Frisina and Sam Holman,
putting the Pios up 3-1. Perez would come around to score moments
later on a single by Ball, for a 4-1 L&C advantage.
Whitman
responded with three runs of its own in the top of the fifth
inning, before putting up five runs in the following inning for a
9-4 lead. The Pioneers fought to come from behind putting up a run
in the eighth inning on a Perez single that scored Frisina.
The
Pioneers attempted to put together a comeback in the ninth inning,
beginning with a single by Holman that scored Smith and Morgan to
pull the Pios within two. The comeback was short lived as the
Missionaries managed to get out of the inning without anymore
damage, earning the win in game two.
The two
teams return to the diamond for the third and final game of the
series on Sunday, March 14 at noon at the Houston Sports
Complex.
