WHITTIER, Calif. -- Sammy Benbow had two RBI, and Andrew Yarak won his first start of the year, as the Lewis & Clark Pioneers beat the Whittier Poets 8-4 in Sunday's finale of the Pios' four-game, southern California road trip.

Benbow's triple in the first inning secured a 3-0 lead for the Pioneers at Hugh B. Mendez Stadium. Along with Benbow, Jacob Serafini also had a multi-hit game.

Yarak (1-0) allowed eight hits, but just three runs, two of which were earned, over his seven innings. He struck out two. Benbow finished the game on the mound.

The win is the first for the Pioneers during the opening weekend since 2016.

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Key Moments

The Pioneers had two, three-run innings, both in the front half of the game. Michael Contreras scored his only run of the contest during Zack Kon's foul out in the opening inning. Benbow followed with his two-RBI triple. Jack Thomson, who drew three walks in the game, singled in the third run of the inning.

"Benbow's triple in the first was huge for us," Pios head coach Matt Kosderka said. "We were up 1-0, but they looked like they might get out of it, before Sammy came through."

In the fourth, Sam Helms led off with a single and scored on another base knock by Serafini. After Thomson's second walk of the game, Kon hit a two-out single to score one and advance Thomson to third. Thomson scored on a wild pitch.

Tyler Gannon's RBI double in the fifth added an insurance run. The Poets (2-2) scored two RBI singles the rest of the way. 

"It was a great way to end our trip," Kosderka said. "Especially coming off a tough loss to end the day on Saturday. Getting off to a quick start is always a plus, and our guys did a great job of building a lead early and then adding to it. 

"Yarak had a really strong outing on the mound. He had a tough second inning, but found a way to get out of the jam and give us seven really quality innings."

Deeper Look

• With a double and triple, Benbow had the first game of his career with multiple extra-base hits
• Benbow pitched the final inning and gave up one run
• Dylan Moore pitched in between Yarak and Benbow and allowed one hit, one run and had a strikeout
• Contreras finished the first weekend having hit safely in three of four games
• Along with Benbow and Gannon, Justin Katona also had a double
• Gannon also put down a sacrifice bunt, and Kon stole a base
• Gannon finished the weekend with a .571 on-base percentage
• Jacob Bauer had three hits to lead the Poets

Looking Ahead

Lewis & Clark plays three non-conference games with Northwest Conference opponents next weekend.