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Box Score 2 PORTLAND, Ore.—Luke Ritter and Anthony Clerici both were terrific on the mound and Brennen Davis made two huge plays, to lead Lewis & Clark baseball to a must-win, game two victory over Whitworth University on Friday afternoon.
With the game two win, the Pioneers reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 1995 and improved to 11-11 in the Northwest Conference standings with two games to play. With his eighth save of the season, Clerici tied the program record for career saves (nine).
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KEY MOMENTS: WHITWORTH 6-3
Lewis & Clark raced out to a 3-0 lead, only to see the Pirates score five runs across the seventh and eighth innings in a 6-3 Whitworth victory.
The Pioneers were limited to five singles and one double in the loss.
Senior Zack Kon walked twice, scored once and was involved in all three Pioneer runs. Jack Savant and Jack Thomson (one walk) each finished 1-4 with a run scored.
On the mound, Brett Pierson went six-plus innings and allowed five hits and two runs, while striking out five. Brayden Nomura took the loss after allowing four runs (one earned) over two innings. Kris Wuelfing struck out two and did not allow a hit in one inning of relief.
Whitworth relievers Gunnar Kuehl (win) and Hunter Williams (save) combined to strike out seven and allowed just two hits and five walks over five innings of scoreless relief.
The Pioneers took a 1-0 edge in the second. Kon walked with one out, took third on a Mason Lee single and just beat the relay throw home on a Blake Tellinghusen sacrifice fly.
In the third, the Pioneers made it 3-0. Savant walked, Thomson singled and Justin Cavagnaro was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Kon ripped a fly ball into right field that the right fielder was able to get to, but he dropped it, allowing both Thomson and Savant to score.
Whitworth scored one run in the fourth and took advantage of Pioneers errors in the seventh and eighth to take a 6-3 lead.
The Pioneers put runners on in the eighth and ninth innings but couldn't find a big hit against Williams.
KEY MOMENTS: LEWIS & CLARK 6-4
Ritter and Clerici combined to strike out 15 batters and Davis came through with the biggest play by a Pioneer at the bat and in the field, in a 6-4 win.
Ritter tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts over six innings. The freshman southpaw scattered five hits, four walks and two runs to move to 4-3 on the season.
Clerici came on with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh and went the final three innings to increase his single-season record total to eight. The sophomore allowed just one hit, one walk and struck out four.
Davis finished 1-4 with one run, three RBI and a walk. His bases-clearing double in the bottom of the fifth inning was the Pioneers lone extra-base, RBI hit of the day and gave the Pioneers some key insurance runs.
Savant and Cavangnaro each led the team offensively with three hits in five at-bats and a run scored. Zack Kon tacked on two hits, including a double, and a walk and Thomson went 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
The Pioneers took a 3-0 lead in the third. Davis led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Savant single. Thomson ripped a single to right field to plate Davis and move Savant over to third. Luke Bass followed with an RBI single through the right side to make it 2-0. With the bases loaded and one out, Dylan Moore drove a ball to left field to score Thomson on a sac fly.
Whitworth scored their lone two runs against Ritter in the top of the fourth inning, when Hunter Dryden delivered a two-run single on a comebacker through the middle.
Lewis & Clark responded in the fifth. Cavagnaro led off with a single, Moore walked and Riley Guieb reached on an error to load the bases with two outs. Davis ripped a double into right-center field to clear the bases, before being thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.
In the seventh, Whitworth hit three-straight singles off a Pioneers reliever to force Lewis & Clark to go straight to their closer. Clerici struck out the first batter he faced, before walking the second batter to force in a run. With the bases loaded and one out, Brendan Duncan drove a ball to the wall in left center and Davis raced to the fence and made a jumping catch into the wall to rob Duncan of extra bases and the Pirates of a potential one-run game. The fly ball resulted in a sac fly to cut it to 6-4 and Clerici struck out the final batter of the inning to keep it a two-run game.
Clerici allowed just one more runner to reach in the final two frames to close out his record-tying ninth career save.
DEEPER LOOK
- Clerici tied Austin Coniff ('19) and Joel Johnson ('88) for the program record for career saves. Last weekend, Clerici broke a tie with Conniff, Nate Ulbricht and Steve Dawson for the program record for saves in a single-season (five).
- The Pioneers 11 conference wins is their most since 1992. The 1992 season is the last time Lewis & Clark posted a winning conference record.
- Kon reached 100 career hits in the bottom of the second inning of game two.
- Ritter tied his career-high for strikeouts in a single-game in game two. He also struck out 11 in an NWC win at George Fox University (March 19th).
- Bass and Guieb both made their returns to the Pioneers lineup. Bass had missed the last six games, while Guieb had been sidelined for 11 in a row.
- Savant led the Pioneers with four hits in nine at-bats on Friday.
- The Pioneers pitching staff combined for 15 strikeouts in game two. It was the seventh time this season Lewis & Clark had struck out 12 or more batters and ranks as the second-most strikeouts by the Pioneers staff this year (17 vs George Fox on March 19).
- Lewis & Clark goes into Saturday in a tie for fifth-place in the Northwest Conference standings. The Pioneers (11-11) are tied with George Fox (11-11) and just behind fourth-place Willamette University (12-12). The University of Puget Sound (10-10) and Whitman University (9-12) are also potentially still alive for the fourth and final NWC Tournament playoff spot.
- The Pioneers pitching staff stands just seven strikeouts away from tying the 1990 team for the most strikeouts in a single-season (256).
WHO'S NEXT
The Pioneers will close out their home schedule on Saturday, when they host Whitworth for a single game on Senior Day. Prior to the contest, the Pioneers will honor Jacob Serafini, Guieb and Kon.
