WHITTIER, Calif.—Lewis & Clark College baseball used a six-run top of the seventh inning to blow open a 2-2 game and earn a season-opening 9-3 win over host Whittier College on Friday afternoon at Hugh Mendez Stadium. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 9, Whittier 3
(Lewis & Clark 1-0) 
(Whittier 0-2) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Junior Brennen Davis hit a pair of home runs and sophomore Brandon Gonzaga, Davis and freshman Bret Potter all recorded two-run hits in the seventh inning. 
 
Davis finished 3-5 with two runs scored, three RBI and nine total bases. 
 
Senior Justin Cavagnaro joined Davis with three hits in the win. The junior catcher finished 3-3 with one RBI, run, double and a walk. Potter was the final Pioneer with multiple hits. The freshman DH posted two hits, one run, two RBI and a double in his first collegiate game. 
 
Senior Brett Pierson earned the start on Opening Day for the third-straight season. The senior righty went six innings and scattered seven hits, two runs and one walk. He tacked on three strikeouts to earn the victory.
 
Sophomore Nate Kerr came on in the seventh and allowed two hits and one run, while striking out two. Potter made his pitching debut in the ninth and struck out one in in a 1-2-3 ninth inning. 
 
Whittier had the upper hand early in the contest. After the Pioneers left a runner on in the top of the first, the Poets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning. Lew Rice led off the inning with a single, took second on a sac bunt, third on a fly out and trotted home on a two-out single from Maximus Berber. 
 
Both teams put runners on first and third in the second but failed to score. In the bottom of the inning, Pierson induced a 4-6-3 double play to keep the deficit at 1-0. 
 
After putting runners on in three of the first four innings, Lewis & Clark finally got to Whittier starter Owen Moore in the top of the fifth. Jakob Ghammachi led off the frame with a double and moved to third on Potter's first career hit. Cavagnaro drove in Ghammachi and ended Moore's day with an RBI double to left-center. Freshman third baseman Michael Aikawa gave the Pioneers their first lead of the season with a sac fly to center that easily plated Potter. 
 
Whittier tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Teige Barrett led off the inning with a solo home run to left to tie the game at 2-2. Pierson settled in from there and retired three of the next four to close out his first outing of his senior campaign. 
 
The Pioneers blew the game open in the top of the seventh thanks to five hits, three walks and a hit by pitch. Cavagnaro opened the inning with a single and moved to third on an Aikawa double to left-center. After senior Jack Savant walked to load the bases, Gonzaga ripped a single to right field to score Cavagnaro and Aikawa. Davis followed with a two-run homer to make it 6-2. The Pioneers put two more runners on with a Luke Bass hit by pitch and a Will Heron walk. After a pitching change and a second out, Potter blasted a double to left center to clear the bases. 
 
Davis added a two-run homer in the eighth to account for the ninth run. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Pierson earned a win in his fifth-consecutive start. The senior improved to 12-13 for his career and 9-4 over the past two seasons. He has gone at least six innings and allowed just 10 runs in 33.2 innings over his past six starts (2.71 ERA). 
• Aikawa became the first Pioneer not named Jack Thomson ('23) to start at third baseman in 161 games. Thomson started 160 consecutive games from February 16, 2019 through the end of the 2023 season. 
• Potter and Aikawa each made their first collegiate starts in the contest. Freshmen Eli Steinhaus, Connor Broschard, Evyn Lewis and Tommy Valero all made their collegiate debuts for the Pioneers. 
• The Pioneers racked up 12 hits and seven walks in the contest. Savant led Lewis & Clark with a pair of walks. 
• With the win, Lewis & Clark won on Opening Day for the second-straight year. The Pioneers have won six-straight over Whittier dating back to the 2019 season. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will take on Whittier in a doubleheader on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.