WHITTIER, Calif.—Lewis & Clark College baseball and host Whittier each used late comebacks to finish their three-game, season-opening set tied at 1-1-1. 
 
THE BASICS
Whittier 10, Lewis & Clark 9 
Lewis & Clark 5, Whittier 5 (11 Innings) 
(Lewis & Clark 1-1-1) 
(Whittier 1-2-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED


Whittier scored the final five runs of game one to earn a comeback 10-9 victory and got off to a strong start in game two. The Pioneers scored three of the final four runs in the night cap and used strong relief pitching to salvage a tie and a series split. 
 
GAME ONE RECAP 
 
Lewis & Clark jumped out to leads of 2-0 and 9-5 but the Poets stormed back with one run in the sixth and fourth in the seventh to earn their first win of the season. 
 
Junior Will Heron led the offense with two doubles in four at-bats and a team-high three RBI. 
 
Senior Jack Savant was 3-5 with one run scored and one RBI. Freshman Michael Aikawa and sophomore Joaquin Sandoval were the other two players with multiple hits. Aikawa posted his first collegiate multi-hit game by going 2-5 with one run scored, two RBI, a double and a walk. Sandoval tacked on a pair of doubles and a team-high three runs scored. 
 
Junior Luke Ritter got the start and was in line for the win despite not having his best stuff. The lefty went 5.2 innings and allowed nine hits and six runs (five earned). Shane Buchbinder made his collegiate debut in the sixth and retired the first batter he faced before running into trouble in the seventh. Senior Tyler Shimabukuro went the final two innings and struck out three, while giving up two hits and one run. 
 
Heron gave Lewis & Clark a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. After an Aikawa walk and Luke Bass infield single, Heron drilled a double to right field to score Aikawa with two down. 
 
The Pioneers doubled their lead in the second. Sandoval doubled with one down, took third on a Justin Bailey single and easily scored on a Savant RBI single. 
 
Whittier briefly took the lead with a three-run second inning and stretched their advantage to 4-2 after three innings. 
 
The Pioneers responded by scoring seven combined runs between the fourth and fifth innings. 
 
In the fourth, Sandoval led off with a walk and Bailey reached on an error to put two runners on. Aikawa drove in Sandoval with an RBI groundout and Brennen Davis tied the game with a single through the left side. After a walk to Bass, Heron gave the Pioneers the lead with an RBI double to left plated Davis. 
 
With the game tied at five after a single Whittier run, Lewis & Clark added four more runs in the top of the fifth. John Delaney started the rally with a one-out double and moved to third on Sandoval's second double of the day. Delaney scampered home on another Whittier error to make it 6-5. The Pioneers pulled off a double-steal with Sandoval coming home to double their lead. Aikawa added an RBI double to score Bailey and Heron produced his third RBI of the game with a bases-loaded, hit by pitch. 
 
Whittier answered back with a single run in the sixth and used a four-run rally in the seventh to take the lead. The Poets came through with a pair of two-out hits in the seventh, with James Stirton producing a two-run, game-tying double and Lew Rice adding a go-ahead RBI single. 
 
Lewis & Clark put a single runner on in each of the final two frames, but couldn't get anything going against reliever Matthew Helguera. 
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
Whittier brought their momentum into game three of the series and took early 2-0 and 4-2 leads, only to be stymied by Davis and the Pioneers bullpen. 
 
Davis posted his second two-homer game of the weekend. The junior center field finished 2-6 with two runs scored and a pair of two-run homers. 
 
Freshman Bret Potter added three hits in five at-bats and Jakob Ghammachi and Will Heron tacked on two hits each. 
 
Freshman Owen Eisen made his collegiate debut on the mound. He worked five innings in his first collegiate start and gave up eight hits and five runs. Eisen struck out four and walked four. 
 
Junior Ryan Harvey and senior Anthony Clerici came up huge out of the pen. Harvey did not allow a hit in three innings and struck out three, while walking two. Clerici came on for the final three frames and allowed just one hit. The Pioneers closer struck out three and walked three. 
 
Whittier scored in the first inning for the second time in three games. Maximus Berber delivered a two-run single through the middle with one out to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage. 
 
Davis tied the game in the third inning. Savant led off the frame with a walk, took second on a balk and was able to trot home on a Davis homer to left-center. 
 
Whittier immediately answered in the bottom of the third. Rice and Teige Barrett each hit solo home runs to give the hosts a 4-2 lead. 
 
The Pioneer got a run back in the fourth. Ghammachi led off with a single, stole second and raced home on a Justin Cavagnaro RBI single up the middle. 
 
After Whittier tacked on another run in the fifth (5-3), Davis tied the game in the seventh. Savant reached on a leadoff error but was wiped out on a fielder's choice. Davis greeted the new Poets reliever with a no-doubt, home run to left to make it 5-5. The Pioneers put two runners on with two outs, but the third Whittier reliever of the inning recorded a strikeout to keep the game tied. 
 
Both teams had multiple chances to take the lead over the final four innings. Harvey and Clerici combined to strand six runners between the eighth and 11^th innings, including a runner at third base in the eighth and 10^thframes. Defensively, Cavagnaro came through with a big pickoff in the eighth and Aikawa made a strong play on a grounder to third base to close out the ninth. Clericic struck out the side in the 11^th - with both teams knowing the game would be over after that half inning no matter what. 
 
Offensively, Lewis & Clark put runners on in three of the final four innings. They had their best chance to score in the 10^th. Potter singled through the right side to lead off the frame and then attempted to go from first to third on a wild pitch but was just barely thrown out on the throw down to third. Cavagnaro, who was at the plate when Potter was thrown out, reached on an error on the next play, but Barrett settled down and struck out the final two batters. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• After the first three games of the season, Davis leads Lewis & Clark with his .353 batting average, 1.059 slugging percentage, six hits, five runs scored, eight RBI, four homers and 18 total bases. The All-Region honoree had posted 12 home runs (11 as a sophomore) in his first 69 games. 
• The Pioneers finished the three-game set with 36 hits – including 10 doubles and four home runs. Lewis & Clark walked 16 times but also struck out 27 times (14 in game two on Saturday). 
• Eisen and Buchbinder both made their collegiate debuts in game one on Saturday. 
• Heron finished with two hits in both games on Saturday (4-9) after going 0-3 in Friday's opener. 
• Saturday's tie was the Pioneers first tie since March 10, 2014. Lewis & Clark tied Whitman College 2-2 in a non-conference game that was called after seven innings due to darkness.

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will close out their Southern California trip on Sunday, when they take on Pomona-Pitzer College for a single game at 11 a.m.