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Lewis & Clark College

Gavin Mangano throws the ball back into the infield
Colin Blume
4
Winner Willamette WILLAMET 7-0, 3-0 NWC
3
Lewis & Clark LEWIS & 4-6-1, 0-3 NWC
Winner
Willamette WILLAMET
7-0, 3-0 NWC
4
Final
3
Lewis & Clark LEWIS &
4-6-1, 0-3 NWC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Willamette WILLAMET 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 2
Lewis & Clark LEWIS & 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1

W: E. McGrew (2-0) L: Eisen, Owen (1-1) S: L. Haslam (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Seth Orensky

Willamette Sneaks Past Baseball 4-3

Caden Hodina threw 4.2 innings of scoreless relief



PORTLAND, Ore.—Willamette University scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning and held Lewis & Clark College baseball to just five baserunners over the final six innings, to earn a 4-3 win and a Northwest Conference sweep on Sunday afternoon. 

THE BASICS
Willamette 4, Lewis & Clark 3
(Lewis & Clark 4-6-1, NWC 0-3) 
(Willamette 7-0, NWC 3-0) 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Outside of the bottom of the third and top of the fourth, Sunday's game was dominated by both team's pitching and defense. The two bullpens combined for 8.2 scoreless innings and all six outfielders made strong defensive plays to take away hits from the opposing team. 
 
Freshman Owen Eisen made his first collegiate conference start and allowed four hits and four earned runs over 3.1 innings. Eisen struck out four and walked two. 
 
Freshman Caden Hodina made his first collegiate relief appearance and allowed just one hit and three walks over 3.2 scoreless innings. Senior closer Anthony Clerici came on for the ninth and struck out one and walked two.
 
At the plate, sophomore Brandon Gonzaga was the lone Pioneer with multiple hits. The shortstop went 2-4 with a run scored and a walk. Senior Luke Bass added a hit and two RBI and Jakob Ghammachi tacked on a double and an RBI. 
 
Willamette sophomore EJ McGrew earned the win after going six innings allowing three runs. Pruitt Spritzer and Logan Haslam combined to allow two hits and two walks over three scoreless innings of relief. 
 
For the second-straight day, the two teams took to Jerry Gatto Field in cold temperatures with intermittent rain and heavy winds. Both starting pitchers were able to deal with the elements and overcome early challenges to keep the game scoreless through the first 2.5 innings. 
 
Lewis & Clark struck for all three of their runs in the bottom of the third. With one out, Jack Savant singled to right center and Brandon Gonzaga followed with an infield single. Both runners moved up 90 feet when the third baseman's throw got away. After a Will Heron walk, Bass drove in Savant and Gonzaga with a two-run single through the right side of the infield. Ghammachi followed with an RBI double to right-center to plate Heron. Freshman Bret Potter walked to reload the bases but McGrew settled in and posted a strikeout and a flyout to minimize the damage. 
 
Willamette came right back with four runs of their own in the next half inning. The Bearcats scored four runs on two hits, two hit by pitches and two walks. The visitors loaded the bases with one out on a walk, single and hit by pitch. Luke Piazza put the Bearcats on the board with an RBI single and Jeff Hoffman made it 3-2 when he was hit by a pitch. Hodina came on in relief of Eisen at that point and walked the first batter he faced to make it 3-3. Tassos Foster hit a long fly ball to the wall in right-center but Potter made a jumping catch into the fencing to limit the Bearcats to a sac fly. Hodina would get out of the jam with a fly out to right to end the frame. 
 
McGrew and Hodina would trade zeros over the next few innings. The Willamette starter ended his day by retiring the final 10 batters he faced. 
 
Lewis & Clark had a great chance to tie or take the lead in Spritzer's first inning of work. Freshman Gavin Mangano opened the bottom of the seventh with his first career hit – a line drive to right. Savant moved Managano over to second with a sac bunt and Gonzaga beat out his second infield single of the day to put runners at the corners with one out. Heron worked a walk to load the bases and bring Bass to the plate. The Pioneers tried to get aggressive and Mangano was tagged out at home plate after a pitch skipped high off the Willamette catcher's glove onto the backstop – but the ball bounced right back to the catcher and Mangano was ruled to have been tagged out just before touching home plate. Bass sent a long fly ball to left-center but it was tracked down at the wall to end the frame. 
 
The Pioneers put one runner on in each of the final two frames but couldn't come through with a run-scoring hit. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS
  • Mangano made his first collegiate start and finished 1-3 at the plate. He, along with Potter in center and Ghammachi in right, made several strong plays in the outfield to deny Willamette base hits. 
  • Hodina lowered his team-best ERA to 2.20 after Sunday's performance. The freshman has allowed four earned runs in 16.1 innings and is holding opponents to a .161 batting average. 
  • Lewis & Clark finished the contest 3-10 with runners in scoring position. On the weekend, the Pioneers posted seven hits with runners in scoring position. 
  • Savant executed two sac bunts on Sunday and leads the team with his four sacrifices this season.  
WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will take a break from conference play for two weeks. The Pioneers will welcome UMass Boston to Jerry Gatto next weekend for a three-game set starting on Saturday at 11 a.m. 
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