LA GRANDE, OR – No. 20 LC State Baseball tallied nine home runs between two games of a doubleheader split on Saturday at Eastern Oregon. The Warriors took game one by a final of 11-9, and the Mountaineers answered with an 11-9 win over LC State in game two. Ike George and Abe Affholter each hit a home run in both games.

“Overall, not our best performances this afternoon,” coach Jake Taylor said. “In both games we had to dig out of an early deficit and were playing catch up most of the day. Credit to Eastern Oregon as they competed hard and with energy. We need to get off to better starts tomorrow and put together 18 innings of competitive baseball.”

The split has the LC State record at 15-8 overall and 12-3 in Cascade Conference play.

GAME ONE: No. 20 LC State def. EOU 11-9

A two-run blast in the home half of the first inning put EOU up 2-0. The Mounties threatened again in the second but back-to-back strikeouts by Evan Canfield got the Warriors out of a jam. He fanned two more in the third to leave a leadoff double on base.

Noah Weintraub made his return to the lineup known in a big way in the top of the fourth. The junior, who had not played since February due to injury, tied the game with a two-run shot after a base hit by Jakob Marquez.

Six hits including a home run put Eastern Oregon back in front with a five-run bottom of the fourth. Jackson Cloud came out of the bullpen to end the frame with LC State trailing 7-2 through four innings.

Abe Affholter led off the fifth with a double to get the Warrior offense going. Ike George singled to plate a run and Jack Sheward made it 7-5 with a two-run home run to left.

The Warriors took their first lead of the game in the top of the sixth thanks to a three-run homer off the bat off Affholter. Dominic Signorelli singled to start the frame and Izzy Madariaga followed with a double. Affholter made it 8-7 in favor of LC State. George added to the damage in the inning with a solo shot before Sheward walked. Charlie Updegrave put an exclamation point on the frame with a two-run blast, the third homer of the inning, to grow the advantage to 11-7.

Cloud worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth and struck out the first two in the seventh before a solo shot made it 11-8. Another homer in the eighth cut the LC State lead to 11-9.

Kolby Solomon took over on the mound in the bottom of the ninth and retired the side in order to earn the save.

STAT RECAP

LC State hit five home runs in the contest with one each by George, Sheward, Updegrave, Weintraub and Affholter. Affholter drove in three runs to lead the Warriors and George tallied three of LC State’s 14 hits.

Canfield tossed 3.2 innings with six strikeouts and seven earned runs. Cloud earned the win after 4.1 innings and five strikeouts, and Solomon was awarded the save after a scoreless inning.

GAME TWO: EOU def. No. 20 LC State 11-9

George led off the contest with a solo shot for a quick 1-0 advantage. EOU responded quickly with a two-run homer, but Jadon Williamson struck out the side to limit the damage.

Affholter evened the score 2-2 in the top of the second inning with his second home run of the day, but an unearned run crossed the plate for Eastern Oregon in the bottom of the frame to put the Mounties back in front.

The back-and-forth continued in the third when George walked to start the inning. He stole second and came around to score on a base hit by Marquez to knot the score 3-3.

Pitching miscues benefitted EOU in the bottom of the third as four hit batters and a walk resulted in two runs. Joey Estrada came out of the bullpen and struck out a batter to end the inning with LC State trailing 5-3.

LC State plated a pair in the top of the fourth after a single by Garrett Bevacqua and walk to George put two on with two outs. An error on a ball hit by Sheward brought both around to tie the game 5-5.

Keeping with the pace of the game, EOU regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run home run. The Mounties totaled three runs on four hits in the frame to lead 8-5.

The back-and-forth contest continued with a home run by Marquez to lead off the fifth. Signorelli reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, then scored on a double off the center field wall by Izzy Madariaga to cut the difference to one, 8-7.

EOU loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, but a timely strikeout by Zack Sullivan left them loaded and kept the deficit at one. The Mounties added a run in the bottom of the sixth off of Robby Butenschoen to extend the lead to 9-7.

Signorelli cut the difference back to one run with a solo shot to right in the seventh and Butenschoen struck out the side in order in the bottom of the inning.

The Warriors tied the game in the top of the eighth thanks to a timely hit by Sheward. George doubled with two outs and beat the throw home in a close play at the plate to even the score 9-9.

EOU answered with a go-ahead two-RBI single to pull ahead 11-9 in the ninth and retired the Warriors in order to snap LC State’s win streak.

STAT RECAP

The Warriors added four home runs to the day with big flies by George, Marquez, Signorelli and Affholfter.