LEWISTON, ID – No. 22 Lewis-Clark State Baseball split its Friday doubleheader with British Columbia. Izzy Madariaga highlighted the Warrior offense in his return from injury with seven hits including two home runs.
Jackson Cloud was stellar in his long relief outing in game one as LC State run-ruled UBC 13-3 in seven innings, but the Thunderbirds took advantage of Warrior miscues to defeat LC State 9-8 in game two.
UBC remains one game ahead of LC State in the Cascade Conference standings with two games to play in the regular season.
GAME ONE: No. 22 LC State def. UBC 13-3 (7 innings)
Jadon Williamson struck out a pair of Thunderbirds before coming out with an injury. Reliever Cloud came out of the bullpen and finished off a batter with a strikeout to end the top of the first.
LC State put the first run of the game on the board in the home half of the first. Ike George led off the inning with a double off the wall in left and Jakob Marquez made it 1-0 with a two-out hit to right.
UBC answered with three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-1 lead, but the Warriors chipped away in the bottom of the frame. Madariaga made his return to the lineup evident quickly with a solo shot in his first at bat back from injury. LC State trailed 3-2 after two innings.
A base hit by Jack Sheward and double by Charlie Updegrave tied the score in the bottom of the third before the Warriors broke the game open in the fourth.
Madariaga led off the inning with a double to right center before singles by Bulla Ephan and George put LC State in front. Sheward was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Marquez drove in two with a double. RBI hits by Dominic Signorelli and Madariaga capped the seven-run inning to make it 10-3 in favor of the Warriors.
Cloud struck out two in the fifth and sixth innings and LC State plated a run in the bottom of the sixth. Brandon Cabrera singled and stole second, then scored on Madariaga’s fourth hit of the day for an 11-3 advantage.
Cloud retired UBC in order in the top of the seventh before Updegrave ended the game in the next half inning.
Sheward singled to left to reach in the seventh before a towering two-run home run by Updegrave brought the 10-run rule into play. The blast was the 42nd of his career to grow his lead in the CCC career ranks.
STAT RECAP
Madariaga went 4-for-4 with three RBI in his return to the lineup and Updegrave was 3-for-5 with five driven in. Marquez was 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Cloud earned the win with his 6.1 innings thrown. He struck out eight batters and walked only one.
GAME TWO: UBC def. No. 22 LC State 9-8
A walk, two hits and an error resulted in three UBC runs in the top of the first inning of game two.
The Warriors got on the board in the bottom of the third to chip away at the deficit. Noah Weintraub led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a base hit by Garrett Bevacqua. George grounded out to bring in a run and Sheward doubled to make it 3-2.
The Thunderbirds added another three runs in the top of the fourth, but the Warriors continued to answer and kept the contest close.
Cabrera hit a two-out home run in the bottom of the sixth and Madariaga kept the frame going with a single. Weintraub doubled to cut the difference to two, 6-4.
UBC increased its lead in the top of the seventh with a three-run home run off the bat of Russell Young. The Warriors trailed 9-4 but tallied three in the home half of the inning.
Cabrera walked and Madariaga doubled to put two in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth. A base hit by Weintraub drove in one and Bevacqua walked to load the bases. Sheward drilled a ball down the left field line to cut the difference to 9-7.
Madariaga made it a one-run game in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out homer, his second of the day, but the Warriors fell just short in the contest.
STAT RECAP
Madariaga, Sheward and Weintraub each had three hits in the game and Sheward drove in three runs.
Canfield took the loss with six runs allowed. Only two were earned. Zachary Ediger, Kolby Solomon and Tucker Grote also made appearances, with Grote as the most effective with no hits or runs allowed in his two frames.
