La Grande, OR – LC State Baseball launched 16 home runs in the four-game series at Eastern Oregon, the most in a single series since the Warriors hit 21 against Central Washington in 2002, en route to a sweep of the Mountaineers on Sunday. No. 13 LC State edged EOU 5-4 in game one before erupting for 24 runs on 23 hits in the game two for a 24-3 victory.
With the wins, LC State is 26-12 overall and 11-9 in Cascade Conference play.
Jakob Marquez had a monster weekend with four home runs, including three on Sunday, and led the team with a .529 batting average over the course of the four games.
“In game one, we jumped out on Eastern early and held on for the victory with an excellent bullpen,” Head Coach Jake Taylor said. “We came out sharp offensively in game two and stayed on them. It was nice to get a lot of our pitchers work in game situations.”
GAME ONE: No. 13 LC State def. Eastern Oregon 5-4
Marquez, who finished yesterday’s doubleheader with five RBI, added another in his first at-bat on Sunday with a solo shot in the second to give LC a 1-0 lead.
EOU evened the score with a pair of hits in the home half of the second, but two strikeouts by starter Decker Stedman got the Warriors out of the inning.
Carter Booth got things going in the top of the third with a single before stealing second. Pu’ukani De Sa stepped to the plate next and gave LC back the lead with a two-run shot to dead center.
Stedman erased a leadoff hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the third with a pickoff and the Warrior offense did more damage in the next half inning.
Jordan Justice made his way to second after a fielder’s choice and stolen base, then scored on a base hit by Leo Rivera who was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. Nick Seamons added to his team-leading home run total with his 14th of the season to make it 5-1 Warriors.
A three-run blast by EOU’s Austin Gerding cut the Warrior lead to one, 5-4, in the bottom of the fourth. Jantzen Lucas took over on the mound in the sixth and worked a quick inning. He started the outing with a strikeout and erased a two-out single with a pickoff.
Lucas got LC out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of strikeouts. The Mounties threatened with two on and two outs before the lefty got Gerding to chase strike three to end the inning.
Bryson Spagnuolo closed out the contest with a 1-2-3 ninth. He earned the save, and Stedman was awarded the win. Stedman went five innings with five strikeouts. Lucas threw three frames and fanned four before Spagnuolo shut the door.
Seamons and Booth each tallied two hits and De Sa drove in two runs.
GAME TWO: No. 13 LC State def. Eastern Oregon 24-3 (7 INN)
Booth led off the game with a double to center to get the offense going. A groundout moved him to third before a wild pitch gave LC a 1-0 advantage. EOU matched the run in the bottom of the first, but LC State erupted for 12 runs in the next half inning to take control on the contest.
Sam Olsson singled to start the inning and Marquez homered. Dominic Signorelli, Joe Canty and Isaac Haws tallied three straight singles to load the bases and Booth cleared them with a three-RBI triple. An error allowed Seamons to reach and brought in a run, and De Sa doubled to plate one more. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout, the first out of the inning.
Noah Weintraub walked and an error put Marquez on before back-to-back singles by Signorelli and Canty made it 11-1. Booth added a run with a sacrifice fly and Weintraub singled to drive in the 12th run of the inning.
An LC error and two hits resulted in two EOU runs to make it a 10-run difference through the first three innings. An RBI-double by Weintraub in the fourth pushed the advantage out to 14-3 and Joe Ball took over on the mound in the bottom of the frame.
Back-to-back big flies by Marquez and Signorelli started the fifth. Cruz Hepburn was hit by a pitch and advanced on a single by Booth. A double by De Sa brought in one before Isaiah Thomas made it 20-3 with one swing of the bat.
Zachary Ediger struck out two in the bottom half of the fifth and the LC State bats went back to work in the top of the sixth. Signorelli singled and Canty walked to put two on, and both scored on a double by Booth. The Warriors held a 22-3 advantage through six.
Charlie Tentinger hit the first home run of his career to kick start the seventh inning as the offensive barrage continued. Thomas was hit by a pitch and advanced on a fielder’s choice that put Marquez on, and one came in on a single by Signorelli to make it 24-3.
Eli Shubert came out of the bullpen in the bottom of the inning to close out the contest and struck out two. Ball earned the win. Starter Dallas McGill went two innings with four strikeouts and gave up a run, and Drake George gave up two in his inning. Ball, Ediger, Jake Green and Shubert each threw an inning and struck out two.
Signorelli led LC in the contest with five hits, Booth had four and De Sa had three. The Warriors totaled 23 hits in the game with 11 going for extra bases.
Booth drove in a game-high six runs, Thomas knocked in four and Marquez and Signorelli each had three RBI.
UP NEXT
LC State takes a week off before wrapping up the regular season on the road against Bushnell. Warrior Athletics will induct the 1989, 1996, 1999 championship teams, along with Rusty Harris, into the LC State Athletics Hall of Fame on April 22.
