LEWISTON – The postseason begins today as the No. 5 Lewis-Clark State Baseball team is set to host the four-team Cascade Conference Baseball Championship Tournament, presented by U.S. Bank, at Harris Field.
There was a clear divide in the CCC this year and the four teams that finished with records over .500 will battle it out for the conference crown. Every recipient of a postseason award will participate in the tournament as the top four teams swept the awards. Harris Field will be the site of the double-elimination tournament where the Warriors will look for their third CCC tournament title in the last four years.
Top seed LC State will face a familiar foe in the opening round when it faces No. 4-seed Bushnell at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Warriors swept the Beacons to close out the regular season at home. The tournament opens with a contest between second-seeded British Columbia and third-seeded Oregon Tech at 1 p.m. on the same day.
LC State was named as one of 10 host sites for the 2024 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, presented by Avista. The Warriors have an automatic bid into that round. The winner of the CCC tournament, or the runner-up if the Warriors win the tournament, will earn an automatic bid. The double-elimination tournament will take place May 13-16.
Links to live streaming, live stats, KOZE radio, and tickets can be found at lcwarriors.com.
No. 5 Lewis-Clark State Warriors (35-9, 21-3) – No. 1 Seed
The Warriors enter postseason play on a 16-game winning streak and a perfect 20-0 record at home. LC State led the CCC with six all-conference players.
Drake George and Shane Spencer were CCC Co-Pitchers of the Year along with Bronson Chapple of Oregon Tech. The duo led a pitching staff that was nearly a run better per game than any other team in the conference. The LC pitching staff posted a 4.25 ERA in the regular season and allowed a league-low 233 runs, 180 earned runs, 377 hits, 27 home runs, and 90 extra base hits in 44 games.
George went 6-0 in the regular season with a 3.60 ERA. The junior struck out 69 batters while allowing only 55 hits in 60 innings pitched. Spencer was 5-1 on the season with a 3.42 ERA. The Las Vegas native struck out a team-high 70 batters and hitters were only able to muster a .202 batting average against him.
Offensively, the Warriors bring the most pop to the tournament. LC State led the CCC with 63 home runs, 11 more than any other team, and a conference-leading .504 slugging percentage. The Warriors touted a .293 batting average and showed patience at the plate with 219 walks and batters were hit by a pitch 99 times.
Dominic Signorelli led the Cascade Conference with 15 home runs, and Brandon Cabrera used a strong final weekend where he hit three over the fence to finish the regular season with 13. Both players earned all-conference honors. Signorelli also earned a CCC Gold Glove award for his play in the infield this season.
Carter Booth led the CCC in runs scored (58) and doubles (22) to earn all-conference honors. Senior Nick Seamons rounded out honors for outfielders with a Gold Glove. Jake Gish averaged .346 with 39 RBI and 32 runs scored and was also named in the postseason awards.
In his sixth season with LC State, Jake Taylor was named the Cascade Conference Coach of the Year for the third time.
Bushnell Beacons (26-24, 12-12) – No. 4 Seed
In only its third year as a program, Bushnell earned a bid into the CCC tournament. The Beacons were given the Team Sportsmanship Award this year.
Bushnell is led by its trio of all-conference members; catcher Kyle Casperson, outfielder Albert Jennings and designated hitter Jordan Wilson.
Casperson led the Cascade Conference with a .413 batting average, aided by a 5-for-5 performance against the Warriors in the final game of the regular season. The catcher was also tops in the CCC with an on base percentage of .500.
Jennings had 24 extra base hits in a season where he had a .324 batting average. Wilson led the Beacons with 13 home runs and 40 RBI.
Bushnell is the bottom of the four teams remaining in average (.284), runs (326) and ERA (5.89), but it should not be overlooked.
In a non-conference four-game series with LC State in March, the Beacons earned three wins. In the final regular season weekend at Harris Field, Bushnell pushed LC to extra innings in the opening game and came up one run short in a comeback effort in the second game.
(RV) Oregon Tech Owls (34-16, 18-6) – No. 2 Seed
The Owls get men on base and create traffic and havoc on the basepaths. Oregon Tech led the CCC in runs (399), on-base percentage (.417), walks (227), hit by pitch (100), triples (19) and sacrifice flies (39).
With the added traffic on the bases, Oregon Tech unleashes its speed. The Owls attempted 170 steals on the year and converted 142 times for nearly three stolen bases a game.
OIT enters the tournament on a five-game winning streak including a four-game sweep of Corban where the Owls outscored their opponent 43-7.
Tyler Horner earned CCC Player of the Year honors with a season average of .392, 14 home runs, 20 doubles and 37 runs scored. Horner led the Cascade Conference with 58 runs batted in on the year.
Chapple was part of a three-way tie for CCC Pitcher of the Year with a record of 9-2, three more wins than any other pitcher in the conference. The junior finished the regular season with a 3.50 ERA with 79 strikeouts.
Second baseman Matthew Ortiz and shortstop Patrick Barry were also named to the all-conference team.
(RV) British Columbia Thunderbirds (30-17, 15-9) – No. 3 Seed
The Thunderbirds had the final weekend of the regular season off and enter the weekend as the defending CCC tournament champions.
British Columbia has a strong combination of an offense that is very efficient at the plate and a pitching staff that is really good at missing bats.
On offense, the Thunderbirds led the conference in average (.320), hits (554), doubles (118) and total bases (840).
Trent Lenihan led the CCC with 82 hits and finished the regular season with a .412 batting average. The junior led the team with 54 runs scored, 50 RBI and 10 home runs.
Mitchell Middlemiss was second on the team in average (.381), home runs (8) and RBI (49) trailing only Lenihan. Lenihan and Middlemiss were named to the all-conference team.
Sean Heppner had the most strikeouts in the conference with 89 to lead a UBC pitching staff that struck out a CCC-leading 435 batters.
Heppner was named to the all-conference team with a 4-2 record and 5.40 ERA in a season in which he held batters to a .231 batting average.
Evan Hoegler was given season honors as the best reliever in the CCC after a regular season where the right-hander made 12 appearances and had a 2-1 record with four saves. Hoegler had a 1.91 ERA and struck out 22 batters in 28.1 innings pitched while only allowing 16 hits.
THE DETAILS
Player begins today at Harris Field with the tournament beginning at 1:00 p.m. Tournament passes and single-day passes are on sale now, as are streaming passes. All games of the tournament will be live streamed. A full schedule can be found HERE with dates/times subject to change.
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