LEWISTON – Friday’s home opener between No. 2 LC State Baseball and (RV) UBC was a pitcher’s duel through the early innings, and starter Trevin Hope did his part to keep the Thunderbirds at bay in the 5-1 victory. Cameron Smith shut the door in the late innings, and Pu’ukani De Sa homered in the contest.
LC State is now 5-2 on the season. The contest was a nonconference matchup.
“Good home opener this afternoon,” Head Coach Jake Taylor said. “Trevin continues to compete in the zone and Cam (Smith) was exceptional out of the bullpen. Offensively we were challenged early, but ultimately capitalized on UBC’s free passes late in the game.”
The first four innings saw little offense from either team. Hope did his part to silence the UBC bats before LC was able to take the upper hand.
A laser from Nick Seamons in center field kept the game scoreless in the fifth. UBC sent a runner home on a base hit up the middle, but the throw to Sam Olsson cut down the runner.
The Warriors put the game’s first tally on the board in the home half of the frame. Dominic Signorelli, Jakob Marquez and Carter Booth drew three straight walks to load the bases and a sacrifice fly by Isaac Haws made it 1-0 LC State.
Pu’ukani De Sa added to the lead in the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot to lead off the inning. Isaiah Thomas, Olsson and Eric Mast earned free passes to load the bases and a wild pitch pushed the lead to 3-0.
A sacrifice fly by Signorelli and single by Marquez brought in two more to give the Warriors a 5-0 lead heading into the ninth.
UBC struck for a run in the top of the inning, but Cameron Smith closed out the contest to earn the save.
De Sa and Olsson led LC with two hits each and four different Warriors drove in a run. Hope notched his second win of the season behind seven strikeouts in five shutout innings. Smith fanned two in four innings and allowed just two hits.
UP NEXT
The Warriors continue the homestand on Saturday with a doubleheader against UBC starting at noon.
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