LEWISTON – The No. 5 Lewis-Clark State Warriors clinched the Cascade Conference regular season title and the top seed in the CCC tournament with a doubleheader sweep of the Bushnell University Beacons on Saturday. The Warriors increased their NAIA-leading winning streak to 14 games and are now 18-0 at Harris Field this season.
Brandon Cabrera totaled four hits and five RBI on the day to lead the offense, while Shane Spencer went eight innings for the second straight start in his fifth win of the season in game two.
LC State is 33-9 on the year with a 19-3 CCC record.
GAME ONE: No. 5 LC State def. Bushnell 9-8 (10 innings)
Drake George struck out two batters in the first to get the Warriors off to a strong start.
Carter Booth singled to lead off the home half of the inning before Nick Seamons and Dominic Signorelli walked to load the bases with no outs. Jake Gish plated the game’s first run with a fielder’s choice and Cabrera made it a 2-0 lead with an RBI single up the middle.
Drake George fanned another batter and Magnum Hofstetter grew the advantage to 3-0 with a solo shot in the bottom of the second. An error brought in the first Beacon run of the top of the fourth, but a double play and strikeout ended the threat.
The Warriors added on in the bottom of the frame after Cabrera walked and scored on back-to-back singles by Pu’ukani De Sa and Bulla Ephan. Drake George struck out a batter as part of a 1-2-3 top of the fifth.
Signorelli drilled a solo shot to right center to start the home half of a big fifth inning for the Warriors. Gish and Charlie Updegrave reached via free passes and Cabrera legged out an infield single to load the bases with no outs for the second time in the game. De Sa reached on a fielder’s choice without an out being recorded to plate a run. A sacrifice fly by Ephan had the lead at 7-1 through five innings.
Bushnell rallied in the top of the sixth for five runs on five hits to make it a one-run game.
Booth hit the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth into the bleachers in left field to push the margin out to 8-6. Reliever Cameron Smith struck out two in the quick eighth inning, but the Beacons evened the score in the top of the ninth.
Landon Webb took over on the mound in the top of the 10th and used a strikeout, diving catch by Booth in center and picked off runner by Ephan to keep the Beacons off the board.
Ephan led off the 10th with a single to left center and Ike George took over on the bases. Hofstetter and Booth each walked to load the bases and Signorelli ended the contest with an RBI on a Beacon error.
Webb earned the win with a scoreless inning in the 10th. Drake George struck out six in five innings and gave up three earned runs. Smith fanned four in 3.1 innings. Both Jantzen Lucas and Smith gave up two runs.
Ephan led the offense with two hits and two RBI. Booth and Cabrera each tallied two hits and Signorelli drove in two.
GAME TWO: No. 5 LC State def. Bushnell 5-4
Spencer struck out two to end the top of the first, but Bushnell struck first with a run in the top of the second.
Cabrera gave the Warriors the lead with two-run home runs in back-to-back innings. The junior launched his first home run of the game in the fourth after a single by Booth, then drove a ball over the wall in center following a walk to Booth. The pair of big flies had the LC State lead at 4-1.
Spencer continued his outing facing the minimum in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings with five strikeouts in the span.
Bushnell added a run in the top of the eighth with a solo shot by Cade Crist to make it a two-run game, but LC State got the run back in the bottom of the frame. Signorelli drew a two-out walk and scored on a double down the right field line by Gish for a 5-2 advantage heading into the ninth.
Jake Green came out of the bullpen and gave up two, but held on to earn the save in the 5-4 final.
Spencer struck out 10 in his eight innings and gave up one earned run without walking a batter. He allowed just three hits.
Cabrera led the offense with two hits, both two-run homers for four RBI. Both Cabrera and Booth scored twice.
UP NEXT
The Warriors wrap up the regular season on Sunday with a doubleheader against Bushnell at Harris Field. LC State will honor nine seniors at 10:45 a.m. ahead of the 11 a.m. first pitch.
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