| MESA, Ariz.– The No. 3 LC State Baseball team opened the 2024 season with a pair of wins in two very different games. Game one saw the Warrior offense tally 13 runs, highlighted by four RBI by Nicks Seamons, for a 13-7 win over No. 6 Tennessee Wesleyan. LC State battled from behind in game two before a walk-off base hit by Charlie Updegrave gave the Warriors a 4-3 victory against No. 7 Bellevue (Neb.). Warrior starting pitching was strong with solid outings by both Drake George and Jace Hanson. The pair combined for 12 strikeouts in the starts. “Good start to the season against two exceptional teams,” Head Coach Jake Taylor said. “Overall, we have a lot of room for improvement in all facets of the game, but excited to start the journey.” GAME ONE: No. 3 LC State def. No. 6 Tennessee Wesleyan 13-7 The offense got rolling in the top of the second after a walk to Pu’ukani De Sa. Ike George singled for the first Warrior hit of the season and Carter Booth walked to load the bases. Seamons cleared the bases with a line shot triple to right center for a 3-0 lead. Drake George struck out the side in the bottom of the inning and held TWU off the board before LC added on in the fourth. Bulla Ephan walked to lead off the inning and courtesy runner Brandon Cabrera took second on a wild pitch. Walks to Ike George and Booth loaded the bases for Seamons once again and an RBI-groundout made it 4-0. The Bulldogs struggled to record an out as an error, two more walks and a hit-by-pitch had the LC State lead at 8-0 by the end of the frame. Starter Drake George sat Tennessee Wesleyan down in order in the bottom of the fourth. The Warriors put up another two runs in the fifth to grow the lead to 10-0. Booth was hit by a pitch and Seamons and Charlie Updegrave tallied back-to-back singles to bring in one. Noah Weintraub grounded out to bring in the 10th run of the contest. Jantzen Lucas took over with two outs in the bottom of the fifth and was solid through his 2.1 innings. The junior struck out the side in the sixth before giving up two in the seventh. Ephan singled to get the offense going in the eighth and Booth sent a double to left for an 11-2 advantage. Updegrave reached via a walk in the top of the ninth and Dominic Signorelli drilled the first LC State home run of the season to push the lead to 13-2. TWU rallied in the bottom of the inning to knock out reliever Zachary Ediger. Kolby Solomon took over on the mound before ending the game with a strikeout. The Warriors hung on to win 13-7. Seamons led LC with two hits and four RBI. Signorelli drove in three and Updegrave knocked in two. Drake George struck out seven in his 4.2 shutout innings and Lucas earned the win after tossing 2.1 frames with four strikeouts. | 
