EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 16 Warriors secured their spot in the Cascade Conference postseason tournament with a pair of wins on Saturday at Bushnell University. The victories knocked the Beacons out of contention on a day that featured 25 LC State runs. The Warriors took the doubleheader by scores of 8-1 and 17-2 (8 innings).
Jakob Marquez led the offensive charge in game two with a 4-for-6 performance and four RBI. Marquez, along with Dominic Signorelli, stretched their hitting streaks to 12 games. LC State pitching combined to allow just three runs between the two games and struck out 21 batters.
“Good way to finish the regular season,” Head Coach Jake Taylor said. “We displayed an all-around team effort and it was nice to be able to play a lot of different guys.”
The Warriors finished the regular season 29-14 overall and 14-10 in Cascade Conference play. LC State will be the No. 4 seed in the CCC postseason tournament and will take on either UBC or Oregon Tech. College of Idaho will be seeded third.
GAME ONE: No. 16 LC State def. Bushnell 8-1
Jace Hanson tallied four strikeouts through the first two innings, including the second frame where he struck out the side.
Carter Booth and Sam Olsson put the Warriors on the board in the top of the third with a pair of singles. LC added two more in the fourth to push the advantage to 3-0. Signorelli and Isaiah Thomas reached on free passes and scored on balls hit by Leo Rivera and Booth.
Hanson added his sixth strikeout of the game in the fourth and the Warriors added insurance runs in the top of the fifth. Olsson drew a walk and Marquez singled to move courtesy runner Isaac Haws to third. A passed ball brought in Haws and a single by Pu’ukani De Sa plated Marquez.
Jantzen Lucas took over on the mound with two on and two outs in the bottom of the fifth and struck out a batter to end the inning. He fanned the side in order in the next inning to make it four punchouts in a row.
The LC State offense continued to pound Beacon pitching in the seventh. A walk to De Sa was followed by a single by Signorelli, and Thomas made it an 8-0 game with one swing of the bat.
Two hits and a sacrifice fly put Bushnell on the board before a strikeout by Lucas sent the game into the eighth. Greg Blackman struck out four in the final two innings to close out the game.
Warrior pitching combined for 15 strikeouts led by six from Hanson in his 4.2 innings. He did not surrender a run. Lucas earned the win after striking out five in 2.1 innings, and Blackman fanned four in two frames.
Nick Seamons, Olsson, Marquez, Signorelli, Thomas and Rivera each had two hits and Thomas led the team with three RBI.
GAME TWO: No. 16 LC State def. Bushnell 17-2 (8 INN)
The Warriors jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning with a three-run homer by Marquez. Seamons kept the momentum from game one going with an infield single and Olsson stayed hot at the plate with a base hit of his own. Marquez cleared the wall in left to put LC in front.
Starter Dallas McGill struck out the first two batters he faced before giving up a solo shot. McGill limited the damage and the Warrior defense turned a double play in the second to maintain the 3-1 edge.
Back-to-back doubles by Marquez and Charlie Updegrave grew the advantage to 4-1 in the top of the third, and Olsson drove in Booth in the fourth to pair with 1-2-3 third and fourth frames for McGill on the mound.
The Beacons added a run in the fifth, but the Warriors answered with one in the sixth. Signorelli led the frame off with a double to left center and scored on a triple by Haws to make it 6-2.
LC State struck for five runs in the seventh, fueled by solo homers by Updegrave and Thomas. Signorelli and Haws tallied back-to-back singles to keep the two-out rally going before a three-run shot by Booth had the Warrior lead at 11-2.
The Warriors pushed the lead to double-digits in the eighth after a leadoff single by Olsson. Courtesy runner Jordan Justice took second on a passed ball and scored on a double down the left field line by Marquez. Updegrave walked and hits by Cruz Hepburn, Noah Weintraub and Joe Canty kept the offense going. Walks to Haws and Justice resulted in a run to make it 16-2 without an out being recorded in the inning. Seamons drove in a run to cap the five-run frame with LC ahead 17-2.
Joe Ball closed out the 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth with a strikeout.
McGill earned the win after going five innings with four strikeouts. He allowed the only two Bushnell runs in the contest. Zachary Ediger, Alec Holmes and Ball combined for a scoreless final three innings with only one hit allowed by the bullpen.
Marquez led LC with four hits and four RBI in regular-season finale. Olsson tallied three hits and Booth drove in three runs.
UP NEXT
The Warriors open play at the CCC tournament next weekend as the No. 4 seed. The tournament will be hosted by the top seed. UBC and Oregon Tech are both in contention for the spot.
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