CALDWELL – Hiroyuki Yamada gave No. 3 LC State the start it needed on the mound while Jack Sheward and Brandon Cabrera went to work at the plate to help the Warriors bounce back and take Sunday’s contest against College of Idaho. The 11-2 victory secured the four-game non-conference series split in Caldwell.
“Better effort today and nice to rebounds after yesterday’s performance,” Head Coach Jake Taylor said. “Our pitching was exceptional all day.”
Yamada had the strongest outing of any LC State pitcher all weekend with eight strikeouts in six innings. He did not walk a batter and the two runs given up were not earned. Cabrera finished his day with three hits, including a home run, and Sheward was solid at and behind the plate with three hits and a runner caught stealing.
The win moves LC State to 5-3 overall. The Warriors host their home opener
HOW IT HAPPENED
Cabrera put the Warriors in front with a solo shot on the first pitch of the ball game, but an error in the bottom of the inning allowed C of I to take a 2-1 lead.
The Warriors answered in the top of the second to tie the game. Sheward was hit by a pitch and was lifted for courtesy runner Noah Weintraub. Carter Booth and Ike George tallied back-to-back hits to plate the run and even the score 2-2.
Starter Yamada worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the second and LC retook the lead in the top of the next inning.
Jake Gish and Dominic Signorelli reached with free passes and Gish scored on a ball hit by Evan Overmars to make it 3-2 in favor of LC State. Yamada fanned two in the home half of the third for another quick inning.
The Warriors added on in the fourth after an error put Booth on third to start the frame. George grounded out to plate the run.
Booth led off the five-run sixth inning with a double to center and scored on a single by George. Cabrera kept the momentum up with a double to right center and a sacrifice fly by Pu’ukani De Sa made it 6-2. Free passes to Gish, Charlie Updegrave and Signorelli brought in a run and kept the bases loaded before a two-out, two-RBI double by Sheward to push the advantage to 9-2.
Brady Maylett came on in relief in the seventh and worked around a base hit to keep the Yote bats at bay.
Signorelli smashed his sixth home run of the season with two outs in the eighth, and hits by Sheward and Cabrera made it 11-2 in the ninth.
Sheward caught a runner stealing and Zachary Ediger struck out two to end the game.
Yamada earned his first win as a Warrior after striking out eight in six innings. He gave up just two hits, did not walk a batter and the runs given up were unearned. Maylett went two innings and struck out three, and Ediger fanned two in his lone inning.
Cabrera and Sheward led the offense with three hits and two RBI each. Booth and George each had two hits and Signorelli and George also drove in two runs.
UP NEXT
The Warrior host their home opener next weekend against UBC. Action in the four-game non-conference series is set to start Friday at 1 p.m. at Harris Field.
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