PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College baseball used a seven-run seventh inning to take control and never looked back in a 11-7 series-winning contest on Sunday afternoon.
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 11, Pacific Lutheran University 7
(Lewis & Clark 4-5, Northwest Conference 2-1)
(Pacific Lutheran 3-5, NWC 1-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After blowing an early lead, Lewis & Clark sent 13 batters to the plate in the seventh inning to secure the series win and their first back-to-back wins of the season.
Junior
Michael Aikawa and senior
Ryan Sanderson led the River Otters offensively on Sunday. Aikawa went 2-6 with two runs and three RBI and gave Lewis & Clark the lead with a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh. Sanderson added two hits and three RBI and belted a two-run double in the seven-run seventh.
Sophomores
Dylan Lee and
Evan Carrubba-Rice, junior
Eli Steinhaus and senior
Brandon Gonzaga all added multiple hits. Lee went 2-4 with two runs, two RBI and a walk. Carrubba-Rice chipped in two hits, a run scored, an RBI and two walks. Steinhaus added two hits, one run scored, an RBI, a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Gonzaga notched two hits, a run scored and an RBI.
Sophomore
Dillon Foster earned his second start of the year. He pitched well until running into trouble in the fifth. Foster ended the contest allowing six hits, two walks and five earned runs in 4.1 innings. He struck out a career-high six batters.
Relievers
Calvin Martinez,
Matt Stanislavsky and
Bret Potter combined to allowed two runs over the final 4.2 innings. Martinez allowed one walk over 1.1 scoreless innings. Stanislavsky earned his collegiate win after striking out four and giving up five hits and one run in 2.1 innings. Potter came on for the ninth and scattered two hits and a run.
Lewis & Clark took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Aikawa opened the inning with a one-out single. With two outs, Potter worked a walk and Lee came through with an RBI single to right-center to make it 1-0. Sanderson followed with a single up the middle that went just underneath the diving shortstop's glove to make it 2-0.
The River Otters pushed their advantage to 3-0 in the second. Sophomore
Will Michelman walked, took second on a Steinhaus sac bunt and scampered home on Gonzaga's RBI double.
After PLU scratched across a single run in the top of the third, Lewis & Clark responded with one of their own in the bottom of the inning. Lee started the rally with a one-out single and raced to third when the Lutes committed a throwing error. With the bases loaded and two down, Steinhaus worked a walk to score Lee and make it 4-1.
Pacific Lutheran cut the deficit to 4-2 in the fourth and grabbed the lead in the top of the fifth. The Lutes posted back-to-back singles with one out and Carson Burke came through with a three-run homer to give PLU a 5-4 edge.
The visitors would add an insurance run in the top of the seventh to grab a 6-4 lead.
Lewis & Clark would respond back with their second, seven-run inning of the season. Carrubba-Rice led off the frame with a single and Steinhaus and Gonzaga each singled with one out to load the bases. Aikawa cleared the bases with a double to the wall in left-center to give Lewis & Clark a 7-6 advantage. After a pitching change,
Gavin Mangano and Potter each worked walks to reload the bases. The Lutes would go back to the pen but would deal with similar results. Lee worked a bases-loaded walk to make it 8-6 and Sanderson ripped a double to left-center to push the lead to 10-6. PLU would make their fourth pitching change of the inning and Carrubba-Rice greeted the new reliever with an RBI single.
Pacific Lutheran would scratch across a single run in the ninth but Potter induced a pop up on the infield to close out the win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Stanislavsky earned his first collegiate win in his 18th career outing. The sophomore notched a season-high four strikeouts in a season-high 2.1 innings.
- Lewis & Clark recorded a season-high 15 hits and posted their second-most walks (eight) of the season.
- Aikawa went 5-11 with five runs and five RBI in Lewis & Clark's two wins this weekend.
- After losing three-straight to open the season against the Lutes, Lewis & Clark took the final two games of the conference series to win the NWC series against PLU for the first time since 2023.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will take their second and final trip to California, when they play four games at Chapman University. The River Otters and Panthers will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
