AZUSA, Calif.—Lewis & Clark College baseball bounced back from their first setback of the 2023 season with a 15-7 game two win to earn a series victory over Claremont Mudd-Scripps College on Saturday afternoon at Azusa Pacific Collefe.
THE BASICS
CMS 11, Lewis & Clark 10
Lewis & Clark 15, CMS 7
(Lewis & Clark 6-1)
(CMS 4-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Saturday's opener was a role reversal of Friday's contest, with the Pioneers running out to an early lead and the Stags using a late comeback to hand Lewis & Clark their first loss of the season. The Pios responded by getting out to an 8-1 lead and continuing to add to their advantage in the rubber match of the three-game set.
Sophomore center fielder Brennen Davis had a huge day at the plate. He went 6-10 with three hits in both games and added five run, six RBI and a walk. Three of his six hits went for extra-bases, including his fourth and fifth home runs of the season.
GAME ONE RECAP
Lewis & Clark jumped out to a 9-2 lead after five innings but the hosts scored six runs in the seventh and Derek Senekerhit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to cap off the rally.
Senior Jack Savant led the Pios offensively. He went 2-5 with two runs scored, five RBI and the first two home runs of his collegiate career.
Davis went 3-5 with two runs, two RBI and a homer and senior Jack Thomson finished 2-3 with two runs, one RBI, a double and a home run.
Sophomore Luke Ritter held the Stags in check for the first six innings. The southpaw scattered six hits and two runs, while striking out three.
After going down 2-0 in the bottom of the first, Lewis & Clark scored the next nine runs. Savant hit a three-run homer in the top of the second to plate Jakob Ghammachi and Brandon Gonzaga. Thomson followed with his 29th career home run to give the Pios a 4-2 edge.
The Pios scored four more runs in the fourth. After a Gonzaga leadoff walk, Savant crushed his second home run of the day. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ghammachi singled to right field to drive in Davis and Luke Bass.
Davis added a ninth run in the fifth when he drove Thomson in with a two-out base hit.
CMS put a huge dent in the Pios lead in the seventh when they scored six runs, with the main blow coming on a Nick Wilson grand slam.
Davis extended the Pios lead to 11-9 with an insurance home run in the eighth, but CMS recorded a pair of singles and then a three-home run in the bottom of the ninth to hand the Pioneers their first loss of the year.
GAME TWO RECAP
Lewis & Clark used three big innings and a strong relief innings from sophomore Kyle Wilsie to earn the series victory over CMS. The Pios scored seven runs in the fourth and then tacked on seven more between the sixth and eighth innings to keep the Stags from mounting a comeback.
Davis put together another big game by going 3-5 with three runs, four RBI, a double, a homer and a walk. Sophomore Will Heron tacked on three hits of his own, while scoring twice and driving in one. The top five hitters in the Pioneers lineup all scored multiple runs and combined to score 12 of the team's 15 runs.
Senior Brayden Nomura earned the start and went 4.1 innings and allowed seven hits and five runs. Senior Kevin Kane worked out of a jam in the fifth and finished the game with 1.1 innings pitched (two runs). Wilsie, who started last Sunday's game against Whittier, pitched 3.1 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit and one walk, while striking out three batters.
Davis provided his third RBI hit in four at-bats in the top of the third, when his double drove in Savant from third.
After a CMS run in the bottom of the inning, Lewis & Clark scored seven runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead for good. Law-school student Jacob Serafini made it 3-1 with a two-run single that plated Heron and Ghammachi. After a CMS pitching change, Savant ripped a double to right to score John Delaney. With the bases loaded, Davis legged out an infield single to scored Serafini. The Pios added a run on a CMS error and a Heron RBI single to cap off the inning.
The hosts scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 8-5 but Lewis & Clark's bats stemmed the tide. Davis crushed a two-run homer to drive in Thomson and Bass followed with a homer of his own to extend the lead back to six.
With the lead back down to four (11-7), Lewis & Clark scored four final runs in the eighth to put the game away. Dylan Moore, Serafini and Savant all worked bases loaded walks to drive in a run in the inning and the Pios added a fourth tally on a CMS error.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Davis is now hitting .500 (16-32) with eight of his 16 hits (three doubles, five home runs) going for extra-bases. He finished his freshman campaign with 12 total extra-base knocks (10 doubles, one triple/home run).
- Wilsie earned his first collegiate win in relief in game two. His 3.1 innings of relief were a new career-high in innings pitched.
- The Pioneers have already hit 18 home runs in their first seven games (2.57 per game). The program record for home runs is 58 by the 1987 team (38 games).
- Lewis & Clark worked a season-high 12 walks in game two.
- Through their first seven games, Lewis & Clark has posted double-digit runs six times and the Pios are averaging 12.14 runs per game.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will play their final tune-up before conference play, when they take on Whittier College at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Last weekend, the Pioneers defeated the Poets 22-7.