CALDWELL, Idaho – Seth Champlin and Sam Johnston each logged three hits, with Taylor Nicholson and Ryan Eddy picking up wins on the mound, as The College of Idaho opened their home season with 4-2 and 9-0 victories over Whitman College at Wolfe Field.
Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
After a two-hour delay for snow removal prior to the game forced a pair of seven inning contests, the Yotes (4-6) jumped out in the opener to a 3-0 lead. Champlin led off the first with a triple and scored on a Jarel Lewis sacrifice fly. Johnston made it 2-0 in the second, singling home Gregg Simonds, who led off the inning with a single. In the third, a Simonds ground ball out scored Lewis, who had walked and stole second.
The Missionaries broke up Nicholson’s no-hit bid in the fourth, as Aaron Cohen doubled to right, scoring Ozzy Braff to cut the lead to 3-1. A Peter Carmichael RBI ground out in the fifth got the Whits within 3-2, but stranded the tying run at third.
The C of I got a huge insurance run in the sixth, as Joe Roseberry scored on a Champlin grounder to third, with Parker Vernon tossing a 1-2-3 seventh for his first collegiate save.
Nicholson went six innings, allowing one earned run on three hits, striking out five, to pick up his second win of the year. Brett Lambert had six strikeouts in the loss for Whitman.
The Coyotes manufactured a run in the first of Game 2, as Champlin doubled, moving to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scoring on a wild throw off a Lewis grounder to third.
While Ryan Eddy kept the Missionaries at bay, The C of I offense woke up in the latter innings, making it 3-0 in the fourth on RBI singles from Johnston and Dylan Kowitz, while an inning later, Jesse Dodd stroked a two-run single to give the hosts a five-run lead. The Yotes put the game away in the sixth, scoring twice on a throwing error, adding runs on an Erik Jacobs ground out and a Vernon RBI single.
Eddy was sharp in tossing a five-hit shutout, walking just one man and fanning five. Vernon had a pair of hits and catcher Jake Hennessey reached base in all three plate appearances. Kyle Buckham went 2-for-3 for Whitman, as starter Will Thompson allowed nine hits in four-plus innings of work.
The two teams close out the weekend series with an 11 a.m. start tomorrow.
