CALDWELL, Idaho – Kyle Garvin limited the powerful Lewis-Clark State offense to just four hits and Matt Hamilton was 3-for-5 with five RBI, as the College of Idaho routed the in-state rival Warriors, 13-3, at Wolfe Field.
The Yotes (25-13, 9-5 NAIA West) pounded out 16 hits in recording their largest margin of victory against L-C since a 15-1 victory at Simplot Stadium in the 1998 NAIA West Coast Super Regional championship game. C of I won back-to-back games against the Warriors for the first time in 17 seasons, dating back to that magical 1998 season in which they claimed the NAIA National Championship.
LCSC (25-9, 10-4) struck in the opening inning, as Darren Kolk was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a Max Whitt single, and scored on a double play ball. Garvin buckled down from there, allowing just one batter over the minimum over the next seven innings, striking out nine, in logging his staff-high seventh win of the season.
C of I took the lead in the third – tying the score on a two-out dropped fly ball on the warning track that plated Jake Hennessey from third base, and going ahead on a Mitch Viydo RBI single. The Yotes chased L-C starter Dakota Cortese in the fourth after a Hamilton single and two walks, with reliever J.T. Kaul walking Chase Miller and allowing a sacrifice fly to Jordan Grubbs to make it 4-1. An inning later, a pinch-hit RBI double from Zach Fabricius made it 5-1.
The Yotes broke the game wide open in the sixth, batting around for five runs. With the bases loaded, Hamilton greeted reliever Max Brown with an opposite field grand slam homer to make it 9-1, with an infield RBI single from Hennessey getting C of I to double-digits in the runs column.
All nine C of I starters had at least one hit in the game, with Hennessey, Viydo, and Seth Champlin each recording two hits.
Cabe Reitan was 3-for-5 in the loss for LCSC, with Seth Brown hitting a two-run homer, his NAIA-leading 16th of the season, in the ninth inning, to extend his hit streak to 20 games.
The series shifts to Lewiston the next two days – with LCSC hosting the Yotes at 6 p.m. (PT) tomorrow night, and an Easter Sunday matinee at Noon (PT).
NOTES – Prior to the game, the stadium portion of Wolfe Field – including 1,000 individual bucket seats – was dedicated with an on-field ceremony. C of I president, Dr. Marv Henberg; Caldwell mayor Garret Nancolas; and Graye and Timbre Wolfe, part of the Wolfe Family in which the ballpark is named for, tossed ceremonial first-pitches…the crowd of 410 fans was the largest in Wolfe Field history, and the biggest home crowd for C of I since hosting LCSC at Memorial Stadium in Boise in 2004 – when 710 fans watched the Yotes defeat the Warriors, 6-5.
