CALDWELL, Idaho –
Hunter Hanson went 6-for-10 with two homers and seven RBI helping the College of Idaho complete a four-game series sweep of Oregon Tech with 15-2 and 13-5 victories at Wolfe Field.
The Yotes (19-7, 7-3 NAIA West North) pounded out 34 hits in the doubleheader sweep – scoring five-or-more runs in three separate innings – outlasting persistent rain showers and a cold gale blowing out to left field.
Hanson gave C of I a quick 1-0 lead in the opening frame of Game 1, smashing a leadoff, opposite field, solo homer on the first pitch thrown by OIT (8-18, 1-8) starter Michael McCall. He followed it up with the big blow in a 5-run fourth, blasting a three-run homer to left, as the Yotes built a 6-0 lead.
Tech cut the deficit to 6-2 in the sixth on a Louis Wolf two-run single, only to watch the Yotes send 14 men to the plate in the bottom of the frame, scoring a season-high nine runs.
Dalton Ridgway had a two-run single;
Seth Champlin had a two-run double; with
Jake Hennessey rapping a two-run single in the big inning.
It was more than enough support for starter
Riley O'Brien, who struck out a season-high 10 batters in six innings of three-hit ball for the win. Hanson was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and five RBI;
Cole Mansanarez was 3-for-5 with two RBI and Champlin was 3-for-4 with two RBI in the victory.
McCall struck out five batters in the loss for OIT, as the Owls were limited to just four hits in the contest.
OIT took their only lead of the day in the first inning of Game 2, as the Owls chased C of I starter
Niall Manning after three batters – taking a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Grant RBI infield single. Reliever
Joel Martin came in and promptly picked Grant off of first and followed with a strikeout and ground out to get out of the jam.
The Yotes answered in a big way in the bottom of the inning, as the first six men reached base.
Mitch Skaggs and
Dalton Ridgway lined RBI singles, with a third run scoring on an OIT error. Two innings later, C of I plated five runs – getting RBI base hits from Champlin, Hanson, Mansanerez and Skaggs and adding another on an OIT miscue.
The lead ballooned to 13-2 in the fourth – benefiting from three Tech errors.
Martin earned the win for the Yotes, limiting the Owls to just a run on two hits in four innings of relief, with Wright not allowing an earned run in three innings out of the pen. Mansanarez was 3-for-5 for the Yotes, with Hanson, Skaggs, Ridgway Wright, Champlin and
Devon Pogue all recording two hits.
Grant was 3-for-4 with three RBI in the Game 2 loss for OIT, with McKinnon Bennett recording two hits and a RBI.
C of I continues their long homestand next weekend, hosting British Columbia in a three-game weekend series.
