CALDWELL, Idaho –
Mitch Skaggs scored the go-ahead run on an error in the bottom of the eighth inning, helping the College of Idaho to a doubleheader split with No. 1 ranked Lewis-Clark State at Wolfe Field.
LCSC (13-1, 5-1 NAIA West North) used a seven-run sixth inning to win Game 1, 11-7, with the Yotes earning a 3-2 Game 2 win. The win ended the Warriors 13-game win streak and was C of I's first win over a top-ranked team since 2008.
All square at 2-2 in the eighth,
Mitch Skaggs led off the bottom of the inning with a single and was moved to third by a sacrifice bunt and infield out.
Dalton Ridgway looked to have ended the inning with a routine grounder to third, but Robert Smith's throw to first was dropped by Jorge Garcia to allow the go-ahead run to score.
Ridgway did it from there, working around a two-out walk to lock down his second victory – as the Warriors stranded 12 runners in the loss.
LCSC struck first in the fourth, plating a run on a two-out error by the Coyotes (15-6, 3-3), only to see C of I answer in the bottom of the inning, tying the game on back to back doubles by
Cole Mansanarez and Skaggs.
Hunter Hanson gave C of I the lead in the fifth, doubling home
Bobby Wright, who led off the inning with his own two-base hit. LC State got even in the seventh on a Jacob Zanon RBI single – but were their own worst enemy, squandering a bases-loaded, no-out chance in the sixth and stranding two runners in the seventh.
Hanson and Skaggs each had two hits for the Yotes, with starter
Riley O'Brien fanning nine in five-plus innings. Garcia had two hits for LCSC, with Quin Grogan taking the loss, despite allowing just two hits in three-plus innings of relief.
In Game 1, C of I lost despite hitting four home runs in a game for the first time since 2010 – with
Jake Hennessey hitting a pair of long balls – the first since Gavin Gamboa hit two homers vs. Corban in 2010.
The Yotes staked starter
Zach Draper to a 3-0 lead – scoring single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings.
Jake Bowman lined a homer around the left field foul pole to get C of I on the board in the second; Hennessey golfed a homer to left in the fourth; with
Sam Grise slapping a single in the fifth to plate Ridgway, who had singled and stole both second and third.
LC State had their second-straight big sixth inning in as many days – with J.J. Robinson lining an RBI single and Julian Ramon lining a sacrifice fly to tie the score. Micah Brown doubled in the go-ahead run and Robert Smith added a two-run single in the rally.
C of I cut the lead to 7-6 in the bottom of the inning on a Hennessey two-run homer and a Wright RBI double, then got within 8-7 in the seventh on a Mansanarez solo shot. However, LCSC put the game away in the eighth, as Robinson doubled home two with two outs and Gunnar Buhner followed with an RBI single.
Jake Barrett got the win for the Warriors, fanning nine in five innings of work. Robinson was 3-for-5 with four RBI, with Smith going 3-for-6 with a pair of RBI.
Draper took the loss for C of I, despite striking out six. Hennessey was 2-for-4, with Hanson adding two doubles for the Yotes.
The series finale, a single non-league tilt, is set for Sunday at 11 a.m.
