KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -
Zach Draper tossed seven strong innings in the opener to lead the College of Idaho to victory, but Oregon Tech answered with three Game 2 home runs to salvage a doubleheader split at Kiger Stadium.
The Yotes (11-12, 4-2 NAIA West) rode Draper's left arm to a 6-2 Game 1 win, while Louis Wolf hit a pair of long balls in OIT's 8-4 victory in the late game.
Draper allowed six hits and struck out six to earn his third win of 2016 - as C of I jumped out to a 4-0 lead after four innings. Â
Sam Grise drove in a second inning run with a sacrifice fly, with the Coyotes adding three runs in the fourth - one scoring on an error, with
Johnny Hyland and
Bobby Wright adding RBI doubles.
Tech (7-11, 4-4) cut the deficit in half in the fifth on RBI singles from Michael Kilpatrick and D.J. Harryman - but left the bases loaded. C of I answered in the sixth, as Hyland doubled home a run and scored on a Wright single.
Wright finished 3-for-5 with Hyland and
Dominic Conigliaro each recording two hits for the Yotes.
The home run ball was prevelant in Game 2, as Wolf smashed a solo bomb in the first inning for OIT, only to be matched in the third inning by the Yotes
Cole Mansanarez - his league-leading five homer of the season.
The Owls would break the game open in the fifth, plating four runs, including a 3-run homer from Kilpatrick, with a Wolf homer in the seventh making it 8-1. Â C of I would chip away, getting an RBI single from
Dalton Ridgway and a two-run Grise single in the eighth, but could not get closer.
Doug Molzahn pitched seven strong innings for OIT, striking out seven, for the win. Naz Thibodeaux was 4-for-4 in the victory for the Owls. Â Mansanarez had four hits, with Grise and Deon Pogue adding two safeties for the Coyotes.
The two teams close out the series with an 11 a.m. Monday doubleheader.
