CALDWELL, Idaho –
Zach Draper tossed a complete game one-hit shutout, striking out a career-high 12 in the opener, helping the College of Idaho split a doubleheader with Oregon Tech at sunny Wolfe Field.
The Coyotes (17-21, 10-11 NAIA West) got a pair of RBI hits from
Johnny Hyland in the 5-0 Game 1 win, but OIT righty Doug Molzahn limited C of I to just three hits in a Game 2, 6-1 victory for the Owls.
Draper was the story – allowing only leadoff Louis Wolf double in the second inning – setting down 18 Owls (16-23, 11-13) hitters in a row at one stretch. It was his third complete game of the season and second shutout, with the 12 strikeouts the most since Jason Roach fanned 13 Northwest Nazarene batters during the 2006 season.
C of I got Draper support in the second, as
Dalton Ridgway singled, stole second and scored on a Hyland RBI single through the left side. The Yotes added three runs in the fourth – as Ridgway and
Sam Grise each knocked in a run with a single and Hyland gapped an RBI double to right-center. The hosts capped the scoring in the seventh, as
Cole Kramer lifted a pinch hit double and pinch runner
Colton Witsman scored on a
Ryan Murkle single.
Ridgway, Grise, and Hyland all had two hits for the Coyotes in the victory – their 37th-straight home win over OIT – dating back to 2004.
Molzahn was the story in the late game, holding the Yotes to just three hits in his 115-pitch complete game. The righty walked just one batter and fanned six in picking up his fifth win.
Tech got all the runs they needed in the third – capitalizing on a C of I error on a would-be double-play ball – as an Evan Johnson sacrifice fly, a D.J. Harryman RBI single and a wild pitch giving the visitors a 3-0 lead.
C of I cut the margin to 3-1 on a two-out RBI triple into the right field corner by
Cole Mansanarez, but OIT answered in the fourth with back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Harryman and Blake Wrotenbery.
Harryman was 3-for-4 with two RBI for Tech in the victory. Coyote starter
Niall Manning took his first loss of the year, allowing three unearned runs in two-plus innings, while lefty
Kaleb Price tossed a season-high four-plus innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits.
The two teams close out the series with an 11 a.m. Easter Sunday doubleheader, preceded by an Easter Egg Hunt on the Wolfe Field diamond at 10:30 a.m.
