CALDWELL, Idaho – Despite a four-hit, six-RBI day from
Dylan Mansanarez, the College of Idaho could not overcome 19 combined runs allowed by their bullpen, as Providence Christian spoiled the Yotes home opening series, sweeping a frigid doubleheader at Wolfe Field.
The Sea Beggars (2-5) used a 6-run ninth inning to pull away and win Game 1, 9-2, while the California school erased a 10-2 deficit in Game 2, scoring 17 runs over the final four innings of a 19-13 win.
Payton Sterkowitz went 7-for-13 with five runs scored and Aaron Gooch drove in five runs in the victory for PCC.
GAME 1 – A pitchers' duel between Coyotes (1-5) starter
Richard Walker and PCC lefty Jaryd Weakley was broke open in the ninth inning – as a ninth inning grand slam home run by Gooch helped the visitors blow open a 3-2 contest.
The Sea Beggars took a 3-0 lead after three innings – plating a second inning run on a two-out Nicholas Zielomski single and adding two in the third on an Alec Ortiz RBI single and a Manny Galvan sacrifice fly.
C of I cut into the lead in the fourth on an RBI single from
Jake Bowman and put runners at second and third with no outs in the eighth – but were only able to get a
Payton Lewis RBI ground out. Leading 3-2, PCC sent 12 men to the plate in the ninth, with Gooch's blast capping the big frame.
Weakley went seven innings, allowing just three hits and fanning eight in the victory, with Walker allowing just two earned runs and striking out three in six and two-thirds innings.
Devin Pickett and Sterkowitz each had two hits for PCC, with Bowman going 2-for-4 for the Yotes.
GAME 2 – C of I squandered a dominant performance from
Hunter Boyd, as PCC capitalized on nine walks and five Coyote errors to rally for the win.
The Yotes scored four in the opening frame – getting RBI doubles from
Matthew Clay and Mansanarez and RBI singles from Lewis and Drew Oschner – with Mansanarez adding two-run singles in the third and fourth innings to balloon the C of I lead to 10-2.
Boyd limited PCC to just two runs on two hits through five innings – striking out eight – before walking the first two men in the sixth and leaving the game after a C of I error on a potential double play ball. RBI singles from Eddie Lopez and Galvan sparked a 5-run inning to pull the visitors within 10-7
C of I extended the lead to 12-7 in the sixth on RBI singles from Bowman and
Chase Labbe, but PCC batted around for six runs – taking advantage of four walks and two errors in the inning, to regain the lead.
The Yotes tied the score in the seventh on a Mansanarez RBI single – but Sawyer Smith broke the deadlock with a two-out RBI single in the eighth and the Sea Beggars added five more runs in the ninth to put the game away.
Connor Lane worked two shutout innings in relief to earn the save for reliever Anthony Reynoso – with Sterkowitz doubling three times as part of a 15-hit attack.
Mansanarez went 4-for-6 with six RBI and both Clay and Lewis had two hits for C of I.
The two teams close out the 4-game series tomorrow with an 11 a.m. doubleheader.
