CALDWELL, Idaho – Pitching dominated the afternoon at Wolfe Field, as the College of Idaho and Saint Martin's University split a doubleheader for the second consecutive day.
The Yotes (6-9) jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opener and cruised to a 6-3 lead, with SMU riding a complete-game 7-hitter from Benjamin Wadowski to earn a 3-2 victory in the nightcap.
The two teams will play the rubber game of the 5-game series tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.
GAME 1 –
Alec Hopkins had three hits and
Austin Van Horne drove in three runs in the C of I victory. The Yotes used a 4-run third inning to grab the lead – keyed by a Van Horne two-run single.
After SMU (3-5) plated a run on a Ty Matsunami single in the fourth, C of I tacked on a Hopkins sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning and a leadoff solo homer from Van Horne in the fifth to pull away.
Connor Root tossed six innings of three-hit ball, allowing just one earned run and fanning three for his second win.
Nathan Pena got the final nine outs, striking out three, to log the save.
GAME 2 – Wadowski was the story for the Saints, striking out seven in the win.
SMU got to C of I starter
Tyler Hilton in the fifth – as Dakota Hill doubled home a run and scored on a wild pitch. The Yotes would pull even in the eighth – as
Jake Bowman lined a pinch-hit RBI double, with pinch-runner
Caden Jensen scoring on a wild pitch to make it 2-2.
However, in the ninth, SMU scratched across the go-ahead run on back-to-back doubles from Micah McNicoll and Hill, with the Saints getting a strikeout-throw out double play to end the game.
Hilton went seven innings in a no-decision, allowing just four hits – with both
Chase Labbe and
Jon Gonzalez each logging two hits in the loss for C of I.
