CALDWELL, Idaho – Playing the first night games in Wolfe Field history, The College of Idaho dropped a pair of slugfests with rival Oregon Tech, as the Owls claimed 14-10 and 9-1 victories.
Austin Van Horne had five hits in the twinbill for the Yotes (1-4), but OIT took advantage of 16 walks and eight hit batters by the C of I pitching staff to earn the wins.
Both teams in the opener logged 15 hits – with the hosts bolting to a 4-0 lead in their first at bats.
Ryan Nolan and
Jonah Hultberg started with singles, with
Matthew Clay and Van Horne following with back-to-back doubles and
Ben Dudley capping the frame with a run-scoring single.
OIT (2-2) answered with a 3-run third and took the lead in the fifth on a bases loaded walk. The Owls broke the game open with a four-run seventh, as Micah Jio roped a 2-run triple and added five more runs in the eight, keyed by a Kaleb Keelean 2-run triple.
The Coyotes made it interesting in the ninth, batting around for six runs – including RBI singles by Clay and Van Horne, but could not get the tying run to the plate.
Six Tech batters had multi-hit games, led by a 3-for-4, three RBI effort from Jesse Dunham. Van Horne went 4-for-5 with three RBI for the Yotes, with Nolan, Hultberg, Clay and
Tanner Leaf all recording two hits.
Game 2 was dominated by OIT starter Patrick Arman, who worked seven impressive innings, allowing just one run on five singles, striking out 10.
The OIT offense got key 2-out hits when they needed them – as a Dalton Dailey double in the third staked the Owls to a 1-0 lead. An inning later, Dailey came through again with two outs, smashing a long 3-run homer to left, extending the lead to 6-0.
C of I got their lone run in the fourth on a
Carter Vieira RBI single, but the Yotes did not put a runner in scoring position the rest of the night.
Mitchel Swanson had three hits for OIT, with Vieira going 2-for-4 for the Coyotes.
The two teams close out the weekend series with a Saturday doubleheader at 11 a.m.
NOTES:
- Van Horne continued to hit Oregon Tech pitching, upping his career marks against the Owls to 32 hits and 26 RBI
- Leaf has hit safely in all five games in his college career, while he, Van Horne and Nolan have reached base in all five games this season
- It marked the first game under the lights in Caldwell for the Coyotes since a March 1, 2003 match-up between C of I and Puget Sound at Simplot Stadium
- Oregon Tech stranded 16 runners in Game 1, including the bases loaded three times
- The win was the first in an OIT uniform for skipper Jacob Garsez – a former Coyote and Caldwell High grad
