2021 Baseball Notebook (Week 11)

COMING UP: at No. 6 Lewis-Clark State (DH), Friday, 3 p.m. (PDT); at No. 6 Lewis-Clark State, Saturday, 3 p.m. (PDT); at No. 6 Lewis-Clark State, Sunday, 11 a.m. (PDT)

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
SCHEDULE UPDATE: Due to rain in the forecast for Saturday, C of I and LCSC have pushed the scheduled Saturday doubleheader to Friday with a 3 p.m. (PDT) start. The teams are currently scheduled to play single games on Saturday and Sunday – with the potential to push the Saturday game to Sunday if needed due to weather.
 
SPECTATOR INFORMATION: Lewis-Clark State plans to allow 400 spectators to watch the 4-game series against C of I, including 100 reserved tickets for Coyote player parents – which will be a part of a pre-approved ticket list. LC will have 150 reserved tickets for their parents, plus 150 tickets for students/faculty – if any tickets are not used, they will allow the general public to purchase those tickets on game day. Fans are required to be pre-screened when entering Harris Field and must wear a mask.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION: All four games of the series will be broadcast in the Lewis-Clark Valley on News-Talk 950 KOZE-AM with Brian Danner on the call. The broadcast will also be simulcast on LCSC's online video stream through their SIDEARM Sports Portal.
 
POSTSEASON STRUCTURE IN 2021 / PLAYOFF PICTURE: With the CCC and California Pacific Conferences holding their own postseason events this year, the structure has changed for teams in the Northwest in 2021. Beginning this spring, the Top-3 finishers in the conference standings will qualify for the CCC Championships, with the regular-season champion (Lewis-Clark State) hosting the event. The teams would play a round-robin series (each team playing the other two squads), with the teams finishing 2-0 and 1-1 meeting for a title, or if all three teams finish 1-1, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds would meet, with the winner squaring off with the No. 1 seed for the crown. If LCSC wins the tournament, the tournament runner-up would earn the CCC's automatic bid to the NAIA Championships (as LCSC earns an auto bid as the World Series host). Corban can clinch a postseason berth with one win or one C of I loss, while OIT's Magic Number is three (combined OIT wins/C of I losses). The Yotes must win 3-of-4 at LCSC (at a minimum) and have Eastern Oregon sweep their series with OIT this weekend to keep their playoff hopes alive.
 
VAN HORNE HAS SENIOR DAY TO REMEMBER: Playing for the final time at Wolfe Field, Caldwell native and fifth-year senior Austin Van Horne made the most of Senior Day – recording a dominant pitching performance and providing the game-winning hit in a Game 4 victory over Oregon Tech. The right-hander struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven strong innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits – earning Cascade Conference Pitcher of the Week honors. Van Horne capped it with a walk-off, 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning – ending a Coyote 4-game losing streak.
 
MOST STRIKEOUTS SINCE: The 12 strikeouts by Austin Van Horne was fifth time a C of I pitcher has fanned 12-or-more batters in a game in the last 15 years and the first time since Zach Draper struck out 12 men vs. Oregon Tech in 2017. Levi Mitchum struck out 12 batters in a 2011 win over Simpson, while Jason Roach struck out 12 batters vs. Corban in 2007 and 13 batters in a road win at Northwest Nazarene in 2006.
 
CLAY HAS HUGE GAME: Game 2 of the series with OIT saw senior Matthew Clay have one of his biggest efforts in his collegiate career – going 4-for-5 with two doubles a home run and five RBI. It was his second 4-hit game of his career, with Clay improving his career high in RBI to 42.
 
FRESHMAN NOTCHES FIRST COLLEGE WIN: C of I went to true freshman Colby Durski out of the bullpen twice in the OIT series – with perfect results. The right-hander threw a combined three scoreless innings, retiring all nine men that he faced, including two strikeouts. Durski went the final two innings in Game 4 of the series, earning the win after the walk-off single by Austin Van Horne – his first college victory – while pushing his league leading appearance total to 20.
 
BOILY HAS SOLID SENIOR WEEKEND: The Yotes got solid relief work from senior Brendan Boily, who doubled his season innings count against Oregon Tech. The right-hander made two appearances, logging four innings of work, allowing just two runs on four hits, striking out four.
 
BEST DEFENSIVE SERIES OF 2021: After a season of struggles with the leather in 2021, the Coyotes had their best defensive series of the season against Oregon Tech. In the four-game series, C of I recorded just four errors in 144 defensive chances – a .972 fielding percentage – improving the Yotes season fielding mark to .945.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: The win in Game 4 by the Coyotes improved the team to 15-0 on the season when leading after eight innings, with the victory also improving C of I to 8-3 in 1-run games.  The Yotes are 5-2 in 2021 against left-handed starting pitchers and 16-5 when C of I have out-hit their opponent. In addition, the Coyotes are 6-7 in true road games and 0-4 in night games.
 
WIN NO. 1,600: C of I's win Sunday against Oregon Tech marked the Yotes 1,600th all-time victory as a program since 1934.
 
OFF TO LEWISTON: The final road trip of the conference season takes C of I up US-95 to Lewiston and a match-up at nationally-ranked Lewis-Clark State. It will be the Yotes only trip to Harris Field, the site of the NAIA World Series on Memorial Day Weekend. C of I is looking to snap a 28-game losing streak on LCSC's home field, dating back to a 9-6 win over the Warriors in March of 2012.
 
ABOUT LEWIS-CLARK STATE: The No. 6-ranked Warriors (31-3, 23-1 CCC) had a 22-game win streak snapped last weekend at Division II St. Martin's – averaging over 10 runs per game this season and leading the conference with a .335 team batting average. Five LC players – Riley Way (.404 2 HR 31 RBI, 23 SB), Aidan Nagle (.394 11 HR 50 RBI), Matt James (.371 9 HR 22 RBI), Brock Ephan (.362 11 HR 46 RBI) and Dillon Plew (.334 7 HR 46 RBI) – are among the Top-6 in CCC batting average. On the mound, LCSC is paced by a trio of hard throwers in Trent Sellers (5-1 2.53 ERA), Eric Chavarria (3-1 2.62 ERA) and Tallon Thomason (6-0 3.95 ERA).
 
INSIDE THE CONFERENCE NUMBERS: The Yotes lead the Cascade Conference in three stat categories – triples (143), walks (197) and pitching strikeouts (330) by pitchers. Individually, six C of I players lead the league – Ryan Nolan in walks (32), Dimick Wood in strikeouts (60), Connor Root in innings pitched (63.1), Colby Durski in appearances (20), with Wyatt Hankard and Erik Wisenor tied to the top spot in saves (2).
 
RECORD BOOK: Austin Van Horne ranks among the C of I career Top-20 in 12 statistical categories – No. 2 in at bats (821), games started (223) and games played (224), No. 5 in walks (86), No. 8 in doubles (45), No. 10 in pitching strikeouts (146), No. 11 in runs scored (141) and triples (6), No. 12 in hits (204), No. 16 in stolen bases (39) and home runs (17) and No. 17 in both hit by pitches (26) and in RBI (116). Carter Vieira and Weston Miller are also in the Top-20, Vieira No. 13 in stolen bases (41) and Miller ranking No. 18 in hit by pitches (25). In the single-season record book, Ryan Nolan is No. 19 in walks (32), Matthew Clay is No. 20 in sacrifice flies (5), Miller is No. 24 in triples (3), with Colby Durski No. 26 in pitching appearances (20).
 
HISTORY: C of I has had a rich history of baseball, dating back to the era when C of I was an academy. In recorded history (since 1934), the Yotes have posted a 1,600-1,284-7 all-time record, including 34 trips to the postseason (including playoff appearances in 30 of the last 33 seasons. C of I won the 1948 and 1949 Northwest Conference titles, with the 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2017 teams advancing out of conference/regional/grouping tournaments – making five trips to the NAIA World Series – winning the 1998 national title and placing second in 1999. The Yotes have had multiple players drafted and play in professional baseball – with Jason Simontacchi ('96) the last C of I player to see action in the major leagues, and both Riley O'Brien and Zach Draper (in 2017) the last players to be drafted in the MLB First-Year Players Draft – with O'Brien currently on the Cincinnati Reds 40-man roster and Draper in the Cleveland Indians farm system.