Vol. 71, no. 18
Baseball bashes to an undefeated conference mark
Northwest Conference Champions. There was only one Lewis & Clark team that achieved that feat this season. The men’s basketball team went 13-3 and were the Conference co-champions. However, they may not be the last team that is crowned a conference champion this year. The baseball team is a perfect 5-0 in conference play and 6-4 overall heading into Saturday’s game against Whitworth.
Keep in mind, the Pios have yet to face the top tier teams in the conference. But still the 5-0 start is impressive and is a definite improvement from last year start to conference when the Pios were 2-3 after five conference games and 3-7 after ten games overall. Fresh off a sweep of the Whitman Missionaries, the Pios squared off against Corban, an NAIA school located in Salem, on Tuesday, March 6th.
The Pios came away with a 9-8 victory in a tightly contested match. LC got off to a quick start, as Mike Giardiana (’07) blasted a two-run home run to right field. This, along with two more LC runs added up to a 4-0 lead after one inning. It stayed this way until the third inning, when Corban came roaring back with three runs of their own. They then tied up the game at 4-4 with another run in the fourth inning.
But the Pios answered back with a run each in their next three at-bats. In the sixth inning a single by T.J. Witowski (’10) scored Giardina to extend the Pios lead to 7-5. But Corban came right back with three unearned runs of their own on two Witowski errors and a triple in the top of the seventh inning to take back the lead 8-7.
The Pios again tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a sac fly to left field by Joey Rios (’08). Abe Kampf (’09) and Corey Lowell (’07) held Corban scoreless for the next two innings and then the Pios came to bat in the bottom of the ninth.
A walk, an error, and an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Pios in the bottom of the ninth. Mike Orr (’08) popped out to shallow right field and Corban then chose to play their middle infielders at double play depth in hopes of getting a ground ball they could turn two on. This plan backfired when Witkowski hit a soft liner to shortstop that made the double play too hard to turn and gave the Pios a 9-8 win.
Witkowski was 1-5 in the game with two runs batted in (RBIs). Giardina was 1-1 with three runs scored and 2 RBIs. Jordan Shibata (’08) and Sam Marthisen (’07) had two hits each for the Pios. Seven players took the mound for LC and Lowell got the first win of his LC career.
The Pios will put their four game winning streak on the line as they face off against Whitworth on Saturday, March 10 at noon. Whitworth was picked to finish fourth in conference in the pre-season coaches poll. The Pios were picked seventh.Last year the Pios finished at the bottom of the league, which may have helped them sail under the radar this year while other teams focused on conference favorites George Fox and Linfield.
The games this weekend will be a solid test for the Pios to see if they can stay at the top of the conference.