LCC takes two against Southwestern Oregon
Monday, March 17, 2008 6:25 AM PDT
By Rick McCorkle
rmccorkle@tdn.com
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E-mail this articleIf Lower Columbia College baseball coach Kelly Smith had his way, his Red Devils wouldn't play doubleheaders.
LCC has played five doubleheaders in the preseason, and in each instance has played well in the opener but struggled in the nightcap.
"We can't seem to play two games in a row," Smith said following the Devils' twinbill sweep of Southwestern Oregon at David Story Field Sunday. "If I can convince the NWAACC to reschedule the doubleheaders to single games, then I think we'd be all right. We're pretty good if we just play the first games of doubleheaders."
The Devils (10-3) scored early and often in the opener as they squashed the Lakers 8-0 and needed an eighth inning rally
to turn away the visitors from Coos Bay 4-2 in the nightcap. The losses dropped SWOC to 0-12 this season.
LCC scored all the runs it needed in the first inning of the opener. Richie Allen beat out a two-out infield single, scored on a double to the right-center field gap by Brooks Lindsley. Shawn Peterson followed with a single to center that plated Lindsley.
Smith was pleased his Devils collected a dozen hits in the opener but was disturbed with LCC's 12 flyball outs. The hosts also flew out 10 times in the nightcap.
"We had too many infield pop flys and long flyball outs," Smith said. "Some of the guys are struggling with their swings right now."
Five LCC pitchers combined to check the Lakers on six hits. Relievers Rye Phillips, Shawn Peterson and Lindsley collaborated to hold SWOC hitless in the final four innings, while Peterson fanned two of the four batters he faced.
Allen had two hits including a double and scored twice, Lindsley added two doubles and scored two runs, and Peterson had two singles and scored two runs. Nic Shadle added two hits with a double, and Sean Winston had a double.
But while the Devils had an easy time against soft-tossing Lakers' lefty Jonathan Boswell in the opener, they struggled against sidearm thrower Kris Boele, who rarely threw harder than 70 miles per hour.
Boele scattered seven hits, and managed to shut out LCC until the seventh inning when Peterson landed at second on a two-out fielder's choice and throwing error, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1.
"These are probably the roughest days for us because we're facing guys who barely throw the speed limit (70) and we don't adjust to them," Smith said. "We didn't see more than a couple of pitches over 80 in the two games, and that's not what we're used to."
LCC chased Boele in the eighth after exploding for three runs. Tyler Davis legged out an infield single to open the inning, scampered to second on a sacrifice by Jett Hart, advanced to third on a base hit from Winston, and came home on a wild pitch. Winston later scored on a ground out from Allen, and Lindsley scored the third run after reaching on a base hit and scoring on a wild pitch.
Five LCC pitchers combined to pitch a two-hitter.
"Our pitching was all right except for one guy in the second game who came in and let us down," Smith said. "He walked three guys against a team that didn't score a run in the first game."
Sophomore Brian Erickson walked the bases full with one out in the sixth inning before he yielded to Ryan Graves. Three pitches later, Graves surrendered a sacrifice fly that put the Lakers ahead 1-0.
"We have a certain number of pitchers we'll be throwing in a three-game weekend series when we get into the league season, and we may have some guys on the outside looking in," Smith said. "It's tough to be on this staff because it's so deep. The preseason games are really telling and will determine who will get the upcoming innings."
Davis finished with two hits including a triple, and Lindsley had a pair of singles.
The Red Devils are idle until Friday when they play in the Walla Walla Tournament.
GAME 1
Red Devils 8, Lakers 0
SW Oregon 000 000 000 - 0 6 3
Lower Col. 200 121 20x - 8 12 0
Jonathan Boswell, Sotero Itsa (7) and Matthew Brown; Chad Wagner, Conor Spink (4), Rye Phillips (6), Shawn Peterson (8), Brooks Lindsley (9) and Bo Lybeck.
GAME 2
Red Devils 4, Lakers 2
SW Oregon 000 001 001 - 2 2 1
Lower Col. 000 000 13x - 4 7 1
Kris Boele, Jordan Arakawa (8) and Nick Kehdi; Cody Fassold, Alex Levin (4), Brian Erickson (6), Ryan Graves (6), Ben Rosen (9) and Bas Nooij, Bo Lybeck (7).
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