LCC splits with Green River, remains in first place
Sunday, May 4, 2008 10:45 AM PDT
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleAfter splitting Saturday's doubleheader with Green River, the Lower Columbia College Red Devils remain in first place in the NWAACC Western Division.
But instead of leading the division by two games, the Devils' lead shrunk to one.
LCC ran its winning streak to 12 games with a 7-2 victory over the Gators in the opener at David Story Field, but managed only four hits in a 3-1 setback in the nightcap. The split dropped LCC (20-18) to 15-4 in the division. Tacoma (14-5 league) moved to a game back of the Devils by sweeping Centralia on Saturday. Green River (17-18, 10-9 league) stayed in contention for the postseason in third place.
"A sweep for us would've been fantastic because I don't expect Tacoma to lose again," LCC coach Kelly Smith said. "Sunday's game at Green River is key because if we lose we'll drop into a tie for first place and Green River will take the season series from us. That will be a big step backward after winning 12 straight games."
Smith admits its tough to be critical of a team coming off a 12-game winning streak.
"We've put ourselves in a precarious situation," he said. "Green River is in the same boat because they (the Gators) want to win and move into third place and a shot at the playoffs. I don't want to be in a playoff, and we control our destiny."
The Devils played with a sense of urgency in the opener by scoring two runs in each of the first and second innings.
"We got out of the gate and felt pretty good," Smith said. "We did things the way we're supposed to, but Green River came back and scored single runs in the third and fourth, and the urgency came back."
In the bottom of the fourth, Jett Hart belted a two-out double to left-center field, and moved to third on a passed ball. Sean Winston followed with a drag bunt that stalled between the Green River pitcher and second base that scored Hart and gave the Devils a 5-2 lead.
"Winnie had a nice drag bunt that gave us some breathing room," Smith said. "No one except for me was panicking because I know how important the first game was. It was a well-played game for us and was clean."
The Devils loaded the bases in the fifth when Brooks Lindsley and Shawn Peterson were hit by pitches and Jeremy Lorence walked, and Nic Shadle followed with an opposite-field single that scored Lindsley and Peterson.
LCC tallied nine hits. Shadle had two hits including a triple and three RBIs, Winston had two hits and Hart added two hits and scored twice.
In the nightcap, the Devils struggled against hard-throwing right-hander Christian Scholl, who scattered four hits and struck out six. Scholl, a sophomore right-hander from Tacoma's Stadium High, had a fastball clocked at 95 miles per hour in the first inning, and was hitting 90 on the speed gun after more than 100 pitches in the ninth inning.
"We had eight scouts in attendance with speed guns because Scholl was on the mound," Smith said. "When we played Green River at their place, he was dealing early and then he imploded. He didn't do that here, and once he was hitting his breaking balls for strikes we were in dire straits."
Scholl located 75 of his 110 pitches for strikes, and threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 35 batters he faced. LCC's Tyler Lichty pitched into the sixth inning and allowed eight hits, hit two batters and had three strikeouts.
"Tyler was down to his fastball because he couldn't locate his breaking pitches," Smith said. "He didn't have an out pitch, and they (the Gators) are a good fastball hitting team."
The Gators broke up a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when Joe Schuster was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a base hit from Tim Reavis, and both came home when a Shane Colbert single to left-center field got under the glove of LCC centerfielder Richie Allen and rolled to the fence.
"That error was the key point in the game because it let in two runs instead of one," Smith said. "That was a big second run because Scholl was settling in."
LCC scored its run in the seventh when Lindsley led off with a triple to right-center field, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Peterson. The Devils' other run-scoring opportunity was squashed in the eighth because of a baserunning gaffe.
Shadle reached first on an error to open the inning, and Hart tried to bunt him to second. Hart's pop-up bunt was dropped by Scholl, who threw to first base to get Hart. Shadle, who thought the ball was going to be caught, stopped a couple steps off first base and was tagged out by the Gators' first baseman.
In the ninth, Lindsley opened with another triple off the right-center field fence, but was stranded when Luke Zirkle flew out to second base, and Bas Nooij and Lorence each struck out looking to end the game.
"We had our opportunities but were a little intimidated by his mound demeanor," Smith said of Scholl. "He's a tough guy who works quickly and challenged the strike zone. We also hadn't seen anyone throw that fast in a few weeks, so it was tough. We also had a bad approach with the pop ups and hitting late, and we had to attack him and hit the fastball."
Game 1: Red Devils 7, Gators 2
Green River 001 100 0-2 8 0
Lower Col. 220 120 x-7 9 1
James Douglas, Brock Peterson (5), Brent Kolomjec and Joe Schuster; Chad Wagner, Michael Greene (6) and Bo Lybeck, Bas Nooij (6).
Game 2: Gators 3, Red Devils 1
Green River 000 020 010-3 10 3
Lower Col. 000 000 100-1 4 2
Christian Scholl and Joe Schuster; Tyler Lichty, Ben Rosen (6), Ryan Graves (8), Cody Fassold (9) and Bo Lybeck, Bas Nooij (8).
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