Story Photos
 LCC shortstop Brooks Lindsley stretches for the ball before throwing out the runner at first during Wednesday's win over Centralia at David Story Field. Bill Wagner / The Daily News
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Pregame speech sparks Red Devils rout
Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:31 AM PDT
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleLower Columbia College baseball coach Kelly Smith wasn't impressed with the attitude of his Red Devils during pregame warmup before facing Centralia on Wednesday.
"They had the attitude they were going to roll through this game, so I gave them a good butt-chewing and told them that nothing has been accomplished yet," Smith said. "We had five games to play and we need three wins, and this was an opportunity to get one of them."
The Red Devils took Smith's words to heart as they shut out the Trailblazers 18-0 in a seven-inning NWAACC Western Division matchup on David Story Field.
LCC (22-18, 17-4 league) has won 14 of its last 15 games and remains two games ahead of Tacoma (15-6) in the league standings. The Titans pounded Grays Harbor 23-4 at home, also on Wednesday. Centralia fell to 3-33, 3-18 in league.
"I hope I woke them up with the speech," Smith said of his troops. "This is the situation where you could slip-up and lose to a team you should've beaten. Centralia has a competitive team if you let it stay in the game."
In three games with Centralia, the Red Devils have outscored the Trailblazers 40-0, allowed a combined eight hits while collecting 32 safeties. In the latest meeting with Centralia, seven LCC pitchers combined to allow two hits and walked none. Winning pitcher Ben Rosen allowed a single to the first batter of the game, and Cody Fassold gave up an infield single to open the fourth inning.
"Hip (LCC pitching coach Rob Hippi) and I talked about how we used to use our pitching staff in mid-week games when played against the Northern Division teams and they counted in the league standings," Smith said. "It's hard for the opposing team to concentrate on one pitcher when you have another guy coming. We brought in one guys after another and all of them pelted the strike zone, and we played solid defense behind them."
The Devils scored in every inning, and exploded for seven runs in the third highlighted by RBI singles from Richie Allen and Luke Zirkle, a two-run double by Nic Shadle and an RBI triple from Jett Hart.
"It was nice to get runs early," Smith said. "We scored one in the first, then two and then turned it into seven in the third. We scored every inning and I like that, and the highlight of the night was we didn't waste many at-bats."
The Devils plated four runs in the fourth highlighted by a two-run triple from Nic Shadle, scored three runs in the fifth and added a solo tally in the sixth.
LCC's hits were evenly spread throughout the lineup. The 1-2-3 batters combined for a triple, two doubles, a single, four walks, five runs and two RBIs, while the 4-5-6 hitters collaborated for a triple, four singles, eight runs and four RBIs. The bottom of the order finished with two triples, a double, two singles, four runs and seven RBIs.
Cleanup hitter Brooks Lindsley had three hits including a triple and scored twice, and ninth-place hitter Shadle had a double, triple, scored two runs and five RBIs. Jeremy Lorence and Hart each had an RBI triple, Zirkle scored twice and knocked in three runs, and Shawn Peterson scored four times.
I'm happy with the results, but we can only pat ourselves on the back for so long because we have work to do after an off-day on Thursday," Smith said. "We need a good practice on Friday because we have work to do on the weekend."
LCC visits Centralia for a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday on Ed Wheeler Field at Fort Borst Park.
Red Devils 18, Trailblazers 0
Centralia 000 000 0- 0 2 5
Lower Col. 127 431 x-18 14 0
Elijah Haskins, Dustin Elam (3), Rico Melendez (4), Chris Wasson (5) and A.J. Smith; Ben Rosen, Alex Levin (2), Rye Phillips (3), Cody Fassold (4), Conor Spink (5), Ryan Graves (6), Luke Zirkle (7) and Bo Lybeck, Bas Nooij (5).
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