FOREST GROVE, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College baseball scored 12 runs across the third and fourth innings, to cruise to a 15-2 (seven-inning) win over host Pacific University in the rubber match of the three-game conference series.
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 15, Pacific 2 (7-Innings)
(Lewis & Clark 17-16, Northwest Conference 10-8)
(Pacific 12-22, NWC 9-12)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The River Otters racked up 11 hits, 10 walks and three hit by pitches against seven Boxers pitchers. With the win, the River Otters secured their fourth Northwest Conference series win of the season and their first regular-season series win over the Boxers since at least 2006. Seven Lewis & Clark players recorded a hit in the win and eight players scored at least one run.
Sophomore
Will Michelman and junior
Evyn Lewis led the offensive attack on Sunday. Michelman finished 3-3 with a team-high four runs scored, two RBI, two walks, a double and a triple. E. Lewis added two hits, two runs, a team-high three RBI, a walk and a double.
Junior
Eli Steinhaus tacked on two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Senior
Brandon Gonzaga chipped in one hit, two runs, two RBI, two walks and stolen bases and junior
Bret Potter registered a run scored, two RBI and a hit by pitch.
Sophomore
Dillon Foster earned his first win of the season on Sunday. The righty scattered three hits, three walks and two runs over five innings. He tacked on two strikeouts to improve to 1-3 on the season. Sophomore reliever
Matt Stanislavsky allowed one single in two scoreless frames and struck out three batters.
Lewis & Clark took control of the game with a four-run top of the third inning. Gonzaga opened the frame with a walk and moved to third on a stolen base and a Boxers throwing error. He was able to trot home on E. Lewis' RBI double to left field. After a pitching change, Steinhaus reached on an infield single and E. Lewis raced home on a wild pitch. Potter drove Steinhaus home with an RBI groundout for the second out. Michelman followed with a triple to center and first year
Garrett Lewis pushed the lead to 4-0 with a two-out RBI single.
The River Otters put together an eight-run top of the fifth inning. Lewis & Clark racked up eight runs on five hits, four walks and two hit by pitches and the first 11 batters of the inning reached base. Steinhaus, Michelman (two-run), sophomore
Jacob Shannon-Wilkerson and Gonzaga all recorded RBI hits in the inning. Gonzaga (single and a walk) and E. Lewis (walk and a single) each reached twice in the frame, before the third Pacific pitcher of the inning was able to record three-straight outs.
Pacific scored their only two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Trevor Kazahaya broke up the shutout with a two-run, two-out double, but Foster struck out the next batter to leave Kazahaya at third base.
Lewis & Clark answered with two runs of their own in the top of the fifth. The first three batters of the inning all worked walks, before Gonzaga and E. Lewis drove runners in on an error and a sacrifice fly.
Senior
Ryan Sanderson closed out the scoring with a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the sixth to score Michelman.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Lewis & Clark posted season-highs for a conference game in runs (15), walks (10) and triples (one). Michelman's triple in the third inning was the first triple of the year by a River Otter.
- Gonzaga went over 50 stolen bases for his career on Sunday. He is 51-59 for his career and he's only the fourth player in program history to reach 50 career steals.
- Foster threw at least five innings for a second-consecutive outing and for the third time this season. He was making his first start since March 1 against Pacific Lutheran University.
- With the win, Lewis & Clark sits in a tie for third in the NWC Standings with six games to play. The River Otters and the University of Puget Sound are both 10-8 and own a two-game lead over 8-10 George Fox University and Pacific Lutheran University. The top-four teams in the NWC Standings earn a trip to the NWC Tournament (May 8-10). Lewis & Clark owns the tiebreaker over both Puget Sound and PLU after winning both series 2-1.
- Gonzaga is one stolen base away (19-20) from joining Justin Baughman ('95) as the only players in program history with multiple seasons with 20 or more steals. Baughman set the program record with 34 stolen bases in the 1995 season.
- Lewis & Clark posted multiple wins in the same season against Pacific for just the third time since 2014. The River Otters split the regular-season series with Pacific in 2014 (2-2) and won the final two playoff games in 2023 to earn a 3-3 split.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will welcome last-place Willamette University (4-14 NWC) to
Jerry Gatto Field for a four-game series. The two teams will play a conference doubleheader on Saturday at Noon and 3 p.m.