The Corban University baseball team answered back in resounding fashion after a disappointing day yesterday, sweeping day two of the squad's four-game series against Eastern Oregon University to earn a series win. The Warriors put together a complete team effort for an 11-3 win in game one on Saturday, and then the squad earned a 7-0 win (six innings) in the rain-shortened series finale.
"The boys had a good day at the yard," said head coach Derek Legg. "I challenged them to show up with a different mentality from yesterday and they responded. We're looking forward to a good week of practice before opening up conference play."
The visitors struck first in game one with an unearned run in the top of the first, as Austin Gerding—who reached on a passed ball on strike three in his leadoff at-bat—came home on an RBI single from Hector Carreon.
Scott Artzer ripped a run-scoring single to center in the bottom of the second, collecting an RBI for the second-straight game to even the score at one.
Corban saw its offense break out in the bottom of the fourth, kick-started by a towering solo blast to right-center from Brian Landon (1). After a walk to Artzer and a single from Nainoa Ka'ahanui, Keenan O'Brien placed a pinpoint safety squeeze down the first base line to bring home another run.
Ryan Clay then blasted a long RBI single off the fence in the left-field corner, bringing home another to stretch the lead to three. After EOU got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth, it was once again Clay at the center of Corban's sixth-inning rally. The rookie third baseman turned in a beautiful piece of hitting to shoot an RBI hustle double into the left-center gap to make it 5-2.
CLICK HERE to hear Clay's thoughts after Saturday's action.
The Warriors blew it open with five runs in the bottom of the seventh, with Chris Grayson (RBI single), Maxwell Jeffrey (RBI sac fly), and Estenio Sede (RBI single) all driving in runs in the stanza.
Ka'ahanui collected an RBI of his own with his third hit of the day in the bottom of the eighth, a run scoring knock through the right side of the infield.
Simon earned the win on the hill, tossing five innings and allowed just the two runs—neither of which were earned—while striking out eight. Trevor Szczepanek took the ball and relief and allowed one run over three quality innings of relief, and Giovanni Cervantes finished off the contest with an inning of scoreless work in the ninth.
The game ended on a sparkling defensive play from Ryan Clay, who dove to his right and tossed across the diamond to finish the win on a high note and rob EOU's Matt Garcia of extra bases.
CLICK HERE to watch the web gem.
After his three-hit effort in game one, Ka'ahanui got the scoring started with a run-scoring single through the four-hole in the first inning of game two.
Corban then added on three more in the next inning, with Ka'ahanui and Jeffrey each recording RBI singles in the rally, and Kyle Clay bringing in another with a sacrifice fly.
The next three frames were quiet on both sides, as Corban starter Nate Martin continued to deal on the mound for the Navy and Gold.
The Warriors made it a seven-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, as a bloop single to right from Kyle Clay scored Jeffrey, and then Sede brought home two more with a frozen rope double into right center.
Inclement weather ended the game after that point, as the umpires and coaches convened and declared the contest final after the sixth inning due to the heavy rain.
Martin (2-2) collected his second win of the year on the hill with six innings of scoreless ball on the mound. He has now allowed two or less earned runs in his first five starts of the 2022 campaign.
CLICK HERE to watch Martin's postgame interview.
Corban (12-9-1) will kick off conference play next weekend, heading down to Springfield, Ore. for four Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) road contests against Bushnell University on Friday and Saturday.
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