The Corban University baseball team tallied a nonconference win against NCAA D-III Willamette University on Wednesday afternoon. The Corban offense pounded out 14 hits, including five for extra bases en route to a 12-5 victory.
After two scoreless innings for both sides, the Navy and Gold offense struck first and erupted in the top of the third inning for seven runs on six hits to blow the game open early. The inning started with a Ty Covalt single to center, which was promptly followed by a Nainoa Ka'ahanui double off the right field wall to put runners at second and third with no outs. After a hit by pitch to load the bases, veteran Maxwell Jeffrey laced a ball into right-center field scoring Covalt and Ka'ahanui. Cale Thompson followed with a perfect drag bunt and a Kyle Clay single brought home the third run of the inning. A wild pitch by the Bearcats forced pushed the Corban lead to 4-0. Corban again loaded the bases with two outs and, batting for the second time in the inning, Ty Covalt scorched a bases clearing double to right field to extend the lead to 7-0.
Jacob Bowser got the start for the Warriors, throwing three innings of one run baseball to start off a strong day from the Corban pitching staff. Ben Aguilera followed Bowser's strong outing with five strong innings of his own, allowing just four runs on six hits to earn the win. It was the longest outing of Aguilera's career.
The Warrior offense struck again in the seventh inning with an RBI-double by Kyle Clay and added another run on a double steal to extend their lead to 9-2. Willamette added two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Corban offense punched right back in the eighth inning.
The eighth inning saw another Jeffrey RBI-single, a Cale sacrifice fly, and another Clay RBI-double to put the game out of reach at 12-4.
A Willamette solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning was the last run of the contest.
Freshman left hander Hayden Van Acker made his collegiate debut in the ninth inning of Wednesday's contest, retiring the side in order.
Corban received multi-hit performances from Covalt, Jeffrey, Clay, and Brian Landon in the contest.
Corban (13-14-1, 0-4) returns to the diamond for Cascade Collegiate Conference play at 5 p.m. on Friday evening against No. 3-ranked Lewis Clark State College.
Original source can be found here.
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