Lewis-Clark State baseball stumbles against Bushnell in Cascade Conference tournament

May 5—Lewis-Clark State's 16-game win streak was snapped.

It was the first home loss this season; It was the first loss suffered by starting pitcher Drake George and it was the first time the Warriors gave up at least 20 hits since May 4, 2001, against Washington State.

All of this happened as a result of a 13-5 loss against Bushnell in a first-round Cascade Conference baseball tournament game Saturday at Harris Field.

The Beacons have taken 4-of-9 games against LCSC this season — the most losses the Warriors have against any conference foe this year.

"We've now seen those guys nine times this year," LCSC coach Jake Taylor said. "And they have a lot of bats in their lineup. We missed (up the) middle quite a bit — too often. And they made us pay for it. They're a good club. For us, not a lot went right today."

Saturday was a game of momentum, which Bushnell secured after a couple of back-and-forth innings.

Crist gets the Beacons started

Through three innings, both teams played hot potato with the lead.

The Beacons (27-24) started with a 1-0 headstart. Then, LCSC (35-10) led 2-1. The teams exchanged leads twice more in the second inning.

LCSC finally held the Beacons scoreless in the top of the third. In the bottom side of the frame, the Warriors bolstered their lead to 5-3 after senior Nick Seamons hit an RBI triple. Seamons was slotted in at designated hitter on Saturday instead of his usual spot in left field due to a nagging back injury.

LCSC senior infielder Jake Gish also contributed to the scoreboard with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first.

But the Beacons, coming off four straight losses to the Warriors, were itching for some payback. And they got it in bulk.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, Bushnell junior first baseman Cade Crist hit a grand slam to put the Beacons up by two.

One inning later, sophomore designated hitter Albert Jennings and senior left fielder Isaiah Hart hit a three-RBI home run and a solo homer, respectively, to push Bushnell's lead to 11-5.

The Beacons' trio of homers in the fourth and fifth innings ended the day of two LCSC pitchers: starter George (four innings pitched) and reliever Jantzen Lucas ( 1/3 inning pitched).

It was the Warriors' third pitcher of the day that ended up giving the Warriors their best chance at a comeback.

Grote puts up season best

The usual Game 1 or Day 1 rotation for LCSC recently has been George starting and some combination of Lucas, senior Cam Smith and sophomore Landon Webb relieving.

But on Saturday, it was junior Tucker Grote who came in with his team down six runs in the fifth.

The Gresham, Ore., product cooled down Bushnell's bats with three shut-out innings. But, unfortunately for the junior righty, Beacons junior Alec Gums matched his effort.

There were no runs scored from the bottom of the fifth through the eighth. There were eight runners left on base during that stretch between the two teams.

"Tucker was a bright spot for us today," Taylor said. "He found the zone and worked out of some situations, so happy for him. He kept us in the game and competed and gave us a chance to come back. Definitely proud of him."

Bushnell eventually broke the seal with another two runs in the top of the ninth, effectively putting the game out of reach for the Warriors.

LCSC looking to bounce back

The loss against the Beacons puts LCSC in the losers' bracket of the conference tournament. It will play at 1 p.m. today against Oregon Tech, which lost its first-round game against British Columbia earlier on Saturday.

If the Warriors win, they will play the loser of the 11 a.m. winners' bracket game between the Thunderbirds and the Beacons at 5 p.m. today.

If LCSC loses either game today, it will be eliminated from the conference tournament. It will then turn its attention to the NAIA Opening Round, presented by Avista, which starts May 13 at Harris Field in Lewiston.

The Warriors were forced to go with an unusual lineup with Seamons at designated hitter, junior Charlie Updegrave at right field and junior Brandon Cabrera at left field. Cabrera and Seamons were decent in their abnormal roles, but it looked to have an impact on the synergy of the lineup.

The fact that LCSC hadn't faced Bushnell's starter Nate Rasmussen this season didn't help.

But the Warriors will have to quickly bounce back today against the Owls, who split a four-game series against the Warriors earlier in the year.

"We're just going to have to have a short memory and be ready to go," Taylor said. "I didn't like our energy today. I felt like Bushnell was applying the pressure on us from the first inning on. ... For us to be successful we're just going to have to have a short memory and move on and come out ready to go."

BUSHNELL LEWIS-CLARK STATE

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Furman cf 4 3 1 1 Booth cf 4 0 1 1

Casperson c 4 0 2 0 Cabrera lf 3 1 1 1

Keamo pr 0 0 0 0 Signorelli ss 3 0 1 0

Wilson rf 5 1 2 1 Gish 1b 4 2 1 2

Jennings dh 4 3 3 4 Seamons dh 5 0 2 1

Hart lf 5 3 3 1 De Sa 3b 4 1 0 0

Nye 3b 4 1 2 0 Ephan c 3 0 1 0

Crist 1b 5 1 3 4 I. George pr 0 1 0 0

Stacy 2b 6 0 1 1 Hofstetter 2b 3 0 0 0

Carganilla ss 6 1 3 0

Totals 43 13 20 12 Totals 33 5 7 5

Bushnell 120 440 002—13 20 3

Lewis-Clark State 221 000 000— 5 7 2

Bushnell ip h r er bb so

Rasmussen 3.2 3 5 5 4 3

Gums (W, 3-2) 5.1 4 0 0 3 5

Lewis-Clark State ip h r er bb so

D. George (L, 6-1) 4.0 11 7 7 3 5

Lucas 0.1 4 4 4 1 0

Grote 4.0 5 2 2 2 0

Takalo 0.2 0 0 0 1 1

Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.