PORTLAND, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon baseball team picked up a key conference win Saturday morning, shutting out Warner Pacific 2–0 behind a dominant performance on the mound and timely offense in the early innings, before falling 7-6 in game two to Warner Pacific.
Game 1
Eastern Oregon struck early and made the advantage stand. In the top of the second inning,
Carson Gerding drew a walk, and with two outs, Jaxon Logson launched the decisive hit over the fence to give the Mounties a 2-0 lead.
The Mountaineers' pitching staff and defense handled the remainder of the game.
Easton Corey (1-3) turned in a strong outing on the mound, tossing seven scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits while striking out nine to earn the win. Just two other Knights reached on an error and a hit by pitch through those seven innings.
Warner Pacific's best opportunities came in the later innings, including a runner reaching second in the eighth and another baserunner in the ninth. However, Eastern Oregon's bullpen preserved the shutout.
Nolan Bentley worked a clean eighth inning before
Joey Weissenfels closed the game in the ninth to secure the save.
Game 2
The afternoon contest remained tight through the first six innings.
Mario Landeros launched a solo home run in the first inning to give Eastern Oregon a 1–0 lead.
Jace Schow held the Knights scoreless over the first five innings, allowing only three baserunners (two hits and an error) while striking out four.
Brody Noonan entered in the sixth, tossing a hitless inning to keep Eastern's 1–0 lead intact.
The Mountaineers broke the game open in the seventh, scoring four runs to take a 5–0 advantage. Bases were loaded with a walk, an error, and a single before
Tucker Zander delivered a clutch RBI single.
Jace Nagler followed with a two-RBI double, and Landeros added a sacrifice fly to bring in Zander.
Warner Pacific responded in the bottom half of the inning, cutting the deficit to 5–3. With a pitching change for Eastern, Collin Schiller opened with a double, followed by two singles to load the bases. An Eastern error allowed three runners to cross
The eighth inning saw both teams trade runs. Eastern added one on an RBI single from
Alex Olague, while Warner Pacific answered with two to pull within one.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Mountaineers were unable to produce an insurance run after Nagler reached base.
Warner Pacific's Conner Hale hit a two-out, two-RBI home run to secure the walk-off 7–6 victory. Payton Smith (1–0) earned the win for the Knights, while
Will Slater (1–1) took the loss for Eastern Oregon.
Up Next
Eastern Oregon will continue the series tomorrow, March 15, with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.
