Roadrunners Sweep Season Opener

PASCO, Wash. - The Linn-Benton baseball team started their season at Columbia Basin College with a pair of doubleheaders. The Roadrunners (4-0, 0-0 NWAC South) defeated the hosts 5-4 and 11-9 on Saturday, February 14 and then earned a pair of wins on Sunday, February 15 by scores of 6-2 and 7-2.

Saturday Game 1: Linn-Benton got on the board first, as they scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning with a sacrifice bunt from Landon Lea that scored Aiden Hazen. Jackson Fera would advance to third base on the sacrifice and would then cross the plate on an RBI single from Jack Lussier. Lussier would help the visitors score again in the sixth inning, as he reached first base on an error from the pitcher, which scored Lea and Jacob Lindstrom.

Columbia Basin (0-4, 0-0 NWAC East) stormed back with four runs in the eighth inning, but pitcher Kyle Miller came on in relief to seal the win. Pitcher Dayne Castillo was credited with the win after four strong innings, including six strikeouts.

Saturday Game 2: In the second contest the hosts would score two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead. Linn-Benton would respond with a huge sixth inning where they scored eight runs. Tyson McGrorty's RBI single drove in Camden Johnson, then a series of hit by pitch and walks from Columbia Basin pushed Nick Biagi, McGrorty and Matthew Talbot across the plate. A Mark Carpenter single drove in two more runs, scoring Bryant Starr and Noah Scharer. Carpenter would then cross the plate on sacrifice from Johnson.

Linn-Benton would tack on another run in the seventh as Scharer would score on a wild pitch to make it 9-2. The hosts responded with five runs in the seventh inning to make it 9-7, but a McGrorty double in the top of the eighth inning scored Johnson and an inning later Carpenter drove in another run on a single that scored Starr. 

Columbia Basin put up two more runs in the bottom of the ninth but fell 11-9. Pitcher Talon McGrorty earned the win with six strong innings on the mound.

Sunday Game 1: The Roadrunners got out early on the Hawks, as a Seth Willy sacrifice would drive in Biagi, followed by a Scharer single to score Lussier and give Linn-Benton a 2-0 advantage. The home team would respond with runs in the second and third innings to even the score 2-2. Linn-Benton would retake the lead in the fourth inning as Starr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to send Lindstrom across the plate. 

The Roadrunners took command in the seventh inning as Fera drove in Boston Caron on a fielder's choice, Hazen would reach base on an error scoring Fera then Biagi would single to drive in Hazen. Emmett Stacher earned the win on the mound.

Sunday Game 2: The final contest, scheduled for seven innings, was a back and forth affair as Linn-Benton would score first on a Chanz Flores double that drove in Johnson to give the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. The Hawks responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but those would be their last runs of the contest. A defensive error from the Hawks allowed Scharer to score in the top of the fifth inning to even the score, then a Fera shot to the outfield with the bases loaded scored Starr, Flores and Johnson to give Linn-Benton the advantage. 

Carpenter drove in two more runs in the sixth with an RBI single to score Scharer and Biagi to help seal the win. Cooper Yudhishthu earned the win after four solid innings as the starter. Linn-Benton will next travel to face Clark College on Friday, February 20. That contest is scheduled for two nine inning games at 11:00AM and 2:00PM.