Linn-Benton Sweep Chemeketa

ALBANY, Ore. - The Linn-Benton baseball team won a pair of games against Chemeketa Community College at Dick McClain Field. The games were relocated from Chemeketa to Linn-Benton and the Roadrunners (19-3, 11-3 NWAC South) were the designated visiting team while the Storm (4-20, 3-11 NWAC South) were the designated home team. Linn-Benton won the first contest 10-2 and the second game 9-2. 

Game 1: The Roadrunners scored in the top of the second inning as a Chanz Flores sacrifice to center field scored Emmett Stacher. The Storm would take the lead in the fourth inning as they scored two runs to make it 2-1. Linn-Benton would even the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning on a Boston Caron RBI single that scored Noah Scharer. Jack Lussier would hit a sacrifice to center field to score Stacher in the sixth inning and it was all Roadrunners once they gained the 3-2 advantage.

Linn-Benton tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning as a Jackson Fera single scored Landon Lea, then Fera would come around to score on an RBI single from Aiden Hazen. The Roadrunners scored five runs in the eighth inning as Chanz Flores scored on a defensive error, then a Scharer single sent Seth Willy across the plate. 

Lea would then single to score Lussier. Fera would earn another RBI as his single scored Scharer and finally Stacher would reach base on a fielder's choice that scored Lea and made the final score 10-2. Dayne Castillo earned the win with four strong innings in relief.

Game 2: Chemeketa would get on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Linn-Benton would respond in the top of the second inning as a Caron sacrifice fly scored Nick Biagi to tie it at one run apiece. Linn-Benton would take the lead in the third inning on a Flores double that scored Kellen Segel. Mark Carpenter then hit a ball to second that allowed Flores to score making it 3-1.

Linn-Benton added onto their lead with three runs in the fifth inning. Carpenter doubled to score Flores, followed by a Biagi single scoring Fera and finally Tyson McGrorty reached base on a fielder's choice that scored Carpenter. Chemeketa would get a run back in the sixth inning, but the Roadrunners answered in the seventh with a McGrorty double that scored Biagi.

A Flores ground out in the eighth scored Scharer, followed by an RBI single from Jacob Lindstrom to score Segel and make the final score 9-2 in favor of the Roadrunners. Starting pitcher Cooper Yudhishthu earned the win with five strong innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out five batters.

Linn-Benton will next face the Storm on Saturday, March 28 at home to complete their four game series. First pitch for those games is scheduled for 1:00PM and 4:00PM.