DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Embry-Riddle pinch-hitter Dillon Ennis singled to right field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, driving in Connor Williams to deal the No. 8 Lewis-Clark State College baseball team its first loss in nearly three weeks on Friday at Sliwa Stadium.
The seventh-ranked Eagles scored twice in their final at-bat to claim a 4-3 victory over the Warriors, who saw their 12-game winning streak come to an end.
"When we look back at this game, we'll see that we were good at times on the mound, but when you have six walks and only two strikeouts against the No. 7 team in the nation, it's not a recipe for a win," Lewis-Clark State coach Jeremiah Robbins said. "We just weren't very good today. I thought we competed and played hard, but we didn't bring our best game with us."
Lewis-Clark State (24-6) held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and finally 3-2 before the Eagles (24-7) rallied in the ninth against Warrior closer Sal Arena (0-2).
LCSC starter Ryan Sells and reliever David Murillo each worked four innings on the mound and held Embry-Riddle to just two runs through the first eight innings.
Lewis-Clark State 010 010 100-3 10 2
Embry-Riddle 000 110 002-4 11 1
Sells, Murillo (5), Arena (9) and Blackwell. Nelson, Green (9) and Cellini.
W - Green (3-0) L- Arena (0-2) Save - none.
Lewis-Clark State hits - Holley 2, Steiger, Lavalli 3 (2B), Chapjian (2B), Blackwell, Tannehill, Corliss (2B).
E-R hits - Robbins, Cellini 3 (2-2B), Lemon, Lindheim 2, Chastain, Jacobs, Ennis, Goodall
WSU 8, Brown 2
PULLMAN - Joe Pistorese pitched seven innings to lead Washington State past Brown 8-2 in nonconference baseball on Friday at Bailey-Brayton Field.
Pistorese (3-1) gave up two runs, one earned, on seven hits, walked two and struck out a career-high seven. Brown (1-7) starter Anthony Galan (0-1) lasted only three innings and suffered the loss.
The Bears scored both runs in the first inning on three hits, an error and three stolen bases. The Cougars (12-8) responded with four runs in their half of the first.
Jason Monda led off with a single, but was thrown out trying to steal. Adam Nelubowich walked and scored after back-to-back singles by Nick Tanielu and Yale Rosen. After Ian Sagdal flied out, P.J. Jones singled to load the bases. Brett Jacobs followed with a two-run single and Jones came in to score when the ball was misplayed in left field.
"It was important we responded right away after falling behind in the first inning," Cougar coach Donnie Marbut said. "Joe (Pistorese) wasn't sharp in the first inning, but he did a nice job of settling in after that."
Washington State extended its lead to 7-2 with three runs in the third. The first run scored on a wild pitch. Jones added a run-scoring single and Jacobs capped the rally with a sacrifice fly. Nelubowich finished the scoring with an RBI-triple in the eighth.
The series continues at 2 p.m. today.
Brown 200 000 000-2 8 2
Washington State 403 000 01x-8 7 2
Galan, Lacker (4) and Van Boom. Pistorese, Hartnett (8) and Jones, Robinson.
W - Pistorese (3-1). L - Galan (0-1).
Brown hits - Sheridan, Franco, Marcal, Van Boom, Kukowski 2, Massey, Fornaca.
WSU hits - Monda, Nelubowich (3B), Tanielu, Rosen, Jones 2, Jacobs.