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Baseball Knocks Off Lewis-Clark State, 9-8
March 5, 2004
LEWISTON, Ida. - Gonzaga improved to 2-0 in the 2004 Banana Belt Clasic as they played a night game against host Lewis-Clark State College that was highlighted by several rain down pours, severe wind gusts and one power outage as Gonzaga (4-8) knocked off Lewis-Clark State (11-2) by a score of 9-8. Lewis-Clark State scored in the bottom of the first with three runs against Bulldogs starter Matt Reding. Derek Bruce opened the scoring with an RBI triple. He would score on a hard hit ball by Brandon Morris. Tyler Best capped the Warriors scoring with a bases loaded single. Gonzaga had offensive chances in the first when Brad Welker was thrown out at the plate following a single by Jeff Culpepper. The Zags would place runners in scoring position in the second and third inning against LCSC starter Derek Landavaso and finally crack the scoreboard with two runs in the third. Reding opened with an RBI single before David Johnson added an RBI double. The Warriors pushed the lead back to two runs in the third as Morris laced a double to the left field corner. The game would be halted after the bottom of the third for 20 minutes as the power to four towers of lights went out. After power was restored Rob Williams relieved Landavaso and pitched the Warriors out of a jam in the fifth. L-C State added three more runs in the fifth taking advantage of two walks issued by Reding. Billy Steverman doubled home two Warriors runs with a shot down the line.
The Bulldogs closed the gap to 7-6 in the sixth inning taking advantage of one LCSC error. Marshall Bratton had one of Gonzaga's RBI in the inning with a sharp single up the middle. Kiel Thibault also added a sacrifice fly for the Zags. Morris would collect another RBI double in the seventh to increase the lead to 8-6 for L-C State.
Gonzaga gained its first lead of the game in the eighth inning as the Bulldogs scored three runs against Warriors reliever Nate Kuhns (1-1). Thibault drove home one run with a ground out before Reding drove home two runs with a double to the right center gap. Culpepper and Reding each finished with three hits for Gonzaga. Chris Albrecht (1-0) picked up the win with two innings of relief. John Gonzalez picked up the save with two shutout innings in the eighth and ninth. Morris led LCSC with two hits and three RBI. |
