(Roseburg, OR) – The Lower Columbia baseball team opened the season with a four game series at Umpqua.
Although the season started well, the series ended with three straight losses to the Riverhawks.
It harkened to memories of last season when the Devils dropped three of four games at Spokane only to rebound and finish in the top four at the NWAC tournament.
In the opener, the Devils jumped on Umpqua for four runs in the first inning and went on to an 8-4 victory.
Easton Amundson's sacrifice fly,
Kyle Parkman's RBI single and a key Umpqua error led to the four run frame. Meanwhile, LCC starter Michael Schwartz tossed three hitless innings with six strikeouts.
Camdem Oram came on in relief and worked four scoreless innings before giving up three in the 8
th and one in the 9
th.
The Devils blew the game open when they scored four runs in the top of the 7
th inning.
Nick Miller,
Matthew Lewis and
Tyler Reese all had RBI single in the inning.
Oram got the win in relief.
Saturday's second game was looking good as Red Devil starter
Noah Imboden pitched four scoreless innings in his college debut. He allowed just one hit and struck out six.
Amundson's first inning base hit scored what turned out to be LCC's only run of the game. Umpqua tied the game with an eighth inning RBI double off LCC reliever
Mac Elske.
The Riverhawks got a two run double in the bottom of the 8
th off Devil reliever
Jase Schueller, who took the loss. The final score was 3-1.
Wren Cecil had two of the Devil five hits in the game.
The series continued on Sunday and things unraveled quickly for LCC. The Riverhawks scored eight runs in the first inning. Devil starter
Brayden Wells got just one out as he walked two batters and gave up two base hits. A passed ball didn't help the cause.
Owen Luchies tried to get out of the jam and collected a big strikeout for the second out. But two bases loaded walks and a bases loaded hit by pitch followed by two base hits put Umpqua up 8-0.
Luchies settled down after that first frame and shut down Umpqua for the next three.
Braeden Munger then came on to throw three scoreless innings before giving up two in the bottom of the 8
th, triggering the 10-run rule, final 10-0.
LCC had just four hits in the game.
With a chance to get the series split in the fourth game, LCC pitching was good. Starter
Brayden Marcum went seven solid innings, allowing just four hits and one run. The sophomore lefty walked just one and struck out 10.
Amundson's RBI single in the first inning had the Devils up 1-0 until the 5
th when Marcum gave up a game tying RBI double in the 5
th.
The seven inning game went to extra's and Umpqua scratched out the game winning run against reliever
Carson Kruckman. The winning run came on an error by the Red Devil second baseman. The final score was 2-1 Umpqua.
The Devils struggled at the plate hitting just .189 in the four game series. The positive is that LCC pitchers allowed a .198 Umpqua batting average. The LCC staff put up zeroes in 25 of the 33 innings played.
Lower Columbia comes home for a four game series with Bellevue Friday February 24
th and Saturday February 25
th. The double header Friday begins at 1 pm. The twinbill Saturday begins at 11 am. It's a free weekend at Story Field so come on by and check out this season's Red Devils!
