(Longview, WA) – The Lower Columbia College baseball team had another strong showing at the NWAC Baseball Championships at Story Field On May 23-27.
After a tough opening night 1-0 loss to the eventual champ Linn Benton, the Devils won two games to reach the Final Four on Sunday. Tacoma then eliminated the Devils on Sunday afternoon.
Game One – Linn Benton 1 Lower Columbia 0
Linn Benton got a combined two-pitcher shutout. Starter Ethan Kleinschmidt went 7 1/3 innings with three hits allowed. Reliever Russell Holly shutdown the Devils best scoring opportunity in the 8
th then closed it out in the 9
th.
LCC starter
Hunter Lutman pitched well with five innings allowing just the one run.
Stephen Hammergren pitched three innings of hitless baseball, striking out three.
Brayden Oram went 1-4 with a double.
Game Two – Lower Columbia 6 Blue Mountain 2
Three Devil pitchers combined to limit the Timberwolves to just three hits. Starter
Owen Luchies allowed just one run on three hits in six innings of work.
Aaron Platner threw two perfect innings and
Josh Mejia closed it out with one unearned run allowed and three strikeouts.
LCC scored three runs in the first inning to seize control early. The Devils added three more in the 6
th after a bases-loaded walk to
Nate Gray Jr., an RBI single by
Carson Hayes and a fielder's choice groundout by
Langan Naylor.
Game Three – Lower Columbia 2 Edmonds 1 (11 innings)
Jack DeDonato took a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the 8
th inning. The big lefty was masterful. One pitch he would like back is the one thrown to Camden Gillespie who broke up the no-no and the shutout with a solo homer.
Hunter Grasser came on in relief and threw 3 2/3 shutout innings to get the victory.
The Devils won the game in the bottom of the 11
th.
Royce Vandine drew a one-out walk and ended up on third after a Edmonds error and a
Owen Cummins single.
Gunnar Shiotani was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded scoring the winning run.
LCC finished with nine hits, led by two each from
Cayden Wotipka and
Jake Smith. Vandine drove in the first run with a 6
th inning RBI single.
Game Four – Tacoma 6 Lower Columbia 4
Tacoma had already clinched a berth in Monday's title game with a 3-0 record in the tournament. The Titans, coached by former LCC pitching coach Ian Sanderson, sent Austin Crawford to the mound for his first start of the season and he came through. Crawford allowed just four Devil hits over six shutout innings.
Devil starter
Noah Imboden gave up a single run in the first and a solo tally in the third.
Hayden Morrison allowed three runs in 1 2/3 innings. Down 5-0,
Carson Kruckman and
Chayse Oxborrow kept LCC in the game. Kruckman allowed one run in 3 1/3 and Oxborrow pitched a scoreless inning.
LCC didn't quit as they brought the tying run to the plate in the 9
th.
Cayden Wotipka had a two-out, two-run double in the 8
th to make it 6-2. In the 9
th, Hayes and Naylor had RBI singles to make it 6-4.
Wren Cecil had good contact on a pitch, but the wind knocked it down and TCC made the catch to end the ballgame.
The defending champions ended another great season with a 39-15 record. The Devils were making their NWAC record 49
th appearance in the tournament.
As it turned out, the two teams that LCC lost to in the tournament played for the championship on Monday. Linn Benton beat Tacoma 4-3 and 7-4 to win its second title in three years.
The Longview-Kelso community and the Lower Columbia College campus community all pulled together to make it another successful event at Story Field. The attendance was very good and the event went off without a hitch.
LCC will host the 2025 tournament on May 22-26. It will be the third year of a three-year contract with the NWAC.
