ALBANY – Roadrunners first baseman Boston Caron stood at the dish in the bottom of the fourth inning of game one of LBCC’s April 4 doubleheader against Umpqua with a 1-2 count, and facing Riverhawk starter Ty Hellenthal.
The sophomore picked up his second strike on a sharply timed pitch clock violation – but he had something in his back pocket down in the count.
As Caron put it, he woke up and decided he wanted to have some fun today.
A no doubt two-run homer to left gave the team a stern 4-0 lead. It was his second of the day. That was enough to get the momentum to secure a 7-2 win in that game, Linn-Benton then won 4-3 in an extra-innings contest in game two.
“Today I just kind of went back to having fun. Kinda not caring about the consequences of baseball,” Caron said, “I’ve been struggling at the plate lately so I just said ‘Eff it let’s swing the barrel and let it hang,’ and then to get lit with the boys after two pumps, it’s cool,” Caron said.
Both games were all-around team performances coming off a tightly fought series in Roseburg, which saw the Beaks get beat handedly in game one – 9-2 before winning a 3-2 game two (that was decided on a single by Caron as well).
In game one, Emmett Stacher started and picked up a win in seven shutout innings, surrendering just three hits and striking out six Riverhawk batters.
“Every time we play them, they find a way to string hits together, they’re really good at that. So ‘Booms’ (sophomore catcher Aiden Hazen) and Brock (Townsend, pitching coach) talked it over and the plan was all heaters in the first inning, make them hit it. Once they start timing it up, then we just spin. There was no certain sequence we were going off, just spin the ball,” Stacher said.
The second time through the order, UCC hitters misdiagnosed Stacher’s slider for the four-seam or just outright whiffed at his curveball.
“The whole time, the whole plan from when we were out there playing catch, ‘Calm, cool and aggressive,” Stacher explained.
After Jackson Fera walked in the second, Roadrunner action got started. Caron was standing in the batters box and got a hold of one.
The wind was favorable all day — the ball hung and carried and snuck itself firmly over the left field wall.
Just about 20 feet lower than where his second left the park.
“Every kid wants to hit at least one home run, at any level they play, but in college to hit two in one game it feels great,” Caron said.
That made it 2-0 for Linn-Benton.
The next scoring, of course, came from the aforementioned fourth-inning homer, but in another revelation during a marvelous day for the Roadrunners was what followed.
Second baseman Seth Willy was standing in and working the count.
A sophomore with an astute glove on the right side of infield (zero errors in 45 chances), Willy hasn’t played a massive role in the Roadrunners offense thus far but found his pitch and followed his teammate’s lead with a ball that just snuck into the corner where the fence and foul pole converge in left-field.
The energy at Dick McClain field was palpable.
“Anything you can do for the guy on the mound, the guys around you, we’re just passing the baton,” Willy said.
The score stayed 5-0 for some time.
Kyler Miller came in to relieve for Stacher in the eighth and got two outs before giving up a seeing-eye single and another base knock but quickly working out of things.
After Willy walked, third baseman Jack Lussier and center fielder Noah Scharer both singled.
Scharer scored Willy on his hit.
Chanz Flores, who handled DH duties in game one, hit a sacrifice fly that plated Lussier and capped off the team’s scoring.
All together, LBCC captured 13 hits, highlighted by a 3-for-5 game from Scharer, a four-RBI two-home run day from Caron and two-hit performances from Flores, Lussier and Hazen as well.
Umpqua got their two runs in a long away ninth where they showed some life. Miller gave up a hit and a couple bases on balls before giving up a sacrifice fly and later walking in another run.
The reliever, who has been one of many sharp tools in the hands of head coach Andy Peterson, has pitched to a 1.69 ERA and strikes out batters at a rate of over 10 per nine innings.
With plenty of cushion in the situation, there wasn’t much genuine concern, but Peterson decided to bring in freshman Mark Carpenter to pick up the last out. Carpenter did so swiftly, striking out UCC’s Jackson Thompsen to retire the side and win the game.
Action started early in game two, the Riverhawks converting a pair of extra base hits against Beaks starter Talon McGrorty into two first-inning runs.
After a UCC double and two wild pitches to score the first run, first baseman Trevor Ratliff rattled off a solo home run of his own.
As he has shown capable of repeatedly, McGrorty was able to shake off the deficit to find his groove. He finished with two earned runs, four hits allowed (zero earned runs and just one non-bunted hit outside of the first inning) and five strikeouts. McGrorty also didn’t allow any walks.
Both McGrorty and Stacher met the qualifications for a quality start (six innings and allowing three or fewer runs), although the stat isn’t recorded in the NWAC.
In the bottom of the sixth, a Scharer single scored catcher Tyson McGrorty to cut the deficit in half.
After striking out the first batter in the seventh and hitting the next one, Evan Lehnert took over.
Lehnert got the outs he needed swiftly.
The fourth LBCC home run of the day would even up the scoreboard at 2-2. Carpenter, who was playing third in game two, rose to the occasion with a single swing of the bat. Just what the doctor ordered.
There wasn’t much time to breathe, as UCC strung together a pair of base hits to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning (the game was originally scheduled for seven).
Put simply, self-inflicted Riverhawk wounds were the story of the bottom of the eighth. The bases were walked loaded, and a wild pitch scored shortstop Bryant Starr to tie the game.
Quickly there was another, and Willy scored the winning run.
Three walks and two wild pitches decided the game. In a day with so many home runs, the Beaks ended things in a manner in line with the “million different ways” mindset.
Scharer was again the team’s top offensive performer in game two, going 2-for-4.
“I just stuck with my approach of target hitting at the second baseman all day and that helped me stay through the ball and shoot it up the middle,” Scharer said.
In total, he had a five-hit day, picking up an RBI in each game.
With the sweep, Linn-Benton holds fairly stern control over the NWAC South standings, sitting at a 24-4 overall record, three games ahead of UCC in second place.
The team’s next games are against Clackamas, back at home on Wednesday, April 8.
First pitches are set for 1 and 4 p.m.
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