Split with SWOCC leaves UCC baseball in second place
The Southwestern Oregon Lakers have been a thorn in the side of the Umpqua Community College baseball team this season.
The Riverhawks and Lakers squared off in a battle for second place in the NWAC South Region standings on Thursday at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field, but neither team managed to grab hold of the advantage in the race to host a Super Regional in the postseason.
SWOCC stifled UCC in an 11-4 win in the opener, but Umpqua rallied back to claim a 5-2 victory in the nightcap. The split meant the Riverhawks hung on to their slim half-game lead over Southwestern Oregon for second place.
The two teams finish out their six-game season series with a doubleheader starting at noon Saturday in Coos Bay.
Southwestern Oregon (22-17, 17-12 South Region) stretched its winning streak against Umpqua to three games with the Game 1 victory.
Things got off to a rough start for UCC starter Sam Coffman, who walked four batters in the first inning and surrendered a two-run double to Daichi Furuhata that helped push the Lakers ahead 4-0.
Umpqua (21-19, 18-12) couldn’t manage to dig out of the hole the rest of the way. UCC went without a hit through the first six innings against SWOCC starter Bradley Deutsch. The Riverhawks were able to get runners on base thanks to six walks by Deutsch, including four walks in the fourth that scored the first run for the Riverhawks.
The closest the Riverhawks got to the Lakers was three runs, but SWOCC put the game out of reach with three runs in the sixth inning on a two-run double by Oakland High School graduate Cole Collins and a single by Chyler DeSilva.
SWOCC added a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth inning off of Tristan Ledbetter. The Lakers had 10 hits in the game and drew eight walks.
UCC snatched the lead with three runs in the second inning of Game 2. After a pair of errors got two runners on base, Ryland Heckman knocked in one run with a single to left field and Jackson Thomsen plated two with a bloop single to shallow center field.
The Riverhawks held the lead the rest of the game, adding insurance runs in the fifth and the seventh.
Starting pitcher Jordan Lennartson held off the Lakers, scattering five hits over six innings and allowing one run while walking three and striking out eight.
Hunter Robinson took over in the seventh inning and finished the game to earn the save. He gave up one run on five hits with three strikeouts and no walks.
Tristan Schaefer, Aidan O’Malley and Carson Dunn were the only players to get hits in both games of the doubleheader. Schaefer extended his hit streak to 12 games with a late-game single in both contests.
Furuhata was 3-for-7 between the two games and extended his hit streak to 14 games.
First Game
SW Oregon;400;013;120;—;11;10;1
Umpqua;000;110;110;—;4;3;2
Deutsch, Boyles (8) and Long; Coffman, Ledbetter (6) and Robbins, Strother. W — Deutsch (4-2). L — Coffman (6-1). 2B — Furuhata (SWOCC), Collins (SWOCC), O’Malley (UCC). 3B — Okimoto (SWOCC).
Second Game
SW Oregon;000;100;010; —;2;10;2
Umpqua;030;010;10X;—;5;8;0
Furuhata, Yazawa (5) and Iniguez; Lennartson, H. Robinson (7) and Strother. W — Lennartson (2-3). L — Furuhata (1-2). SV — H. Robinson (2).
