Roadrunner Baseball Starts The Season Off Strong With Four-Game Winning Streak
Roadrunner baseball is currently hot off of a four game winning streak, with dominant displays on offense in each contest. LBCC scored 51 runs between the first four games, and have finished all but one game in a short seven innings.
After the Roadrunner’s unbelievable 2018 season which saw them going 42-4 overall and capture the NWAC south title, former head coach Ryan Gipson accepted a coaching position at Oregon State in the offseason. In his place came assistant coach Andy Peterson, who played at Oregon State for two years. During his time there, Peterson was a two-year letter winner, and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 2014 MLB First-Year Player Draft. He soon became an undergraduate assistant for Oregon State, before taking his coaching talents to LBCC.
“It felt really good to go out there and get Coach Peterson his first few wins of the season,” said shortstop Richie Mascarenas.
In his first few games as a head coach, Peterson seems to have his team reeled in well, winning the last three contests 14-2, 16-1, and 13-3. It’s still early in the season, and the talent is still being studied by coaches across the NWAC, but LBCC’s success was gauged by inter conference opponent, The Walla Walla Warriors (0-4 Overall), sweeping them 2-0. The Roadrunners won by a combined 22 runs in the series, with Colton Talton getting four runs off of four hits, with an RBI of three. Pitcher Brock Townsend totaled 12 strikeouts in the first matchup with Walla Walla, helping win 8-3.
“Our pitchers dominated, our defense was consistent, and our bats just went off this past weekend,”said Mascarenas.
After beating Walla Walla, The Roadrunners faced off against the Clackamas Cougars (0-2 Overall), who faced the same fate as the Warriors. LBCC won the series by a combined 29 runs, and only allowed Clackamas four runs. Freshman Logan Hanson finished with three runs combined between the games and showed how rounded this year’s roster is.
“Having last weekend off due to weather definitely made the guys more excited to play. They have been gearing up since September, and finally competing against another team is the best feeling as a young athlete,” said head coach Andy Peterson.
Up next for the Roadrunners are the Blue Mountain Community College Timberwolves (4-2 Overall) who have also had an impressive start to the season, beating Southwestern Oregon in their series three wins to one. Blue Mountain’s offense is also playing well and it’ll be a great test in the early season for Coach Peterson and his crew.
“Conference play is still a couple weeks away, and we’re focused on playing competitive against Blue Mountain. The team will be making adjustments all week in preparation,” said Coach Peterson.
Story by Cam Hanson
