On Friday, the Linn-Benton baseball team took one giant step toward winning the program’s third NWAC Baseball Championship in four years.
The Roadrunners took down Lower Columbia by a score of 4-2 on Friday night at David Story Field in Longview, Washington, earning them a spot in the next round of the NWAC Baseball Championship. The result was only Lower Columbia’s fifth loss of the season, putting the Roadrunners within three wins of another championship.
Linn-Benton took the lead early on thanks to a pair of hits from two of their star sluggers. In the bottom of the second inning, the Roadrunners took the lead off of an RBI single from Conner Boyd that brought home Jake Holmes, giving the team a 1-0 lead.
Linn-Benton added to the advantage and took a 3-0 lead heading into the third inning after a triple from Kolten Lindstrom scored two more runs for the Roadrunners.
Defensively, the Roadrunners gave away almost nothing through the game’s first seven innings. Linn-Benton starting pitcher Brody McMullen allowed only two hits through the first seven innings while letting only four players reach base.
With zero runs allowed through seven innings, the Roadrunners would fortify their advantage even more in the bottom of the seventh. An error by Lower Columbia allowed Jackson Fera to reach first base, bringing in Bryant Starr to score and the Roadrunners advantage to 4-0.
Lower Columbia would not go down without a fight, however, and at the top of the eighth inning, the Red Devils bats came alive. Lower Columbia loaded the bases on the first three batters of the inning, and with only one out on the board, a comeback seemed possible.
The Red Devils would find two runs in this position thanks to hits from Jace Nagler and Harlan Rowe, cutting the Roadrunners lead in half. But the early pair of runs would be as close as Lower Columbia would get to the Roadrunners’ advantage, with Linn-Benton closing out the inning on a ground out by Brayden Oram.
After Linn-Benton pitcher Easton Corey took the mound for McMullen in the top of the ninth, the Roadrunners got the final three outs they needed and booked their place in the tournament’s third round with a 4-2 victory.
The win set Linn-Benton up with a match against Tacoma, where the winner will advance to the potential penultimate round of the NWAC tournament.
If the Roadrunners defeat Tacoma, Linn-Benton will face off on Sunday against the winner of the lower bracket match between Lower Columbia and Spokane. If Tacoma wins, the Roadrunners will drop down to the lower bracket of the tournament and will take on Umpqua on Sunday to try and keep their season alive.
Linn-Benton’s match against Tacoma is scheduled for tonight at 5:35 p.m. at David Story Field.
