ALBANY – The Mt. Hood Saints came to town for a doubleheader with Linn-Benton on Wednesday, May 7. The Roadrunners suffered a 12-2 seven-inning mercy-rule loss in the first game before picking up the pieces in game two to respond with a 7-3 victory.
Things got started in game one when Mark Carpenter captured a first-inning lead for LB thanks to a two-out throwing error.
In the away second, Mt. Hood cashed in their first two runs of the ball game as well as the lead. Right after, however, the Beaks knotted things back up at 2-2 on a Matthew Talbot single that scored Landon Lea.
The third inning came and went without any base runners for either team, but in the fourth MHCC picked up a lead they never relinquished. The Saints brought home a pair of runs on four hits before LB starter Lane Simonsen got out of the inning by way of a weak pop-out.
Simonsen’s day ended there, his line for the day reading four innings pitched, three earned runs, six hits allowed and two strikeouts. With only one doubleheader left on the schedule, that will surely mark the end of Simonsen’s freshman campaign. LBCC’s day one starter finished with a 3-3 record (including the loss in this game) in 11 starts, pitching to a 4.69 ERA in 48 innings, striking out 39 batters this season.
For the fifth, Head Coach Andy Peterson handed the ball to lefty Caiden Thomsen. Thomsen quickly walked the bases loaded and walked in a run before another scored on a fielder’s choice. Thomsen ended the inning allowing two runs on no hits. 6-2 MHCC.
Utility man Kellen Segel took over after Thomsen walked the first batter in the sixth, and the sour luck on the mound continued for LBCC. After surrendering two hits and two free passes, Segel got taken out. Preston Daniels came in to try and stop the bleeding, which he eventually did, picking up two groundouts to hold the scoring at six in the inning. The first run was credited to Thomsen, while the other five were Segel’s responsibility.
After a scoreless seventh, the game was called, as the NWAC enforces a 10-run mercy rule.
Game two produced a more favorable outcome for the home team.
Evan Lehnert got a spot start in this one, the freshman reliever’s first of the season, and he certainly earned his keep. Lehnert came on and set the tone nicely for the Beaks, particularly in the first three innings, where he cooled a red-hot offense down to no runs on just two singles.
Lehnert is something of a thinking man’s pitcher – he doesn’t wow you with velocity or nasty breaking pitches, but when he’s dialed in he’s shown a keen ability to fill up the zone, keep hitters off balance and force all kinds of weak contact. This was the case for him against MHCC.
The LB offense got things started in the second when Carpenter scored on an error. 1-0 Roadrunners.
In the fourth, the Saints took their only lead of the game. The only inning where they got to Lehnert in any meaningful way, MHCC plated two runs on a pair of hits to take a 2-1 lead.
Lehnert would work quickly through the one-two-three of the Mt. Hood order in the fifth to end his day. He went five innings, struck out five, let up four hits and allowed two runs.
LBCC took back the lead in the home sixth.
With on out, Jackson Fera on second and Segel on first, Peterson gave the signal for a double-steal. The pitch was strike three to Boston Caron, making the steal attempt a critical play down a run, and facing leaving two crucial runners on base.
Fera and Segel delivered and the good juju paid off as third baseman Jack Lussier drove them home shortly thereafter. 3-2 LB.
Dominic Daffron was the pitcher after Lehnert, and he followed his starter’s lead. Sitting the Saints down quietly through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings without allowing any runs – the little-used righty picked up his first win of the season in his third relief appearance.
In the home eighth, Linn-Benton capped off their scoring with a four-run inning to provide plenty of insurance. Action started with a Fera double before Segel did the same to knock home his teammate.
Segel stole his second bag of the day before first baseman Boston Caron followed the examples with a double of his own to bring Segel home. A few batters later, Bryant Starr poked a triple to right to score Lussier and Caron and make it 7-2 Roadrunners.
The Saints got one back on an RBI-triple of their own in the top of the ninth, but Daffron quickly gathered himself, striking out the next batter to retire the side and win the game.
Daffron finished with four innings pitched, allowing four hits and one run while striking out four and not letting up any walks.
Sophomore slugging in the form of Starr, Fera and Caron lead the way for the Beaks at the dish, all three having two-hit games. Starr and Caron both picked up two RBI while Fera had two stolen bases and scored twice himself.
Segel’s two-stolen-base day puts him at 19 on the season, leading the team.
With just two games to go, four Roadrunners have crossed, or are knocking on the door of, one offensive win above replacement: Noah Scharer (1.2), Starr (1.0), Segel (0.9) and Aiden Hazen (0.9).
oWAR tracks the direct correlation a player’s offensive output has to winning. One oWAR suggests that a player’s bat has directly contributed a win to the team over a hypothetical replacement player. One oWAR is a sound threshold for an elite-level offensive season in a 44-game wood bat league.
Linn-Benton will wrap up their regular season Saturday, May 9, in another doubleheader with MHCC, this time away.
The Roadrunners clinched the South Region last week, so it remains to be seen if Peterson might toy with his starting pitching some more to keep crucial arms as rested as possible. Regardless, first pitches are set for 1 and 4 p.m.
