Mar. 30—Fans who arrived at Harris Field in the morning on Saturday had no idea they'd still be in the stands eight hours later if they were to stay all 26 innings of a marathon baseball doubleheader between Lewis-Clark State and Oregon Tech.
LC State broke its program record for the most innings in a single game in the second game, which went 17 innings, in a 6-5 loss. The Warriors won the first game 6-3.
As No. 20 Lewis-Clark State (18-9, 15-4) split the doubleheader with Oregon Tech (20-10, 11-8), the Warriors held onto their third-place standing in the Cascade Conference baseball standings and Oregon Tech maintained fourth place.
A broken record in a lengthy twinbill
Before Saturday, the most innings the Warriors had ever played was 15. They played 15 innings twice before, the first time in 1986 when they beat Washington State 6-5 in a game hosted in Las Vegas and the second time in 2006 when they lost to Gonzaga 8-7 in a game in Lewiston.
A total of 518 pitches were thrown in the second game. LC State's Ike George and Jack Sheward tied a program record for plate appearances with nine apiece.
In terms of time passed, it was the second-longest game in LC State history, falling just four minutes short of the record of 4 hours and 42 minutes.
Lewis-Clark State coach Jake Taylor said that both teams showed up on the day and that fans definitely got their money's worth. He said that breaking the innings record was not surprising.
"Both teams competed and stayed in it. Usually, you see some mental lapses if you're here that long. These guys have been here for 12 hours today. Ultimately they came out on top in that last game, but we competed," Taylor said.
Top performers
In the first game, Evan Canfield and Jackson Cloud pitched well. Canfield allowed three runs on four hits and fanned seven batters in 6 2/3 innings. Cloud entered the game in the seventh inning and pitched the remainder of the 2 1/3 innings. Cloud did not allow a run or a hit, walked just one batter and had three strikeouts.
Charlie Updegrave belted two home runs on the day into deep left field. He also tallied four RBI.
Taylor said that Updegrave is an electric player and that the team knows what he is capable of in terms of hitting home runs.
"He's a presence in the lineup, he's been here for a long time, he's played a lot of college baseball," Taylor said. "We all know what he's capable of and he's an electric player. Glad he's on our team."
Jacob Marquez went 3-for-3 during his first three at bats of the second game. He ended the day with four hits and two RBI.
Second game goes extra, extra, extra innings
Lewis-Clark State and Oregon Tech played nearly two full games in the second game of the doubleheader. Both teams needed just about any help they could get from their respective bullpens.
For LC State, Jace Taylor went three innings and allowed just one hit with no walks and five strikeouts. Landon Webb went into the game right after Taylor and pitched four innings. Webb allowed the game-winning run but only allowed three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Oregon Tech's bullpen did a little better. Kaden Melzer pitched three full innings and allowed one hit and one earned run on a home run. Melzer struck out three and walked just one. Then, Riley Cronin pitched four innings and allowed three hits but no earned runs and fanned four batters.
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Alex Rodriguez was after Cronin and finished the game. Rodriguez pitched three innings and allowed two hits with one walk and no earned runs.
In the top of the 10th inning, OIT's Julien Jones hit a solo shot ...
