Apr. 12—Lewis-Clark State starting pitcher Jadon Williamson stuck out the side not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times in the Warriors' 6-3 win over the College of Idaho Yotes in the first of a four-game series on Friday at Harris Field in Lewiston.
Williamson fanned 14 batters in five innings but the Warriors still trailed the Yotes 3-1 before the LC State bats got to work, pushing three runners across home plate in the sixth and one in each of the seventh and eighth frames.
"(College of Idaho pitcher Nick) Vidlak is one of the best pitchers in the league, so we knew we'd have to grind it out and try to get him late," LC State coach Jake Taylor said. "And that's kind of what happened."
With the win, the Warriors (24-10, 21-5) moved a half-game ahead of British Columbia (25-12, 20-5) to take first place in the Cascade Conference.
Williamson piles up Ks
It wasn't a spotless outing for Williamson, but it was more than enough to set up the Warriors for the win.
Williamson walked the Yotes' leadoff man Ben Gaff, threw a wild pitch, committed a balk, struck out Trevor Watkins, then tossed another wild pitch which allowed the Yotes to push the first run of the game across home plate in the first.
However, he corralled his control almost immediately after letting two pitches get away and had his fastball and offspeed stuff tuned up to an extent much beyond the Yotes' comfort level.
He struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning without allowing further damage.
It was an unusual first game of the series start for Williamson, who has typically taken the ball later in the weekend.
However, typical ace Evan Canfield remains out with an injury forcing Taylor to reshuffle his rotation.
The schedule change was not a worry for Williamson.
"When my name is called, I gotta go out there and give it my best effort to get the job done for the boys," he said.
Williamson struck out Connor Olsen in three pitches to jumpstart the second inning, allowing Caden Casagrande aboard with a double before striking out the next two batters.
The third inning was the only frame in which Williamson did not strike out the side, though he got Gaff and Watkins looking.
"Obviously, you want to be focused full-time, but it's important to get your zero, do your job," Williamson said. "My job is just to keep runners from scoring. Once they get on, I focus up even more."
The Yotes managed to blemish Williamson's record in the fourth as Olsen got aboard off of a well-hit grounder that first baseman Charlie Updegrave got a glove on but could not quite handle, then advanced to second on Williamson's failed pickoff attempt that sailed past Updegrave and into right-field foul territory.
With one on and two out, the College of Idaho's Casagrande cranked a ball into deep right field.
Right fielder Noah Weintraub tracked it all the way before colliding with the wall and dropping the ball, allowing the Yotes to take a 2-1 lead which they pushed to a 3-1 advantage off of an RBI single later in the frame.
It was an unfortunate turn of events for the Warriors but nothing they even thought about hanging their heads over.
"I wasn't frustrated about it at all. I don't think anyone (was) too frustrated about it, because our lineup can hit. Those runs scored. So what? They got us those runs back and got us this ball game," Williamson said. "We won that game because not only our relievers stepped up, but our lineup stepped up as well and got us those runs."
Williamson kept the Yotes off the board for the remainder of his outing, striking out the side again in the fifth before turning the ball over to Jackson Cloud, who ...
