via Oregon Tech Athletic Communications
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Playing for the final time at Steen Sports Park in their Oregon Tech career, the Hustlin’ Owls senior class led the squad to 11-0 and 17-7 victories over Bushnell University – helping the club establish a new school record for wins.
OIT (36-12, 27-10 CCC) rode a dominant start from Bronson Chapple in the opener, while the offense exploded for 14 runs over the final three innings to rally for the Game 2 victory – as the Owls surpassed their all-time wins record of 34.
Tech, who finished 18-2 at home this season, will take a streak of 17-straight games scoring 8-or-more runs (16-1 during the stretch) into the postseason, traveling to Vancouver, B.C. to face Lewis-Clark State on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in their Cascade Conference Tournament opener.
Chapple was the story in Game 1, limiting the Beacons (32-18, 22-15) to two singles over six-plus shutout innings, striking out six – as the visitors did not have a runner reach third base.
The Owls gave the righty all the run support he needed in the first, batting around for five runs. Tyler Horner lined an RBI double off the wall in right, Julien Jones tripled to the right-center gap, Keanu Mizuta doubled home a run and Dane Bradshaw lined an RBI single in the big inning.
Tech used the long ball to put the game away, as Jones blasted a 3-run shot over the centerfield wall in the fourth and Mizuta followed in the sixth with a 2-run homer to make it 11-0.
Jones was 3-for-4 with four RBI and Mizuta was 2-for-4 with three RBI in the victory, with Patrick Barry, Ka’ala Tam and Bradshaw each recording two hits.
Game 2 was a slugfest, as the Beacons had leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-3 – but could not stop the OIT onslaught.
The visitors scored single runs in the first two frames – as Albert Jennings doubled home a run and Kolby Amaral hit a long solo homer – but Tech answered with single runs of their own in the third and fourth, one on a Bushnell error, the other on a Matthew Ortiz single.
The Beacons regained the lead in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles from Ethan Stacy and Jordan Wilson, pushing the lead to 6-3 on a Jameson Hussey 2-run homer in the sixth.
However – the rally was short-lived. Tech batted around for eight runs in the sixth against three Bushnell relievers – as a Mizuta pinch-hit 2-run single and a Barry bases loaded walk tied the game. Horner followed with a 2-run single – establishing the CCC all-time RBI mark with 205. Ortiz and Logan Macy added run-scoring singles, with the final run scoring on an error, extending the margin to 11-6.
Tech walked the game off in the eighth – scoring six times. Both Garrett Smith and Ty Blakely had sacrifice flies, Chase Hedani scored on a wild pitch and Dane Bradshaw lined an RBI single. A three-base error by the Beacons on a dropped fly ball allowed a run to score to make it 16-7, with Barry ending the game with a seeing-eye single.
Ortiz was 4-for-4 with three runs scored, Horner was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, with Barry going 3-for-5 – ending the weekend 12-for-15 at the plate. Riley Cronin earned the victory in relief, allowing one earned run in two-plus innings of work.
