| KLAMATH FALLS, OR – For the No. 16 Lewis-Clark State Baseball team, the regular season is in the rearview mirror and the road to the 2023 Avista NAIA World Series takes a pit stop at Steen Sports Park for the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship, presented by U.S. Bank.
The top four teams in the Cascade Conference earned the right to take part in the double-elimination tournament hosted by Oregon Tech beginning Saturday, May 6. The No. 4 seed Warriors will compete for a third straight CCC title.
LC State will open its tournament play against host and No. 1 seed Oregon Tech at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. No. 2 seed (RV) UBC and No. 3 seed College of Idaho will open tournament play at 11 a.m. the same day.
The Warriors were named as one of 10 host sites for the 2023 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, presented by Avista. LC State has an automatic bid into that round. The winner of the CCC tournament, or the runner-up if the Warriors win the tournament, will earn an automatic bid. The double-elimination tournament will take place May 15-18 at Harris Field.
Visit the Cascade Conference Tournament Central page for more information on live streaming, stats, tickets and the schedule.
No. 16 LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS (29-14, 14-10) – No. 4 seed
Despite having its conference tournament fate up in the air on the final weekend, LC State led the CCC with seven all-conference players. The Warriors bring a balanced attack of offense and pitching that will make them a difficult match-up against any team.
The Warriors showed a lot of pop in the regular season, hitting 80 home runs as a team, 31 more than any other team in the CCC and ninth in the NAIA. With the power shown at the plate the Warriors also led the conference in slugging percentage (.566) and total bases (860).
LC State is led by junior Nick Seamons with 14 home runs. Jakob Marquez (13), Carter Booth (11) and Isaiah Thomas (11) each surpassed double-digit long balls on the year. Seamons and Marquez led the CCC in the category during the regular season with Booth and Thomas in a four-way tie for third.
Seamons, Booth and Thomas each earned All-Cascade Conference honors, along with third baseman Dominic Signorelli and catcher Sam Olsson.
Sophomore Dallas McGill earn All-CCC honors as a starting pitcher. McGill was 3-2 on the season with a 3.76 ERA with 48 strikeouts to lead all Warrior pitchers. Senior Greg Blackman earned all-conference honors as a relief pitcher with a 1.77 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched. Blackman earned two of the Warriors’ conference-leading 11 saves.
Trevin Hope, Cameron Smith and Decker Stedman led the Warriors with four wins each.
Warrior pitchers led the CCC with a 4.68 ERA and helped themselves with a conference-leading 14 runners picked off. The defense behind them played strong all year, boasting a .972 fielding percentage.
OREGON TECH (31-17, 16-8) – No. 1 seed
Oregon Tech earned its first conference championship in 42 years, the first with the Cascade Conference. Coach Jacob Garsez earned Coach of the Year honors in his third season with the team.
The Owls used a 12-2 stretch in the middle of the season that included series victories over conference tournament foes LC State and College of Idaho.
Oregon Tech used patience at the plate and speed on the base paths to frustrate its opponents. The Owls led the CCC with 220 walks and were second only to Corban’s 112 stolen bases with 111 of their own. The next closest team in swiped bags was College of Idaho with 53.
The Owls set team records in stolen bases (111), sacrifice flies (33) and hit-by-pitches (96).
All-conference member Tyler Horner led the Owls offensively with a .363 batting average with 38 walks and a .487 on-base percentage.
On the mound, Brendan Talonen led the conference with a 3.18 ERA to earn an All-CCC nod. The senior went 5-1 and collected 46 strikeouts over 62.1 innings pitched.
Lalo Barraza led the conference with eight wins on the year and Patrick Arman went 7-1 with a 4.17 ERA.
(RV) BRITISH COLUMBIA (31-17, 16-8) – No. 2 seed
The Thunderbirds made it to the championship game of the CCC tournament last season and just missed out on earning the hosting honors in 2023, losing a tiebreaker to Oregon Tech.
British Columbia is the hottest of the four teams coming into the tournament winning 14 of its last 17 conference games.
The pitching staff is what has driven the Thunderbirds to success this season holding their opponents to a conference leading .266 batting average with only 26 home runs. British Columbia also leads the conference with four complete games and 413 strikeouts.
CCC Pitcher of the Year Sean Heppner had a 6-4 record with a 3.46 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 75.1 innings pitched. Brother Ryan Heppner also had a strong season with a 7-2 record with a 3.32 ERA.
Aaron Marsh was solid at the plate with a .381 batting average with nine home runs and 16 doubles and tied for the team lead with 43 RBI. Mike Fitzsimmons hit 10 home runs and collected 20 doubles with 43 RBI. Jonny McGill only had 124 at bats on the year, but was fantastic with a .403 batting average, 36 RBI and 16 doubles. All three men made the all-conference team.
COLLEGE OF IDAHO (31-16, 16-8) – No. 3 seed
College of Idaho is a team that has no issue getting into an offensive slugfest. The Yotes scored double-digit runs in 18 games.
C of I led the conference in runs (414), average (.325) and triples (22).
Redshirt-Junior Jonah Hultberg was named Rize Laboratory Player of the Year for the second year in a row with a dominating regular season. The second baseman led the CCC in average (.414), on-base percentage (.502), runs (62), hits (75), triples (6) and total bases (122).
Hultberg hit a two-run home run on April 29 to surpass Greg Stalling as the all-time hit leader in College of Idaho team history and currently sits with 276 hits.
First baseman Skyler Sadora also made the All-CCC list after leading the conference with 63 RBI.
The Yotes did not have a pitcher with at least 10 innings pitched with an ERA under four. Nick Eliason led the way with a 4.04 ERA and a 6-1 record. Eliason had 81 strikeouts in 64.2 innings and led the conference with an opponent batting average of .214.
Kirby Robertson tied for the conference lead with eight wins. Robertson touted an 8-3 record with a 4.60 ERA.
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