Roadrunner Report

ALBANY, OR- In the first Northwest Athletic Conference(NWAC) baseball coaches poll of the season, the Linn-Benton Roadrunners find themselves in the passenger seat, ranked second. The Roadrunners are off to a hot start in the NWAC South Region sitting at 6-2 in league play, tied for first in the south region. The Roadrunners are 19-6 on the season, and coming off a four game sweep of Clackamas Community College. 

After dropping their league opener to Umpqua Community College the Roadrunners have now won six of their last seven, and are on a five game win streak. The Beaks begin their four game series against Southwestern Oregon Community College(SWOCC) on Friday, April. 15. The Lakers come into the matchup 14-14 on the season, and 3-5 in the NWAC South Region. 

MATCHUP-

The Roadrunners, who have struggled offensively at times this season, will look to change that against a SWOCC team that has a 5.56 earned run average(ERA) on the season. On the bright side, Roadrunner Cayden Delozier is batting a .428 average(9-21) since the start of league play, and Emiliano Alarcon has been steady at the plate, hitting .326(12-36) in league play. 

Although the Roadrunners have had their struggles on the offensive side, their pitching has been nothing short of stellar. They come into the matchup with the lowest ERA in the NWAC, allowing only 2.27 earned runs a game. The big thing to note about the Roadrunners is they aren't a very big strikeout team. It's not that they lack in the strikeout department, they sit in the middle of the pack(14th in the NWAC). They just consistently get teams to put the ball on the ground. 

Rhett Larson, who is 4-1 on the year, will take the mound in game one on Friday. Larson leads the Beaks in strikeouts(39) and has a 1.73 ERA. Across 36 ⅓ innings pitched this year Larson has only allowed 7 to cross home plate. In his last appearance on the mound Larson pitched 8 shutout innings allowing only 4 hits.

In game two Boone Rush(2-0) will take the mound. Rush has bounced back big for the Beaks since getting roughed up three starts ago. In his last two appearances he has gone a combined 9 ⅔ innings allowing only two runs on 4 hits. Rush has a 3.04 ERA on the year, and 24 strikeouts across 23 ⅔ innings pitched. 

It would be hard to talk about the Roadrunners pitching and not mention the bullpen. Kaden Segel, since giving up 3 runs in a game against Yakima Valley back in March, has allowed 1 run in 11 ⅔ innings since. Brady Baltus, who has been a bulk reliever for the Beaks, has allowed 1 run in 10 ⅓ innings pitched since the start of league play. 

Game one first pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Dick McClain Field, 500 Pacific Blvd SW, on the Linn-Benton Albany campus.