CALDWELL, Idaho – A number of strong pitching performances, with 19 combined strikeouts on the day, led the Beacons to a split on Sunday as they closed out their road trip to The College of Idaho, falling 1-0 before winning 7-6.
 
GAME ONE: College of Idaho 1, Bushnell 0
 
A pitching duel for the ages came down to a walk-off ground out as The College of Idaho escaped with the 1-0 win in the opener.
 
After eight innings of scoreless baseball, the Yotes had a man on third base with one out in the bottom of the ninth when Darren Smith hit a groundball to Beacon pitcher Jacob Courtney (0-2), who threw to first on instinct and allowed the winning tally to come home.
 
Freshman Griffin Sanchez (pictured) made the most of his first career start as he went six scoreless innings, allowing four singles and striking out five batters. Courtney closed out the game and never allowed an earned run, striking out three batters in 2.2 innings of work.
 
The Beacons ran into a tough assignment as well as College of Idaho starter Zaylor Bruegeman went seven innings, giving up three singles and striking out eight. Jakob Cummings struck out two in two innings of hitless ball to earn the victory.
 
With just three singles from Albert Jennings, Chase Nye and Jaden Thomson, the Beacons were rarely in a position to score in the opener, but they did have a runner on third with one out in the first inning. They would load the bases in fourth, but finished the day with six left on base.
 
GAME TWO: Bushnell 7, College of Idaho 6
 
The Bushnell bats finally got going in the night cap, as they exploded for a five-run second inning to gain a comfortable lead, highlighted by an RBI single for Thomson and a run-scoring double for Jennings.
 
Chase Nye made it 6-0 in the third inning with a sacrifice fly, and Nigel Fahland scored on an error after stealing third base in the fifth to give the visitors a seven-run cushion.
 
Another strong performance on the hill led the Beacons to the win as Austin Wolfe got the start and worked into the seventh inning. After allowing just one hit over the first six innings, Wolfe gave up back-to-back one-out singles to start the seventh and gave way to the bullpen.
 
The Yotes made a concerted effort to get back into the contest as the scored six runs in the inning on five hits including a pair of two-run singles.
 
Jayshua Yacapin came in to record the final out of the seventh, and went on to earn his second save of the season with 2.1 innings of work, striking out three. Wolfe's final line included two runs on three hits in 6.1 innings of work, striking out eight batters as he improved to 3-3.
 
UP NEXT: The Beacons (12-14, 4-9 CCC) return home this weekend for the first time since February and will play host to Oregon Tech (12-14, 5-9) for a four-game set beginning Friday at 2:00 pm.