PALOS VERDEZ, Calif. – Oregon Tech kicked off a six-game Southern California road trip with a 7-3 win in game one and then settled for a split as the Owls dropped game two, 7-6 at Marymount California University Friday afternoon at MLB Academy Field. Oregon Tech falls to 2-4 on the year with MCU moving to 3-5-1 on the season.
 
"John and Logan pitched a great game and to have our Hawaiian hitters of Jio and Nevan taking great swings to score enough runs for the game 1 win," said head coach Matt Miles.  "Game 2 was another tough one-run loss by not taking advantage of our opportunities."
 
Game 1 – Oregon Tech 7 Marymount 3 Final (9-innings)
 
Senior John Schultz had nine-strikeouts over seven and 2/3 innings to pick up his first win of the year and the Hustlin' Owls outhit the Mariners 10-to-5 including a two-run home run from Nevan Watanabe on the way to a 7-3 win.
 
Tech scratched across a run in the first taking advantage of a walk, an error, and a wild pitch to take a 1-0 lead.
 
The Owls again took advantage of MCU mistakes with one more run in the third on a hit, a stolen base and a dropped fly ball that scored Micah Jio to give OIT a 2-0 lead.
 
Tech broke the game open with three-runs in fifth to take a 5-0 lead highlighted by a Watanabe double and a Jio two-run triple.
 
Watanabe gave the Owls a 7-0 lead in the 6^th with a huge two-run homer to right field, his first of the year.
 
Marymount rallied for three-runs in the 7^th on four-hits but were held hit-less over the final two-innings as Oregon Tech won 7-3 to improve to 2-3 on the year.
 
Jio, Fong, and Watanabe each had two-hits to lead the Owls.
 
Game 2 Marymount 7 Oregon Tech 6 (7-innings)
 
OIT took a 3-0 lead taking advantage of three-walks and a single.
 
MCU made it a 3-2 game with two-runs in the third-inning on three-hits.
 
The Owls extended the lead to 5-2 with two-runs in the 4^th highlighted by a Michael Tarakhchyan RBI single.
 
Marymount took control of the game in the bottom of the 4^th with five-runs.  The big hit in the inning came off the bat of Moises Garcia who crushed a three-run homer to left field leading MCU to the 7-5 lead.
 
OIT managed a unearned in sixth to cut the gap to 7-6 but couldn't get any closer as they went down in the seventh, losing 7-6.
 
Tristan Shea had two-hits to lead the Owls in the loss.
 
The Owls will next travel to El Cajon, California on Saturday for a doubleheader against Sand Diego Christian before wrapping-up the road trip with two-games at La Sierra University on Sunday in Riverside, California.
  
FOLLOW OREGON TECH ATHLETICS
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube