VANCOUVER, B.C. – Oregon Tech won a pair of elimination games on Saturday at the Cascade Conference Championships, moving the Hustlin' Owls within a win of their first-ever NAIA National Tournament appearance.
 
OIT (38-13) held off Bushnell, 6-5, before outlasting College of Idaho, 4-2, setting up a Sunday showdown with host British Columbia. A win would secure the Owls the CCC's automatic bid to Nationals – as tournament unbeaten, Lewis-Clark State, has already earned a bid as the NAIA Tournament host team.
 
It is the second time in program history the Owls will play for a spot in the NAIA Tournament – as the 1982 team dropped the NAIA District 2 championship game to Lewis & Clark College.
 
Pitching was the key in the two wins – as Bronson Chapple struck out a season-high 10 batters in eight-plus innings in Game 1 vs. Bushnell, while Carson Glavich held C of I to three hits in seven innings, striking out six.
 
Tech allowed a first inning unearned run vs. the Beacons (32-20), but tied the game in the second on a Ty Blakely ground out. A 5-run fifth inning outburst gave the Owls a 6-1 lead, as Korrey Siracusa doubled in the go-ahead run and four batters later, Logan Macy launched his first career homer – a grand slam – giving OIT a 6-1 lead.
 
Bushnell battled back, cutting the margin to 6-3 in the sixth on a Will Hudler homer, while chasing Chapple in the ninth by loading the bases. Riley Cronin allowed a Kolby Amaral single and a Jordan Wilson sacrifice fly, pulling the Beacons within a run – but the righty coaxed Albert Jennings to ground out to earn the save – his school-record tying 12th of his career.
 
Patrick Barry was 2-for-4 in the win for Tech, with Chase Nye going 3-for-4 in the loss.
 
In the late game, OIT made three first inning runs hold up by Glavich, who kept C of I (25-28) at bay the entire night. The Owls scored a run on a passed ball, a Keanu Mizuta sacrifice fly and a Ka'ala Tam double, while C of I cut the margin to 3-2 in the second on a Ben Gaff double.
 
The Owls got an insurance run off a Tam RBI double in the eighth, before Kaden Melzer fanned two in two shutout innings, to earn the save.
 
Tam, Tyler Horner, Julien Jones and Dane Bradshaw each had two hits in the OIT win.