KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Oregon Tech bats erupted for 15 extra-base hits on the day, including six home runs, as the Hustlin' Owls pulled into a 3-way tie for third in the Cascade Conference baseball standings with a doubleheader sweep of Corban at Steen Sports Park.
 
OIT (22-20, 14-15 CCC) hit five home runs in a 15-5 victory in the lone league counter, while the club rallied from an early 6-1 deficit to topple the Warriors, 16-8, in the final non-conference game of the season.
 
Tech sits tied with Bushnell and College of Idaho in the CCC standings, with the three teams 4-games in front of Corban (14-28, 10-19) for the final spot in the CCC Tournament.
 
The Warriors grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the opener, as Lucas Mertlich led off with a double – the first leg of the cycle he would complete in the game – and score on a Peyton Rickard single. OIT would answer in the second, as a Michael O'Daniel RBI double got the Owls on the board and Nick Gimino plated him with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
 
A long ball barrage started in the third, as Cal Pickhardt gave the Owls the lead at 4-2 with a 2-run shot and after a Mertlich triple got Corban even in the fourth, Logan Pontecorvo untied the score with a long 3-run blast. Pickhardt made it 8-4 with a solo shot and Jacob Cook completed the back-to-back-to-back homers with a moon-shot to center field.
 
OIT put the game out of reach in the sixth – with Andrew Sharp providing the big blow, a 3-run homer just inside the right field foul pole.
 
Starter Aiden Lundquist went the distance, working around nine hits for his fourth win. Pontecorvo was 4-for-5 – his second 4-hit game of the year – with Cook going 3-for-5. Sharp, Pickhardt, O'Daniel and Aiden Corkery each had two hits in the win.
 
Both teams emptied their bench in Game 2, allowing reserves to get key at bats and innings. The visitors bolted to a 6-1 lead, as Sean Shaffer cleared the bases with a 3-run second inning double – part of a five RBI game for the Warrior outfielder.
 
The Owls chipped away – scoring runs in every inning of the game except the second – as Corkey lined his second triple of the game to right, plating two, to cut the deficit to 6-4 after three innings.
 
OIT would grab the lead in the fifth, batting around for six runs, including a 3-run homer from redshirt freshman Andrew Moore, who finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, the homer and four RBI in his first collegiate start.
 
The bullpen did the rest – allowing just one run over the final five frames. Enrique Perez tossed three innings of one-hit ball to pick up his second win of the year.
 
Corkery was 4-for-5, tying an OIT school record with the two triples, while Zack Morris adding three hits and Dylan Edwards adding two hits and two RBI. Four players – Moore, Chase Southern, Dylan Le and Paul Zaragoza – each posting their first collegiate hits.
 
The Owls continue their homestand this weekend, hosting British Columbia in a 4-game series.