Lewis and Clark advances

The Lewis and Clark baseball team topped the Kennewick Lions 9-1 and advance to a regional matchup with defending state champ Richland.

Click the tab below to read my unedited game story.

By Greg Lee

gregl@spokesman.com; (509) 927-2180

The late-season surge by the Lewis and Clark baseball team continued Tuesday.

Dakota Dubois, Lewis and Clark’s No. 8 batter, hit a grand slam and right-handed pitcher Dean Neilson survived a season-high 10 walks as the Tigers handled the Kennewick Lions 9-1 in a 4A regional play-in game at Hart Field.

The victory earns LC (17-8) a date with defending state champ Richland (17-5) when the regional round of the state tournament is held Saturday at Avista Stadium. The game begins at 1 p.m. In a morning opener at 10, District 8 champion Central Valley (19-3) takes on Eastmont (18-6). The winners meet at 4 with that winner advancing to the state semifinals May 28 at Safeco Field in Seattle .

LC had doubled its lead to 4-0 earlier in the third inning just before Dubois stepped to the plate with the bases drunk. He was planning on swinging immediately if he got the pitch he was looking for.

Sure enough, Dubois spanked a fastball over the left field fence to double LC’s score again, and the Tigers cruised thereafter.

“I don’t really remember seeing the pitch, but I just told myself first-pitch fastball and don’t swing at a curve,” Dubois said.

Despite inconsistency in finding the strike zone, Neilson had a no hitter going through five innings. After he allowed his 10th walk, Kennewick ’s Adam Munoz reached base on a bad-hop hit that got under the glove of shortstop Josh Martin.

LC coach Dexter Davis said afterward that had no other Lion gotten a hit, he would have reversed the call and given Martin an error to preserve a no-hitter. No matter, Drew Loftus reached to open the seventh on the hardest struck ball by a Kennewick player.

Twice Kennewick had the bases loaded – thanks largely to the walks – but both times Neilson, thanks to some solid defense behind him, got out of the jams.

“My curveball wasn’t working like I wanted it to work today,” Neilson said. “My fastball was working, but I was having a little trouble locating and getting ahead of guys. But once I did get ahead of guys I did OK. I was able to keep the ball low in the zone. If you keep the ball down against a good hitting team like that you’ll have success.”

Neilson will start against Richland .

“He didn’t have his best stuff, but we supported him defensively and we supported him offensively,” Davis said.

Neilson doesn’t see any reason that the Tigers’ momentum shouldn’t carry into Saturday.

“You could call us an underdog, but I think we have the capability of doing great things,” Neilson said.

So far so good.