Chaz Lopez pitched eight solid innings and the Clark College Penguins pounded out 12 runs on 13 hits to take the first game of an NWAC South region doubleheader at Chemeketa, 12-6, on Friday.
The Penguins completed the sweep with a 6-3 win in Game 2.
Lopez allowed five runs on four hits while striking out nine and walking four. He was also 2 for 5 with a double at the plate, scoring two runs.
Four Clark players had two hits and two RBI: Jordan Sunitsch, Nathaniel Affonso (who also tripled), Ben Wagner, and Cody Rice. Brady Johnson also had two RBI.
A seven-run fifth inning broke the game open.
Clark had to come from behind in the second game. Trailing 3-0 after the fifth inning, Clark put four on the board in the sixth and added two in the seventh.
Bryce Roesch hit a two-run double, then a groundout brought home the tying run, and an error led to the fourth run.
Affonso hit an RBI-double in the seventh, and Roesch’s single brought in another run.
Derek Browne picked up the win in relief with three strikeouts in 2⅔ innings pitched.
Clark (11-5, 2-1 NWAC South) concludes the series against the Storm (4-9, 1-2) with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kindsfather Field. It’s also the Veteran’s Appreciation Game.
SOFTBALL: Clackamas 8-14, Clark 7-9 — Clark tied the first game in the seventh, but lost to Clackamas on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
Shaz Nakoa Chung was 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBI. Mary Schorn had two RBI, and Chelsea Soong was 2 for 4 with an RBI.
In the second game, Clark had a 7-2 lead in the fourth, but Clackamas rallied with six runs in its half of the inning, and added three more in the fifth and sixth.
Schorn was 2 for 3 with a home run and four RBI. Chloe Blehm and Nahhan Neff also homered for Clark. Lucy Yzzolino was 3 for 4 with two doubles in the leadoff spot.
Clark (4-9, 2-4) hosts Lower Columbia on Saturday in a doubleheader starting at noon.
TRACK AND FIELD — Chloe Lindbo, a Ridgefield High grad, was named NWAC women’s track and field athlete of the week. She had conference-leading times in the 200 and 400 meters and a personal best of 15.00 in the 100 high hurdles at the Willamette Invitational last week.
