Split puts Titans in NWAACC playoffs

 Lane will play Lower Columbia in its first game at tournament

Lane earned a berth in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges baseball tournament with a 4-2 victory over Linn-Benton in the opener of their regular-season-ending doubleheader on Thursday.

The Titans (29-15, 20-10 South Region) rallied for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, going ahead on Tyler Conner’s double to drive in Kyle Hoover and Joe Offer. Chris Reed, who came on in relief in the sixth and struck out six over three innings to pick up the win, yielded to Nick Phillips for the final out, giving the Lane closer his NWAACC-leading 12th save.

With the win, the Titans finished one game behind Chemeketa (32-10, 21-9) in the South standings, and they will start the eight-team NWAACC playoffs next Thursday at Longview, Wash., against the host school, Lower Columbia (36-4, 22-3 West Region), the top-ranked team among the 27 NWAACC schools that sponsor baseball.

The double-elimination tournament concludes with the championship game on May 31.

In Thursday’s second game, Mackie Unruh pitched a complete game and struck out four in a 3-2 win for the Roadrunners (10-34, 6-24). who scored three times in the fifth after trailing 2-0 to earn the split.