ASHLAND – Deja Acosta and No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon rose to the occasion Friday against No. 8 College of Idaho, becoming the first team to sweep the Yotes in a doubleheader this season with 4-2 and 6-4 wins at University Field.

The Raiders clinched the Cascade Conference series and supplanted C of I in second place thanks in large part to their senior second baseman. With two outs, the score tied and a runner on first base in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 1, Acosta lifted her first home run of 2023 over the fence in left field to walk the Yotes off. She scored three runs and drove in another in Game 2 as SOU chased all-star pitcher Hannah McNerney in the fourth inning and handed the senior her second loss of the season.

SOU pitchers Cayla Williams and Katie Machado limited a lineup that ranked second in the NAIA in runs scored to five earned on the day, spinning back-to-back complete games.

The Raiders bumped their record to 26-6 overall and 15-3 in the conference. They've won 20 consecutive home CCC series dating back to 2018. The Yotes dipped to 32-5 and 17-5.

Williams (12-3) shut out the Yotes through the first six innings of the opener. She temporarily gave the Raiders the lead in the bottom of the sixth, ripping a two-run single to the opposite field against her counterpart, Katelyn Wilfert, after Wilfert issued an intentional walk to Riley Donovan that loaded the bases.

Williams' control wavered in the seventh, where three hit-batsmen and two singles tied the game at 2-2. But in the bottom of the inning, Lindsey Stripling's single set up Acosta's heroics.

SOU struck first again in Game 2, as two walks led to Williams' first-inning sacrifice fly that plated Acosta. After the Yotes leveled the score in the second, Acosta scored on Donovan's bloop-double in the third to make it 2-1.

The Raiders broke the game open with four runs in the fourth, a rally that started with an error and stretched with five singles. Acosta, Donovan, Sarah Kerling and Kailer Fulton drove in runs.

The Yotes chipped away with runs in each of the next three innings. They brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but Machado (12-2) escaped by inducing Tanner Higgins' game-ending groundout.

Williams and Machado both worked around eight hits in their starts. The Raiders totaled 15 against a Yotes staff that entered the day with a 1.25 ERA.

The teams will play two more Saturday – a CCC counter at 11 a.m. followed by a non-conference contest.