Bellevue's Matt Zachary improved to 2-0 for the Albertson College baseball team Friday, pitching five innings in the Coyotes' 7-4 victory over Western Baptist at Simplot Stadium in Caldwell.
Righthander Zachary, 23, wasn't sharp, allowing two runs and five walks with no strikeouts in five frames, but he left with a 4-2 lead and three Albertson relievers nailed down the school's ninth consecutive home triumph.
Just 10 days earlier, Zachary tossed six innings of two-hit, scoreless baseball in Albertson's 4-2 home win over Northwest Nazarene on the Caldwell diamond.
In the early going, 6-4, 235-pound fireballer Zachary is 2-0 in three appearances with a team-leading 1.38 ERA in 13 innings. The senior in his third year at Albertson has walked eight, whiffed eight and allowed eight hits, all singles.
Since graduating from Hailey's Wood River High School in 2000, Zachary has pitched for three different colleges.
He won eight games as a freshman at Hawaii Pacific in 2001, then went 4-4 with a 4.65 ERA in 50 innings at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore. in 2002.
The son of Jim and Sandy Zachary was a 2003 redshirt at Albertson College, then he compiled a 3-5 record with a 4.60 ERA in 76 innings as a junior in Caldwell in 2004. He has been a NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete.
Albertson (14-7, 8-3 Region I) goes to Portland, Ore. for three league games against Concordia College (13-8) April 2-3.
Playing catcher and third base this season for Concordia College is Hailey's Kenny Nelson, the senior and Wood River graduate who attended the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls before finishing up at the Portland college.