SALEM, Ore. – Cory Mack and Taylor Isadore combined on a ten-inning shutout to lead visiting Whitworth to a 2-0 victory in the opener of a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Willamette.  Matt Jepson threw a complete game in the Bearcats' 6-1 win in the nightcap to lead to a split of the two games.

Whitworth (11-20 overall, 8-12 NWC) and Willamette (22-12, 14-5) will complete the three-game series on Saturday at noon at John Lewis Field.

Game 1 – Whitworth 2, Willamette 0 (10 innings)
Cory Mack went 8.1 innings, allowing no runs on seven hits while striking out five batters.  But it was Taylor Isadore (1-2) who got the win after throwing the final 1.2 innings when the Pirates scored a pair of runs in the top of the tenth inning.

Whitworth's win ended the Bearcats' 12-game Northwest Conference winning streak.

Mack worked out of trouble in the first, sixth and seventh innings.  Willamette would get runners into scoring position in each inning, but Mack stranded those runners without giving up the lead.

Tyler Olson, the starting pitcher for Willamette, was just as tough.  He went nine full innings and did not allow a run while scattering eight hits.  Olson got out of trouble in the top of the third, fourth and sixth innings, leaving two runners stranded in each frame.

Whitworth finally broke through in the tenth against Willamette closer Jackson Wyatt.  Druffel led off the inning with a walk then got to second with one out as Gerhard Muelheims reached on an error.  Joshua Davis followed with the game-winning single to left field, scoring Druffel.  Tyler Pfeffer followed with a single on an 0-2 count that drove in Davis, who had moved to second when Muelheims was caught at third on the Davis single.

After allowing a leadoff single in the bottom of the tenth inning, Isadore got three straight outs to get the win.

Game 2 – Willamette 6, Whitworth 1
Olson scattered nine hits to improve to 6-3 with the complete-game effort on the mound for the Bearcats.  He struck out eight Pirates without allowing a walk.

Austin Hagarty singled in the first run for Willamette in the third and then scored on Tommy Kawamura's sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Tiras Koon added a two-run homer for Willamette in the fourth to double the Willamette lead.  It was his fourth of the season. 

Whitworth got its run in the seventh when Paul Miller doubled home Thomas Wakem.  The Bearcats closed out the scoring in the eighth on RBI singles from Ty Wyatt and Tosh Semlach.

Dan Scheibe started on the mound for Whitworth and dropped to 0-1 after allowing four runs on four hits in 3.1 innings.  Carson Blumenthal threw the final 4.2 innings and gave up two runs on six hits.

Matt Nelson went 3-4 at the plate for Whitworth.