SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth reached the 20-win plateau and extended its win streak to eight games by completing a series sweep of visiting Lewis & Clark with an 11-3 victory on Saturday at Merkel Field.

No. 10 Whitworth (20-4, 12-3 NWC) earned its third series sweep in conference play and sits atop the standings with a two-game lead over second-place Pacific (Ore.). The Pirates became the fastest team in school history to reach 20 victories.

Lewis & Clark fell to 11-18 overall and 3-12 in NWC action. Every Pirate batter recorded at least one hit in the game and a six-run seventh inning helped Whitworth pull away, while Ryan Kingma held the Pioneers in check on the mound to pick up his sixth win of the season.  

The Pioneers plated a run in the first inning for a brief lead before Whitworth responded with two runs in the bottom half of the frame. Bradley Lezak opened the game with a double and later scored with a two-out single from Sean Shepherd for the Pioneers in the first inning.

After hitting a leadoff home run in the first inning during each game of Saturday's doubleheader, Daniel Casanova once again produced a hit to spark the offense with a single in the bottom of the first inning. Jeremy Druffel followed with an RBI double to left-center field, tying the game. Druffel later scored for a 2-1 advantage when JT Phelan grounded into a double play. Druffel had advanced from second base to third base with an infield single by Matthew Nelson.

Lewis & Clark tied the game in the second inning when Ben Beck produced a two-out infield single with two runners on base, but Whitworth responded once again to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning.

A pair of singles by Druffel and Nelson put runners in scoring position for the Pirates to begin the bottom of the third inning. Lewis & Clark starter John Trupin retired the next two batters after Nelson singled, but Druffel was able to score when Jacob Yamane reached with a defensive miscue by the Lewis & Clark third baseman.

The Pirates added a run in the fourth when Garrett Hughes scored Joel Condreay with a single and built the lead to 5-2 during the sixth inning when Druffel drove in Condreay with a sacrifice fly.

Whitworth produced an inning of at least six runs for the third time in the series during the seventh frame. The Pirates produced four hits and also took advantage of a Lewis & Clark error for the big inning.

After hits by Jordan McGowan and Condreay to start the inning, a throwing error to home plate by pitcher Blake Howell on a bunt by Nate Lamberty began the scoring. Hughes followed with a two-RBI double and a wild pitch allowed another run to score, building the lead to 9-2. A two-out, two-RBI double from Phelan gave Whitworth a double-digit run total for the third consecutive game.

Connor Eggleston drove in Cooper Larson with an RBI single in the eighth, but the Pioneers could not do any further damage off Whitworth reliever JD Page.

Kingma (6-0) remained unbeaten in his collegiate career and is tied for the conference lead in wins. Trupin (0-3) took the loss for the Pioneers, allowing nine hits and four runs (three earned) over 3 ⅔ innings pitched.

Kingma allowed two earned runs on five hits over six innings pitched, striking out one and walking two. Page picked up his second save of the year, tossing three innings and allowing one unearned run.

Hughes went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored to lead a balanced offense that produced 14 hits and walked seven times.

Whitworth travels to Linfield next weekend for a three-game series in McMinnville, Ore. The teams will play a doubleheader at noon on Saturday, April 2, before concluding the series the following day with a single game at noon.