McMinnville, Ore. – Three Pirates homered to lead Whitworth University to a 7-4 win in the opener of a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader at Linfield College on Saturday. But the host Wildcats powered to an 8-2 victory in the second game.
Eighth-ranked Whitworth is now 21-5 overall and 13-4 in the NWC. Linfield is 16-13, 8-9. The teams will complete the three-game series at noon on Sunday at Roy Helser Field.
The split allowed the Pirates to increase their lead in the NWC baseball standings to three games over second-place Pacific (10-7) after the Boxers were swept on Saturday by Willamette.
Game 1 – Whitworth 7, Linfield 4
Arory Milyard threw 4.2 innings of stellar relief and the Pirates rallied from a 4-2 deficit by finishing with seven runs on 13 hits against three Wildcat pitchers.
Jeremy Druffel hit his fifth home run of the season with one out in the first, giving Whitworth a 1-0 lead. Daniel Casanova added a solo shot with one out in the third, his third of the year, to increase the lead to 2-0.
Linfield grabbed the lead by scoring four runs on five hits against Whitworth starting pitcher Hugh Smith in the bottom of the third. The Wildcats loaded the bases with no one out before Finn McMichael drilled a one-run single. Scott Hilpert followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Eric Lawson's RBI single gave Linfield the lead and sent McMichael to third base. Ryan Ross added another sacrifice fly to cap the rally.
Garrett Hughes quickly retied the game for Whitworth in the top of the fourth inning with a two-run homer to deep left field. It was his second of the year.
Druffel drove in the eventual game-winning run with an RBI single down the left field line in the sixth inning to scored Hughes.
The Pirates added two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Jordan McGowan singled home Matthew Nelson, who had led off the inning with a double. Joel Condreay's sacrifice fly drove in JT Phelan with the final run.
Meanwhile, Milyard had relieved Smith with one out in the fifth inning. He cruised through the Linfield lineup until the 'Cats got back-to-back singles with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to bring the potential tying run to the plate. But Milyard induced Hilpert to fly out to center field to end the game. Milyard improved to 3-0 this season after shutting out Linfield on four hits in 4.2 innings of relief.
McGowan finished 3-5 for the Bucs, while Cassanova, Druffel and Hughes had two hits each.
Joe Perryman (1-3) took the loss in relief for Linfield after allowing only one run on six hits in 3.1 innings. He replaced starter Cason Cunningham who gave up four runs on four hits in 3.2 innings.
Game 2 – Linfield 8, Whitworth 2
The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead through two innings and cruised to the victory in Saturday's second game.
Whitworth took a 2-0 lead with four singles in the top of the first inning. Phelan and McGowan had the RBIs for the Pirates.
But Linfield got to Whitworth starting pitcher T.J. Orchard quickly, scoring four times in the bottom of the first. John Carroll's two-run double capped the rally.
The Wildcats chased Orchard with three more runs in the second on a two-run homer by Eric Lawson and a solo shot by Ben Andrews. Lawson's homer was his third and Andrews hit his fifth of the year.
Tim Bever came on in relief for Whitworth and pitched 6.1 strong innings. He held Linfield to only one run while scattering six hits.
But the Pirates could not get any more runs on the board. Riley Newman started on the mound and improved to 6-2 after allowing two runs on ten hits in six innings. Neely Callahan pitched three innings of perfect relief to finish up for the Wildcats.
Phelan and Condreay had two hits each for Whitworth.
