SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth rallied with a three-run eighth inning to claim the series opener in a come-from-behind effort before Pacific (Ore.) responded to belt four home runs en route to a 12-3 win during Saturday's nightcap at Merkel Field.
No. 10 Whitworth (22-7, 14-6 Northwest Conference) maintains a two-game lead over Pacific (20-12, 12-8 NWC) atop the NWC standings with four conference games remaining for each team.
The teams will conclude the series with a single game at noon on Sunday.
Game 1: Whitworth 3, Pacific 2
Joel Condreay's two-out, two-RBI single capped a three-run eighth inning and proved to be the difference as Whitworth rallied to claim the series opener.
Trailing 2-0 entering the eighth inning, Jeremy Druffel cut the deficit in half with a one-out solo home run over the high wall in right field, his team-leading sixth of the season.
Matthew Nelson followed with a walk and later advanced to third when pinch-hitter Ryan Bird delivered a two-out double down the left-field line. Condreay then came through with his single to right-center field, plating Nelson and Bird to give Whitworth the lead.
Pacific did not go quietly in the ninth inning. The Boxers put runners on first and second with two outs before a long fly fall to the warning track was caught in left-center field by
Druffel to end the game, one step before he bounced off the outfield fence.
Both starting pitchers were in command for much of the game. Whitworth starter Hugh Smith gave up two solo home runs but limited the Pacific offense to six hits over seven innings and Pacific starter Paul Wolfram tossed seven scoreless innings before the Pirates got to him in the eighth.
Walker Olis sent his seventh home run of the season off the scoreboard in right-center field to put Pacific up 1-0 in the first inning. The score stayed the same until Kurtis Kloke blasted his NWC-leading ninth home run of the season in the sixth inning for a 2-0 lead.
Arory Milyard (4-0) entered the game in the eighth, allowing one hit and one walk over two innings pitched for the win. Wolfram (5-4) went 7 ⅔ innings, allowing three runs on nine hits. He struck out six and walked three.
Game 2: Pacific 12, Whitworth 3
Four two-run home runs propelled the Pacific offense to a commanding victory as the Boxers became the first team to post a double-digit run total against the Pirates this season.
Olis once again set the tone, blasting a two-run home run to left field in the first inning. Nathan Suyematsu added a second two-run blast in the fourth to double the lead, the first of three consecutive innings with a two-run home run for Pacific.
Condreay produced an RBI groundout to plate Jordan McGowan in the fourth and bring Whitworth within 4-1, but Kloke then joined Olis in homering for the second straight contest during the fifth. His NWC-leading 10th home run of the season scored Olis for a 6-1 lead.
Daniel Casanova drove in Garrett Hughes with a double in the bottom of the fifth inning before Ben Duerr connected for yet another two-run home run in the top of the sixth, scoring Kane Ulrich and extending the Pacific lead to 8-2.
Zach Thibault led off the bottom of the seventh with his third home run of the season before Pacific answered with a run in the eighth for a 9-3 lead. The Boxers added three runs via three hits and the help of a balk in the ninth inning.
Ryan Kingma (6-2) took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits. Sam Lawrence (4-2) picked up the win for Pacific.
The top four hitters in the Pacific lineup combined to bat 10-for-18 with seven RBIs and six runs scored in fueling the offense. Pacific out-hit Whitworth 16-8 in the game.
