HILLSBORO, Ore. – Luke Bruno homered in the opener and drove in the game-winning run in the tenth inning of the nightcap to give Whitworth a pair of non-conference baseball wins against Northwest Conference opponents on Friday at Ron Tonkin Stadium. The Pirates defeated Whitman 7-4 in the first game and topped Willamette 3-2 in ten frames in the second contest.
Whitworth (4-1) will complete the tournament on Saturday with a game against Lewis & Clark at Milwaukie (Ore.) High School.
Game 1 – Whitworth 7, Whitman 4
Bruno drilled a three-run home run and Liam Fitzpatrick drove in a pair of runs to lead Whitworth to a non-conference win over NWC rival Whitman in Saturday's opener.
The Pirates took a 3-0 lead after three innings. Fitzpatrick and Grayson O'Neil each had sacrifice flies in the first inning to get the Bucs on the board. Fitzpatrick drove in the third run with a ground out in the third.
The Blues scored single runs in the fourth and fifth to pull within 3-2. Bruno broke the game open in the top of the sixth with his first Whitworth home run, a three-run shot to left. Gabe Gibson added an RBI single later in the frame for a 7-2 lead.
Whitman got within 7-4 in the bottom of the sixth, thanks in part to a throwing error that led to an unearned run.
Austin Rice (1-0) got his first win of the season on the mound with five solid innings. He allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Dylan Bishop followed and gave up two runs (one earned) in two innings and Brett Thomas worked the final two innings without allowing a run to claim his second save of the season.
Bruno and Gibson both went 2-4 at the plate for the Pirates. Dawson Warner was 2-5 and scored twice.
Travis Craven, who won a pair of games for Whitman at last season's NWC tournament in Spokane, took the loss after allowing six runs on five hits and four walks in 5.1 innings. Matthew Sox went 2-4 with an RBI for the Blues.
Game 2 – Whitworth 3, Willamette 2 (10 innings)
Bruno's sacrifice fly in the tenth scored Fitzpatrick with the winning run as the Pirates held on for their second win of the day.
The game began as a pitchers' duel between Whitworth's Matthew Young and Willamette's Justin Miller. Neither allowed a run through the first five innings.
Jaxsen Sweum got the Pirates on the board with an RBI single in the sixth. Eric Waldichuck tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run.
Cody Simmons gave the Bucs the lead back in the eighth with a single that drove in Fitzpatrick, who opened the inning with a double. But Waldichuck homered again in the bottom of the ninth to retie the game.
Fitzpatrick singled to open the tenth and moved to second on an error. After a Simmon's sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk to load the bases, Bruno drove the ball to right field, allowing Fitzpatrick to score an unearned run.
Willamette got a leadoff single to open the bottom of the tenth. After a sacrifice moved the runner into scoring position, Connor Grytdal got a pair of easy ground outs to end the game.
Young allowed one run on six hits in 6.2 innings with eight strikeouts. But Grytdal picked up the win in relief after giving up one run on four hits in 3.1 innings.
Ben Wintringer went 3-5 at the plate for the Bucs, while Fitzpatrick was 2-4 and scored twice.
Pruitt Spritzer (0-2) took the pitching loss for Willamette after giving up one unearned run on three hits in 2.1 innings. Waldichuk finished 2-4 with the two solo home runs.
