SPOKANE, Wash. – Led by Cody Simmons, the Whitworth baseball offense exploded for 30 runs in a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep of visiting Whitman on Saturday at Merkel Field. Simmons went 7-10 with nine RBIs and drove in the go-ahead run in both games to lead the Pirates to wins of 14-5 and 16-11 over the Blues.
Whitworth (9-3 overall, 2-0 NWC) will try to complete a three-game sweep of Whitman (4-8, 3-2) on Sunday at noon.
Game 1: Whitworth 14, Whitman 5
Simmons went 3-5 with three RBI's while Landon Shigeta threw five shutout innings of relief to help the Pirates rally from an early 5-1 deficit.
Matthew Sox drove in three runs with a double in the second and Brett Williams added a two-run double in the third to help Whitman grab a 5-1 lead. Whitworth got three runs back in the bottom of the third, two coming on Liam Fitzpatrick's two-run homer.
The game was tied 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth when Simmons drove in the go-ahead run with a single to center field. Luke Bruno added an RBI single later in the inning.
The Pirates scored in every inning after the first inning and every batter in the lineup had at least one hit to pull away for the NWC-opening win. Grayson O'Neil and Bruno added home runs for the Bucs. Dawson Warner finished 3-6 with three RBIs, while O'Neil and Jaxsen Sweum also had three hits in the game.
Shigeta came on in relief of starter Austin Rice in the fifth inning and allowed only a pair of hits in five innings of work to pick up his first career win as a Pirate.
Travis Craven started on the mound for Whitman and fell to 1-2 after giving up eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits in four innings. Three players followed in relief. David Johnson went 3-4 for the Blues.
Game 2: Whitworth 16, Whitman 11
Simmons drove a bases-clearing double to the wall in left center field in the bottom of the eighth inning to spark a five-run rally and lift the Pirates to a doubleheader sweep.
Whitworth opened the game with an 8-2 lead through two innings. The Blues chipped away and eventually rallied to go ahead 11-10 in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Sox.
Fitzpatrick opened the bottom of the eighth with a double and was safe at third when the Blues tried to get him out on a sacrifice bunt by Connor Johnson. Sweum walked to load the bases for Simmons, whose double gave Whitworth the lead back. Gabe Gibson followed with an RBI single and Warner drew a bases-loaded walk later in the inning to cap the rally.
Simmons went 4-5 with six RBIs in the game. Joe Howell was 4-4, while Warner went 3-5.
Matthew Young went four innings on the mound for the Bucs, allowing seven runs on 11 hits. Brett Thomas tossed the next four frames and gave up four runs on five hits. Connor Grytdal threw the ninth for his third win in relief this season.
Sox went 3-5 for Whitman and drove in four runs, including a two-run homer. Kevin Nakamura also homed for the Blues.
Eric Ma started the game for Whitman and allowed nine runs on nine hits in five innings, but settled down after giving up eight of those runs in the first two. Three relievers followed and Dexter Aichele took the loss in relief.
