FOREST GROVE, Ore. – Visiting Whitworth exploded for eight runs in the fourth inning of the opener, but the Pirates' bats were quieted in the second game of a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday at Pacific University.
Whitworth (11-4, 4-1 NWC) held on to win the first game 8-7. The Boxers (8-7, 6-2) won the nightcap 5-1. The teams will complete the series with a single game on Sunday afternoon.
Game 1: Whitworth 8, Pacific 7
Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, the Pirates scored all the runs they would need with their biggest rally yet of the 2020 season.
Ryan Krout's two-run double in the bottom of the first got the Boxers on the board.
Whitworth threatened, but did not score in the early innings until things got going in the fourth. Caleb Morton got the Bucs on the scoreboard with an RBI single. The Pirates took advantage of a Pacific error to score their second run. Later in the inning Jaxsen Sweum stroked a two-run single and Luke Bruno followed with a two-run double to make it 8-2.
Whitworth had to work hard to hold on, however. Pacific scored four in the fifth to cut the margin to 8-6. Kraut had his third RBI of the game in that inning. The Boxers added a run in the seventh to make it a one-run game.
Connor Grytdal threw two scoreless innings of relief to keep Pacific at-bay and pick up his second save of the year. Austin Rice allowed six runs (five earned) in 4.2 innings as the starter. Landon Shigeta gets the win with 2.1 innings of one-run relief of Rice.
Sweum finished the game 4-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Ryan Gross and Morton both had a pair of hits for Whitworth.
Game 2: Pacific 5, Whitworth 1
The Boxers broke through with four runs in the first inning and a pair of Boxer pitchers combined to limit the Pirates to a single run to hand Whitworth its first conference loss of the season.
Kraut had another two-run double in the first to highlight the four-run rally.
Whitworth got within 4-1 in the fifth on Gage Gibson's ground out to shortstop with runners at second and third, scoring Gross.
Pacific added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth for its final run.
Tyler Nakata (2-1) started on the mound for the Boxers and scattered six hits while allowing only one run in 5.1 innings. Tyler Oscarson threw the final 3.2 innings and gave up only two hits for his first save.
Matthew Young (2-1) took his first loss of the season after giving up five runs on nine hits in six innings. Evan Nordan finished up with two scoreless innings of relief.
Gross went 3-4 to lead the Bucs at the plate.
