By: Katelyn McLean
Student Writer 

TACOMA, Wash.—Whitworth threw out the potential tying run at home plate for the final out of the game in a 2-1 victory at Puget Sound on Saturday that allowed the visiting Pirates to split a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader with the Loggers.  UPS won the opener 4-1.

The visiting Pirates (12-21, 11-15 NWC) claimed their first win of the year against the Loggers (14-16, 10-14 NWC) after four losses.  The teams meet again tomorrow in another NWC doubleheader, with games at 12pm and 3pm.

Game one: Puget Sound 4, Whitworth 1
Owen Shellhammer held the Pirate offense to only one run and three hits in a complete game.

Puget Sound got on the board first when Dylan Joyce hit a solo home run in the first inning.

The Pirates loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, but scored only one run when Dawson Warner flied out to right field with one out to score Gage Gibson and tie the game.

Jackson Bolitho answered in the bottom of the fifth to drive in the go-ahead run for the Loggers.  Puget Sound sealed the victory in the sixth inning when pinch hitter Nathan Blocher advanced on a wild pitch, and Jonas Kim scored. Davis Miller followed with a double that scored Blocher.

Josh Grimes (3-2) gave up six hits and four runs, all of them earned runs, in six innings and got the loss.

Shellhammer (5-1) had only one walk and three strikeouts in all nine innings.

Game two: Whitworth 2, Puget Sound 1
Dylan Bishop (2-2) did not allow a hit until the fifth and threw seven one-run innings, and the Pirates held on to prevent a tying run in the bottom of the eighth.

Whitworth got on the board when Brendan Duncan's single scored Joe Howell with two outs in the top of the first.

Puget Sound rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning when Kyle Strash singled to score William Gross.  It was Puget Sound's third hit of the game.

Neither team scored by the end of the seventh, so the game went into extra innings.

David Bedell started the top of the eighth on second base and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.  Gage Gibson delivered a sacrifice fly to score Bedell.

The bottom of the eighth started similarly. Cody Hirano was place at second and moved to third on a sacrifice.  Brett Thomas struck out pinch hitter Shane Himeda for the second out.  After Strash walked, Hunter Dryden relieved Thomas.  Hirano tried to score on a pitch that got away at the plate, but catcher Ryan Gross got the ball and threw to Dryden covering at the plate and Dryden applied the tag on Hirano for the final out.

Andrew Matsueda (2-3) pitched all eight innings for the Loggers, allowing only four hits and two runs. He recorded only one walk and five strikeouts in the hard-luck loss.

Bishop gave up four hits and only one run in seven innings. He also recorded three strikeouts.  Closer Hunter Dryden recorded this third save of the year, recording the final out of the eighth inning.