PARKLAND, Wash. – Whitworth rallied from behind twice to pull out an 8-6 Northwest Conference baseball win on Saturday afternoon at Pacific Lutheran, avoiding a series sweep against the Lutes.
The Pirates (9-22 overall, 6-14 NWC) got offensive production throughout the top of the lineup and a shutdown pitching performance from Riley Whelan over the final 2.2 innings.
PLU (15-16 overall, 9-10 NWC) got single runs in the first and third innings off Whitworth starting pitcher Hunter Dryden, who lasted three innings. The Pirates got on the board in the fourth when Henry Zaske led off with a single and scored on Riley Cissne's double.
The Pirates broke through with four runs in the top of the sixth inning. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases with no outs before Blake Barrett scored on a sacrifice fly. After a pitching change, a hit batter loaded the bases again and Jacob Doughty drew a bases-loaded walk. Dawson Warner's single to left field drove in two runs and gave Whitworth a 5-2 lead.
The Lutes answered back with two in the bottom of the sixth. A fielding error in left allowed Ashton Barton to score from first on a single. Carson Burke added an RBI single later in the inning.
PLU scored to more in the seventh to retake the lead. Pinch hitter Sean Kauffman opened the inning with a walk, moved to third on a double by Braeden Lundberg and scored on a wild pitch. Cole Trotignon added the go-ahead single to score Lundberg.
Whitworth responded with three in the eighth after two were out. Doughty started the rally with a triple and scored on Elijah Tanner's single. With runners on second and third, Warner scored on a wild pitch and Tanner went to third. Zaske appeared to strikeout to end the inning, but he made it to first and Tanner scored on another wild pitch.
Whelan, who relieved Giovanni Costello in the seventh, gave up a leadoff double in the eighth, but did not allow a run after retiring the next three batters. Two were strikeouts. He gave up a one-out walk to Trotignon in the ninth, but got the next two batters on a fielder's choice and a fly out to right field.
Five of the top six hitters in the order had more than one hit for the Bucs. Doughty and Cissne had three each. Whelan improved to 2-2 after allowing no runs on two hits and a walk in 2.2 innings.
Trotignon started on the mound for PLU and allowed four runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. Chris Moreno (1-2) took the loss for PLU after giving up two runs on two hits in 0.1 innings of relief in the eighth.
Whitworth will play a make up game at Whitman on Wednesday before hosting Puget Sound in the final series of the season April 15-16.
