LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Whitworth completed a season-opening series sweep of Occidental after winning Saturday's non-conference doubleheader at Anderson Baseball Field.
Aidan Morrison went 4-8 on the day with five RBIs and five runs as the Pirates won 12-5 and 6-1 to improve to 3-0 on the season. Occidental fell to 3-5.
The Pirates' will resume action next Friday when they take on Schreiner University in part of a four-game series in Kerrville, Texas.
Game 1 – Whitworth 12, Occidental 5
Four Pirates' hit home runs in another impressive showing of offensive power.
The Bucs' explosive offense was put on pause until the third inning when Hunter Dryden was able to get the first run on the board with a solo shot.
Occidental quickly grabbed a 3-1 lead in the bottom half of the third with back-to-back home runs of their own from Alex Henderson and Jeffery Cambra.
Whitworth responded with Ty Komoda's two RBI double down the left field line as part of a five-run fifth inning that had the Bucs' back on top, 6-3. Tigers' Cambra tallied another RBI in bottom half of the fifth to cut the deficit to two.
The Pirates' bats proved too dominant as they tallied another six runs in the final four innings, backed by home runs from Kevin Corder, Henry Zaske, and Aidan Morrison.
Jack Leary started on the mound for Whitworth, completing four innings and giving up four runs on six hits. Seth Mahler (1-0) allowed one run on three hits in four innings of relief. Hunter Williams (1IP, 0 H, 0 R) was used to seal the deal in the final frame.
Occidental's starter Patrick Connolly (0-1) went four innings and allowed four earned runs on one hit. Three relievers were used to complete the game.
Game 2 – Whitworth 6, Occidental 1
Starting pitcher Quentin Oconner's commanding first appearance as a Pirate was enough to stifle the Tigers in game three of the series.
Runs were non-existent until the fourth inning when Henry Zaske hit an RBI double to give the Bucs the lead. The Pirates were able to tack on a single run in each of the fifth and sixth innings with RBI's from Morrison and Spencer Shipman to gain a 3-0 lead.
Occidental's Jackson Short responded with an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the sixth to narrow the Bucs' lead.
Morrison tallied his second home run and fifth RBI on the day with a two-run shot to left field in the seventh inning. Jacob Doughty quickly followed with an RBI single to right field to put the Pirates' ahead 6-1.
O'Conner (1-0) was dominant through six innings, allowing just one run on two hits. Reliever Tyler VanCise followed up with three scoreless innings of his own. The duo combined for 12 strikeouts in the game.
AJ Naha (1-1) started for the Tigers and allowed six runs on six hits in 6.2 innings.
