SPOKANE, WASH – The Pirates broke even in a non-conference double header on Saturday against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at Paul Merkel Field. The Stags dominated in a 15-4 victory in game one, but the Bucs responded in the night cap for a 7-4 victory.
Whitworth (16-7, 6-5 NWC) and CMS (18-8, 6-6 SIAC) will head into Sunday with the series still in the balance, the first pitch is scheduled for noon.
Game 1- Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 15, Whitworth 4
The Stags' offense scored early and often to grab a big lead by the end of the third inning, and never let it go.
CMS got rolling in the second inning with a series of walks followed by a single from Blaise Heher. With the bases loaded Tyler Shaw was hit by a pitch to score the first run of the game, but it was two-RBI single from Julian Sanders that broke open the inning and put CMS up 4-0. The Stags kept rolling adding five more in the third, helped by two more Sanders' RBIs, Adam Dapekewicz doubled to left to open up a 10-0 lead after four innings.
Ty Quiggle put the Pirates on the board with a double down the left field line to score Austin Paul. But the Stags didn't miss a beat adding another five spot in the eight on five hits. CMS held a 15-2 lead at one point,
Josephan Gonzalez (0-1) saw his first start on the mound as a Pirate, he pitched two innings and allowed seven runs before being relieved of his duties. Stags' starting pitcher Parker McGraw (4-1) tossed eight innings on just two runs and six hits while striking out four batters. Reliever Styrker Scales threw the final inning and allowed two runs on two hits.
Game 2- Whitworth 7, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 4
Jacob Doughty's huge homerun in the eighth inning broke the eighth inning tie and Whitworth ran with that momentum to take game two.
The Pirates offense didn't wait around to get busy in this one, Spencer Shipman's RBI single down the left field line got the Bucs quickly on the scoreboard. Ty Quiggle followed up with an RBI single of his own and then executed a first and third rundown play to allow the lead runner to score and Whitworth led 3-0 after the first.
After a Whitworth fielding error, Bryce Didrickson homered for Claremont in the fourth inning to cut the Pirates' lead in half. Mazzone belted a game tying blast to right field in the fifth inning to knot it up at three.
Aidan Morrison doubled deep enough to left center field, to allow Austin Paul to score from first base and regain the 4-3 lead for the Bucs in the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, Mazzone struck again for the Stags' with a leadoff double and later came around to score and tie up the game again on Dillon Martin's sacrifice fly.
It was Jacob Doughty's long leadoff home run to center field in the eighth inning that gave the Pirates a late one-run lead and took the air out of the Stags' sails. Henry Zaske gave the Pirates insurance runs with a two-RBI single to make it a 7-4 game.
Starting pitcher Jack Leary was impressive through five innings and allowing just one earned run on six hits. Hunter Williams (2-2) was the first Buc out of the bullpen for two innings of one-run relief. The setup man was Tyler Vancise (1IP, 0R, 2SO) for Hunter Dryden (1IP, 0R, 3SO) to slam the door in the last inning.
