SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth baseball finishes its regular season with a three-game series in Newberg against George Fox, looking to solidify their spot in the NWC tournament for the first time since 2019.

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The Pirates: Whitworth (24-11, 12-9 NWC) was electric last weekend as they swept Linfield with wins of 6-3 and 12-11 on Saturday before closing the series with a 16-5 win on Sunday. It's the first time Whitworth has swept Linfield in over a decade, and it propelled the Pirates over the Wildcats in the standings going into the final weekend.

Whitworth took control of the series early in game one; and never gave it back. Austin Paul scorched a grand slam off the scoreboard in the second inning to put the Pirates up 4-0, Hunter Dryden stifled the Wildcat lineup through seven innings as Whitworth maintained a 6-2 lead, Hunter Williams gave up one run in relief, but the Pirates held on for the 6-3 win. Game two was chaotic at times as the two teams combined for 27 hits and 23 runs, Linfield faced deficits of 6-1, 9-5, and 11-6 throughout but managed to send it to extras. Spencer Shipman's three-run blast capped a four run first frame for the Pirates, and his second-inning single scored a runner as the Pirates opened a 6-1 lead. Klingelhoffer put the 'Cats back in the game with a two-run shot to make it 6-4. Tanner struck in the fifth with a base-clearing double to put the Pirates up 9-5, they built that lead to 11-6 behind a pair of Austin Paul RBIs, but Linfield responded with three in the eighth before Holm stunned the crowd with a two-run blast in the top of the ninth to tie the game 11-11. Evan Williamson came in and shut things down in the tenth for Whitworth, before the Pirate offense loaded the bases with one out, bringing up Tanner. Sure enough, the left fielder delivered a walk-off single, a drive to shallow left to bring in Jacob Doughty and clinch the dramatic win. Sunday's action was not so dramatic, Whitworth racked up 14 hits and 16 runs, getting out to a 16-3 lead at one point to clinch the sweep over Linfield whose bull pen rotated through six pitchers.

Series Top Performers: In a dominant weekend from the Pirate offense, leadoff Austin Paul was the spark plug batting 8-13 with a grand slam and two doubles, 9 RBIs, five walks and he scored each time he reached base to earn NWC baseball athlete of the week. Elijah Tanner had a stellar weekend as well, he was 6-11 with a double, six RBIs, and that walk-off in the tenth inning of game two.

Playoff Picture: Heading into the final weekend, the third-place Pirates need one win to officially clinch their spot. If they win two or three, they put themselves in position to take second place. A Whitworth win this weekend would officially eliminate George Fox and Linfield.

The Opponent: George Fox (21-16, 10-11 NWC) has won three straight coming into the weekend, two wins over Willamette and a win over No. 15 California Lutheran. The Bruins are currently sitting in seventh place, but just a half game back from Pacific in that fourth spot.

Noah Meffert, one of the best hitters in the conference, highlights the Bruins lineup. Meffert is number one in the NWC in batting average (.389), second in on base percentage (.491), third in slugging percentage (.702) and OPS (1.193), and fourth in hits (51). Jeremy Sangalang is a nice compliment, he's batting .333 on 48 hits, he's got 28 RBIs and a .418 on base. On the mound it's Caleb Debban who anchors the Bruins' staff; Debban (3-3) has pitched 55.1 innings, has a 4.39 ERA and struck out 63 batters. George Fox is coached by Kevin Kopple who's led the program since 2019, he holds a 65-66 record, and he's led Fox to the NWC tournament twice in his tenure. Whitworth is 6-8 against George Fox in the last three seasons.

Paul Party: That's essentially what last weekend became. The leadoff was simply incredible as the Pirates took a huge step toward the postseason. His first home run of the season last weekend was a no doubter to right center, bouncing high off the Merkel Field scoreboard. Paul is batting .298 on the season with a .902 OPS and 21 RBIs despite batting lead off all season.

The Power of an early lead: The Pirates did not trail at the end of an inning last weekend, getting out to fast starts in all three games. On Saturday Paul's grand slam opened a 4-0 lead, Shipman's three-run blast in game two helped them to a 4-1 first inning lead, and on Sunday they were up 10-1 after four. The Pirates have outscored opponents 100-57 in the first three innings of games this season. Whitworth is 21-2 when leading or tied after three innings, they're 3-9 on the other hand when trailing after three.

The Coach: CJ Perry is in his sixth season as the Pirates head coach. He began his tenure in 2018 and was named NWC coach of the year in 2019 after leading the Pirates to a 19-5 conference record and a regular season title. Perry is a Spokane native and graduated from Whitworth University in 2012. He entered 2024 with a 68-68 record as head coach, looking to lead Whitworth back to the conference tournament for the first time since 2019.

Looking ahead: Whitworth will hopefully have clinched a spot in the conference tournament, a four-team double-elimination tournament, the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA regional tournament.