ANAHEIM, Calif. – Whitworth University baseball opened a five-game trip to Southern California with a 9-7 win over NAIA Bethesda University on Thursday afternoon at Brookhurst Park.
Spencer Shipman went 3-4 with three RBI's to help the Pirates improve to 3-1. Whitworth built a 9-1 lead before the Lion Angels (1-12) rallied late in the game.
Shipman had an RBI double in the first and an RBI single in the third. The Bucs added four runs in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead, coming on four consecutive RBI singles by Dominic Giusti, Austin Paul, Shipman and Carson Coffield.
Trailing 9-1 in the seventh Bethesda got two runs back, then rallied for four in the eighth. Three of those runs scored on bases-loaded walks with two outs in the inning.
Whitworth used seven pitchers in the game. Quentin O'Connor started and went two innings. Jared Hardie got the win after allowing two runs on five hits in 2.1 innings of relief, throwing the fifth, sixth and the first out of the seventh. Conner Ashworth tossed a scoreless ninth for his first save.
Whitworth will play a four game series at the University of Redlands, beginning with a single game on Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm.
