SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University will take on one of the hottest teams in the Northwest Conference when George Fox University visits Merkel Field for a three-game baseball series on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's single game are both scheduled to start at noon.
Check the Whitworth baseball schedule for live links to his week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth got three strong starting pitching performances last weekend at Lewis & Clark College and the Pirates took two of the three games to improve to 12-6 overall and even their NWC mark at 3-3.
Whitworth won Saturday's opener 8-0 behind the dominant pitching of AJ Woodward. Woodward threw seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out five batters and was named the NWC Baseball Pitcher of the Week. Seth Mahler struck out four more Pioneers while finishing up the combined shutout, the Pirates' first of the season. Aidan Morrison went 2-3 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Carson Coffield also hit a home run for the Bucs.
Whitworth led Saturday's second game 6-2 heading to the bottom of the eighth before the Pioneers rallied to win 7-6 in ten innings. Coffield finished 3-6 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored. Dylan Huntsman gave the Pirates a good chance to win by giving up only two runs over seven strong innings.
Whitworth bounced back to win the finale 12-3 as Quentin O'Connor pitched a complete game to improve to 3-1 this season. He allowed only three hits and no walks while striking out four batters. It was the Pirates' first nine-inning complete game of the season. Morrison went 4-6 with a double and a home run. He drove in four and scored once. Carson Gray hit his conference-leading eighth home run of the season, while Austin Paul batted 2-4 with two RBIs and two runs.
Getting it done at the plate: Whitworth leads the NWC and ranks among the top-25 in NCAA Division III in several key offensive categories. The Pirates lead the conference in runs scored (169 – 10th in DIII), runs per game (9.4), home runs (21 – 9th in DIII), doubles (33), bases on balls (94 – 24th), hit by pitch (38 – 17th), batting average (.324), slugging percentage (.509) and on-base percentage (.445).
Whitworth is not just lighting it up with the bats as the Pirates lead the NWC and rank 11th in Division III in fielding percentage (.977). The Bucs also top the conference in double plays turned (13).
Individually, Caleb Gray leads the NWC in home runs (8) and total bases (51). He is second in RBIs (24).
The Opponents: George Fox comes into the weekend 9-8 overall and 3-3 in the NWC. The Bruins have bounced back from a 3-6 start by winning six of their last eight contests, beginning with a series victory against Pacific Lutheran (March 8-9). GFU followed that up with a 3-0 weekend at a tournament in Tucson, Arizona (March 15-16). The momentum was slightly slowed by Tuesday night's loss to NCAA Div. II Western Oregon.
As a team the Bruins are hitting .279 (5th in the NWC), have an ERA of 5.36 (3rd in the NWC) and a fielding percentage of .938 (9th in the NWC). Junior OF Evan Balingit is this week's NWC Player of the Week. He leads the team in batting average (.412) and RBI's (19) after a big weekend in Arizona. Senior catcher Carson Coulter is hitting .354 and he leads the team in doubles (7), home runs (4) and runs scored (18) to go along with 17 RBIs. Junior RHP Aidan Rady is 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA and he leads the team with 25.2 innings-pitched.
Last season Whitworth went to George Fox on the final weekend of the regular season and took two of three games against the Bruins to secure third place in the NWC standings.
Scoring in Bunches: Heading into the 2025 season Whitworth had scored 20 or more runs in a single game only five times since the 2000 season. The Pirates scored 23 runs twice in one series at the University of Redlands on Feb. 21 and Feb. 23.
Strength in Numbers: The Pirates have a big 2025 roster packed with 45 players. Twelve freshman and 13 transfers have joined the team, and each one may have an impact this season. Through the first 15 games of the season, 17 position players have made at least three starts, 18 have at least four hits, 16 have scored at least four runs, and 14 have at least four RBIs. Whitworth's depth may be a significant strength throughout the season as impact plays could come from up and down the roster.
The Coach: CJ Perry is now in his eighth season as the Pirates head coach and has a record of 128-138 in his tenure. He's led Whitworth to the NWC Tournament in three of his seven seasons and has a tournament record of 5-6. In 2019, coach Perry was named NWC Coach of the Year after guiding the Pirates to a 19-5 conference record (27-15 overall) and NWC regular season title. Perry is a Spokane native and graduated from Whitworth University in 2012.
Looking ahead: The Pirates will hit the road for a series at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon on March 29-30.
