SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth baseball team hopes to build on recent success when the Pirates host Pacific Lutheran in a three-game Northwest Conference series this weekend at Paul Merkel Field. Friday's doubleheader and Saturday's single game are both scheduled to start at noon.
Check the Whitworth baseball schedule for live links to his week's games.
Holiday Adjustment: This weekend's series has moved up one day to Friday and Saturday from the typical Saturday/Sunday arrangement. That way the teams can avoid playing on Easter Sunday.
The Pirates: Whitworth (19-11 overall, 10-8 NWC) won two of three games at Linfield last weekend and the Bucs have won four of their last five. The Pirates moved up to third place in the tightly bunched Northwest Conference standings.
Whitworth won the opener 2-0 thanks to the dominant pitching of AJ Woodward and the timely power of Carson Coffield. Woodward improved to 5-1 this season after throwing eight shutout innings with only three hits allowed. He struck out seven batters. Seth Mahler allowed two hits in the ninth, but no runs to pick up his second save. The game was scoreless through eight innings until Caleb Gray drew a walk and Carson Coffield drilled a home run, his eighth of the season.
The Pirates took advantage of four Linfield errors to score seven unearned runs on the way to a 13-4 victory in Saturday's second game. Whitworth scored four runs in the first inning and in every odd-numbered inning thereafter. Spencer Shipman finished 3 for 4 with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs scored. Kyle Memarian scored five runs in the game. Dylan Huntsman (2-2) earned the win with five innings of work, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Luke Stutesman threw three innings of relief and gave up two runs on two hits. Nathaniel Kurano pitched a scoreless ninth.
After trailing 6-1 late in Sunday's series finale, the Pirates rallied to within 6-5 in the eighth inning. But Linfield scored six times in the bottom of the eighth to win 12-5. Memarian finished 2 for 3 with a double and triple and two RBIs. Austin Paul had a pair of hits, two walks, and scored a run. They were the only Whitworth players with more than one hit. Quentin O'Connor fell to 5-3 after giving up four runs on 10 hits in five innings. Four Pirate pitchers followed in relief and each allowed runs.
Senior Saturday: Whitworth will recognize the senior class of 2025 prior to Saturday's contest at about 11:40 am.
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 batting average (.324), home runs (37 – 10th in Div. III), home runs per game (1.23 – 13th), on-base percentage (.425), runs (279 – 17th), scoring average (9.3 – 22nd) and slugging percentage (.508 – 15th).
Individually, Kyle Memarian leads the Northwest Conference in batting average (.432). Caleb Gray leads the conference in hits (46) and total bases (84). He is second in the NWC in home runs (11), slugging percentage (.743) and third in RBIs (35). Carson Coffield is second in the conference in runs batted in (41 – 26th in DIII) and fourth in home runs (8). Austin Paul is first in the NWC in walks (25) and walks per game (1.00 – 20th).
Getting it done on the field: Whitworth is not just lighting it up with the bats. The Pirates are tied for first in the NWC and 10th in Division III in fielding percentage (.975). The Bucs also top the conference in double plays turned (23).
Individually, Quentin O'Connor leads the NWC in fewest walks per nine innings (0.99) and in complete games (2 – tied for 20th in Div. III).
The Opponents: Pacific Lutheran University is 12-15 overall and 6-9 in the Northwest Conference, but the Lutes are coming off three wins at Chapman University (Calif.) last weekend. PLU comes into the series batting .261 as a team to rank seventh in the NWC. The Lutes have a team ERA of 5.73 (6th) and a fielding percentage of .963 (5th).
Individually, junior IF Brody Phinney leads the team in batting average (.325) and runs scored (23). He has hit three home runs and driven in 17 runners. Junior OF Rutger Youch bats .306 and leads the team in hits (33). He has five doubles, 18 RBIs and 21 runs scored. Youch is 16 for 16 in stolen base attempts, leading the NWC. Freshman pitcher Alex Lopez is 4-1 with a conference-best 2.88 ERA. He has pitched 40.2 innings and not allowed a home run this season.
Last season Whitworth swept PLU in a home series in which the final contest was postponed three weeks by weather.
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 have done it three times this spring. The Bucs scored 23 runs twice in one series at the University of Redlands on Feb. 21 and Feb. 23, then scored 21 against George Fox on March 22.
The Coach: CJ Perry is now in his eighth season as the Pirates head coach and has a record of 139-145 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 go out-of-conference for a four-game series at NCAA Division II Central Washington on April 26-27.
