WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitworth University clinched a spot in the 2025 Northwest Conference baseball tournament with an 11-1 win over Whitman in the second half of a conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Borleske Stadium. The host Blues won the opener 8-1, knocking the Pirates out of a chance to share the NWC title.
Whitworth is now 24-15 overall and 14-9 in the NWC, while Whitman is 21-18, 12-11. The Blues need to win the finale on Sunday and get some help from other schools around the conference to qualify as the final team into the NWC tournament.
With a win the Pirates can finish as NWC runners-up.
Game 1 – Whitman 8, Whitworth 1
Wyatt Adams pitched a complete game and got support from Halen Otte, the NWC's leader in home runs and RBIs, to lead the Blues to a win in the opener.
Otte got Whitman on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning with his conference-leading 17th home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field. He added an RBI in the eighth inning. Leading 4-0, the Blues put the game away with four runs in the eighth. The only ball hit out of the infield in the frame was an RBI single from Brandon Ting.
The Pirates did not score a run against Adams until Caleb Gray came home on Aidan Morrison's ground out in the top of the ninth. Gray and Kyle Memarian were the only two Whitworth batters with more than one hit.
Adams (5-4) scattered five hits with one walk, while striking out five batters.
AJ Woodward (5-3) allowed four runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings as the Pirates' starting pitcher. Luke Stutesman gave up four runs (one earned) on three hits and a walk in his 1.2 innings.
Game 2 – Whitworth 11, Whitman 1
Kyle Memarian and Kevin Corder had three hits apiece to spark the Pirates to the tournament-qualifying victory over the Blues.
Dylan Huntsman (4-2) threw 6.1 strong innings to earn his third straight winning decision on the mound for the Bucs. Whitman scored only one runs against him on five hits. He struck out two.
Whitworth scored four runs in the first and steadily pulled away. Memarian drove in the first run with an infield single. Caleb Gray added a two-run double later in the frame.
Memarian's RBI single highlighted a two-run fourth and the Pirates took advantage of a throwing error on Memarian's sacrifice bunt in the seventh to add two more. Memarian's solo home run leading off the ninth was the final run of the game.
Memarian finished 3-4 with three RBIs and two runs, while Corder went 3-3 with an RBI and two runs.
Seth Mahler tossed 2.2 hitless innings to close the game.
