SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth heads to the Northwest Conference baseball tournament this week and the Pirates will take on Puget Sound on Thursday night (5:00 pm) in a first round game. Pacific University will host the tournament at Chuck Bafaro Stadium in Forest Grove, Oregon and the top-seeded Boxers take on Linfield in the other first round contest.
Check the Whitworth baseball schedule for live links to his week's games.
NWC Tournament Info: The NWC baseball tournament consists of a four-team field in a double-elimination format. This season the first round will take place on Thursday and the tournament will be completed by Saturday. Teams need to lose twice to be eliminated.
While Pacific (Ore.) is officially the 2025 NWC baseball champion, the 2025 NWC baseball tournament will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs, which begin with regional rounds the following weekend (May 16-18).
Whitworth is making its seventh tournament appearance since the league reinstated a conference tournament in 2015. The Pirates won it that first season and have finished as runners-up three times (2016, 2019, 2024). The Bucs have an 11-10 record in NWC tournament games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (25-15 overall, 15-9 NWC) won two of three games at Whitman over the weekend to qualify for the league tournament and claim second place in the final standings. The Pirates reached the 25-win plateau for the sixth time since 2012.
Whitworth lost the opener 8-1 when Whitman starting pitcher Wyatt Adams threw a complete game and limited the Pirates to five hits. Caleb Gray and Kyle Memarian had two hits apiece. AJ Woodward (5-3) suffered the loss after the Blues tagged him for four runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings. Luke Stutesman (four runs, three hits) tossed the final 1.2 innings.
Whitworth bounced back to win Saturday's second game 11-1 to clinch its spot in the tournament. Memarian went 3 for 4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored from his leadoff spot in the batting order. Kevin Corder finished 3 for 3 and Aidan Morrison hit 2 for 3 with three runs scored. Dylan Huntsman (4-2) was dominant for 6.1 innings, limiting Whitman to one run on five hits. Seth Mahler threw 2.2 innings of hitless relief to close it out.
The Pirates jumped ahead 5-0 early in Sunday's finale before going on to win 6-2, eliminating Whitman from contention for the tournament. Brock Molenda went 5 for 5 as the designated hitter, driving in two runs and scoring three. Corder finished 3-5 with two RBIs and Memarian hit 2 for 4. Quentin O'Connor (7-3) picked up his team-leading seventh win of the season after giving up only two runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings. Tyler Disch (1.2 innings) and Nathaniel Kurano (1.0 innings) combined to keep the Blues off the board the rest of the way.
Huntsman and Memarian Honored: Dylan Huntsman is this week's NWC baseball pitcher of the week and Kyle Memarian is the NWC baseball player of the week. It is the second honor of the season for each. Huntsman led Whitworth to a win in the second game of the series at Whitman, clinching a spot in the 2025 NWC Tournament. He allowed one run on five hits in 6.1 innings of an 11-1 win. He struck out two batters without a walk to improve to 4-2. Memarian won the 2025 NWC batting title with ease after going 7 for 12 (.583) in the series. He raised his season average to .421 overall and .489 in NWC-only stats. Over the weekend he had a home run and a double with four RBIs and two runs scored.
Huntsman's award follows his initial selection on April 23 and is the fourth for a Pirate pitcher by the NWC this season. Quentin O'Connor (Feb. 17) and AJ Woodward (March 17) have also been named the pitcher of the week. Whitworth is the only conference school with three different starting pitchers winning the award this season.
Memarian was previously named on April 7. Caleb Gray has also been selected for the position player of the week award twice (March 3 and March 24).
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 (.320), home runs (49 – 14th in Div. III), home runs per game (1.23 – 16th), on-base percentage (.416), runs (362 – 27th), scoring average (9.1) and slugging percentage (.500 – 24th). They also lead the league in hits (436) and triples (13).
Individually, Kyle Memarian leads the Northwest Conference in batting average (.421). Caleb Gray leads the conference in hits (58) and total bases (103) and is third in home runs (12-tie). Carson Coffield is second in the conference in runs batted in (47) and fith in home runs (10). Austin Paul is third in total walks (27).
Getting it done on the field: Whitworth is not just lighting it up with the bats. The Pirates are tied for second in the NWC and 27th in Division III in fielding percentage (.970). The Bucs are also third in the conference in double plays turned (31).
From the mound, Whitworth ranks first in the NWC and fifth in NCAA Division III in walks per nine innings (2.90).
Individually, Quentin O'Connor leads the NWC in fewest walks per nine innings (1.16 – 23rd in Division III), strikeout to walk ratio (5.67) and in complete games (2).
The Tournament Field: Whitworth's first round opponent is Puget Sound. The Loggers are 24-15 overall and finished third (14-10) in the NWC after they were picked ninth in the league's preseason poll. UPS split a four-game set against Pacific Lutheran last weekend with the Lutes claiming two of the three NWC contests. As a team the Loggers lead the league in fielding percentage (.972), are second in team ERA (5.14) and eighth in batting average (.258). Graduate student Makana Murashige, a first team All-NWC honoree last spring, is hitting .321 with 27 runs scored and 18 RBIs. He has 14 stolen bases in 15 attempts. First-year Matt Churchill supplies the power with five home runs and 21 RBIs. Senior Brett Harvey, a second team All-NWC selection in 2024, is 4-1 with a 4.42 ERA and leads team with 48 strikeouts. UPS took two of three games at Whitworth on March 1st-2nd.
Top-seeded Pacific (Ore.) is 17-18 overall and 16-8 in the NWC. The Boxers bounced back from a conference opening sweep at Willamette to win each of the next seven league series. Last weekend Pacific dropped three of four games in a non-conference trip to California. As a team Pacific hits .268 (7th in the NWC), has a 5.46 ERA (3rd in the NWC) and a .969 fielding percentage (5th). Senior Matt Gibbs, a first team All-NWC selection last season, is hitting .252 and leads the team in home runs (4), RBIs (25) and stolen bases (13-15). Sophomore Benjamin Lewis is hitting .304 with seven doubles and 22 runs scored. First-year pitcher Nicholas Saelens is 5-3 with a 5.40 ERA and leads the team in innings-pitched (70.0) and strikeouts (54). Pacific took two of three from Whitworth in Forest Grove on March 29-30.
Fourth-seeded Linfield is 24-16 overall and 13-11 in the NWC. The Wildcats clinched their spot in the tournament by taking two of three games at Lewis & Clark last weekend. Linfield leads the league in ERA (4.58) and is fifth in the NWC in both batting average (.280) and fielding percentage (.962). Sophomore Luke Porter leads the team in batting average (.302), home runs (12 – tied for third in NWC) and RBIs (40). Nick Holm, a junior and second team All-NWC selection in 2024, hits .301 with six home runs and 36 RBIs. He leads the team in doubles (8). Sophomore Jake Swenson is the staff ace who was second team All-NWC as a first-year. He is 6-4 with a 3.25 ERA (2nd in the NWC) with a conference-leading 92 strikeouts in 72 innings pitched. Whitworth won two of three games at Linfield on April 12-13.
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 in his eighth season as the Pirates head coach and has a record of 145-149 in his tenure. He's now led Whitworth to the NWC Tournament in four of his eight 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.
