PASCO, Wash. – Once they finally got to play, the Whitworth Pirates were happy to travel to Pasco to pull off a doubleheader sweep of visiting Lewis & Clark in a pair of Northwest Conference baseball games at Columbia Basin College.
The Pirates improved to 9-11 overall and 4-1 in the NWC with the victories. They will travel to play at George Fox in a three-game series next weekend. The third game against the River Otters (7-8, 2-3) will be made up at a later date.
The teams were supposed to play a three-game series in Spokane, but heavy snow in the region forced the games to move 130 miles to the southwest.
Game 1 – Whitworth 4, Lewis & Clark 3
The Pirates built a 4-0 lead through three innings and held on to win the opener.
Whitworth scored all four runs after two were out in the inning. In the second inning a hit batter, walk and single after the first two batters were out loaded the bases for
Austin Paul, who doubled in all three runs. One inning later
Carson Coffield walked with two outs and moved to second after
Spencer Shipman reached on an error.
Emerson Fleck followed with an RBI single.
The River Otters got their first run in the fourth when Bret Potter stole home with two outs after Will Michaelman faked stealing second. Michael Aikawa's RBI double in the fifth pulled L&C within 4-2.
In the top of the eighth Dylan Lee doubled to left field with one out to drive in Potter.
Luke Stutesman came on in relief to retire the next two batters. After Stutesman hit a pair of batters in the ninth,
Seth Mahler closed out the game for his third save. He struck out Michaelman with the bases loaded and two outs to end the game.
Whitworth won despite getting only four hits.
Ty Komoda had two of those.
Dillon Hartman (2-1) picked up his second pitching win of the season after allowing only two runs on six hits and a walk in 5.1 innings. He struck out five batters.
Nate Kerr (1-3) took the loss for L&C after allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits and two walks in 3.0 innings as the starter.
Game 2 – Whitworth 17, Lewis & Clark 3
The Pirates scored eight runs in the third inning and then pulled away in support of a winning pitching effort by
Dylan Huntsman.
After getting on the board with a single run in the second, Whitworth scored eight in the third. Komoda had a two-run double in the inning and
Caleb Gray ended it with a grand slam.
The Pirates needed only 14 hits to score 17 runs, taking advantage of nine walks and five hit by pitch issued by River Otters pitchers.
Fleck went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs in the game. Coffield drove in three runs.
Huntsman (2-1) worked 6.2 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Nathaniel Kurano threw the final 2.1 innings and gave up one hit and one walk.
Owen Eisen (1-1) took the loss for L&C after allowing six runs on six hits in 2.2 innings as the starter.
