NEWBERG, Ore. – Spencer Shipman drove in four runs for visiting Whitworth to help complete a three-game Northwest Conference baseball sweep of George Fox University in a 7-3 win over the Bruins on Sunday afternoon at Morse Field.

The Pirates won their sixth straight game to improve to 12-11 overall and 7-1 in the NWC, moving above .500 for the first time this season.  Whitworth is in first place in the league standings.

The Bucs got on the board in the top of the second.  With runners at first and third, Emerson Fleck was able to score on Nate Gray Jr.'s ground ball to shortstop.  Three batters later, Kyle Memarian drew a bases-loaded walk for the second run.

George Fox (7-13, 5-6) got its first run on a sacrifice fly by Brennan Bates in the bottom of the fourth.

Shipman's two-run home run to left in the top of the fifth increased Whitworth's lead to 4-1.  Jayson Au Hoy cut the margin in half with an RBI single in the sixth for the Bruins.

Whitworth forced a defensive error to score a run in the seventh.  Memarian stole second, drawing a bad throw and allowing Yash Gupta to score from third.  Shipman followed with a sacrifice fly that drove in Memarian for a 6-2 lead.

After GFU scored its final run on Evan Balingit's RBI single in the seventh, Shipman added his final RBI with a run-scoring single in the ninth.

Shipman finished 2 for 4 with his season-high RBI total.  Whitworth was able to score seven runs on only five hits, taking advantage of five walks and two hit batters.

Nathaniel Kurano (3-2) went five innings, allowing one run (zero earned) on seven hits with seven strikeouts.  Owen Schneider gave up two runs in 1.1 innings of relief before Luke Stutesman (1.2 innings) and Seth Mahler (1.0) innings shut the door.

Lucas Plenert (2-4) took the loss for the Bruins after giving up four runs on three hits and four walks in 5.0 innings of work.  Three relievers followed.

Whitworth will return home to host defending NWC regular season champion Pacific University in a three-game series next weekend.