SPOKANE, Wash. –Whitworth will play its final Northwest Conference road series this weekend when the Pirates travel to Pacific Lutheran. The teams will play doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday, but only the first three contests will count toward NWC standings. Both days will start at noon.
Check the Whitworth baseball schedule for live links to this week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (20-13 overall, 15-3 NWC) went 4-0 last week against the two teams currently in second and third place in the NWC standings, making a big push towards the 2026 league title.
Whitworth defeated Lewis & Clark 11-2 last Wednesday at Pasco, Washington in the make-up of the series finale that was snowed out from March 14-15. The Pirates scored their 11 runs on only eight hits, taking advantage of four walks and three hit batters issued by L&C pitchers. Nate Gray Jr. went 2 for 4 with four RBIs. Yash Gupta finished 2 for 3 and scored twice. Nine pitchers threw one inning apiece for the Pirates and the final six did not allow a hit and only one walk. The Bucs won all three games against the River Otters.
Whitworth won the opener of the showdown series with second place Linfield 8-3 on Saturday. Ty Komoda hit a home run and Gupta had a two-run single. Dominic Giusti and Spencer Shipman had three hits each. Dillon Hartman improved to 6-1 this season after giving up three runs on five hits and four walks in 6.0 innings pitched. Tyler Disch got the Bucs out of a jam in the seventh and Seth Mahler closed out the game with two scoreless innings to get his fifth save.
Dylan Huntsman (3-2) was dominant on the mound in Saturday's second game, a 12-2 win over the Wildcats. He threw seven innings and allowed only one run on three hits while striking out six. Komoda hit his second home run of the day, while Shipman finished 3 for 4 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs. Carson Coffield and Austin Paul both went 2 for 3. Coffield drove in a pair while Paul scored twice.
Whitworth completed the series sweep by winning 7-4 on Sunday after building a 7-0 lead through five innings. Shipman hit his second home run of the series in the first inning, while Paul and Komoda each drove in a pair of runs. Nathaniel Kurano improved to 5-3 with five shutout innings. He struck out four batters without a walk.
Shipman Recognized: Spencer Shipman is the NWC Position Player of the Week for April 6-12. He went 7 for 16 (.438) with eight RBIs and five runs scored to lead Whitworth to a 4-0 record against Linfield and Lewis & Clark. In the series sweep of the Wildcats, Shipman hit two home runs to give him 10 for the season.
Statistically Speaking: Whitworth's team batting average is .297, which is third in the NWC. The Bucs rank first in home runs with 38 (11th in NCAA Div. III) and first in runs scored with 289 (27th in Div. III).
The Pirates' team ERA dropped to 5.76 to rank second in the NWC, and the team fielding percentage is .965 (also second in the NWC). Whitworth leads the conference in double plays turned with 27 (22nd in NCAA Div. III).
Spencer Shipman leads the Pirates in batting average (.390), home runs (10), runs batted in (36-tied), slugging average (.793) and OPS (1.251). None of those rank among NWC leaders because he has played in 21 of 33 games and a player needs to have played in 75% of a team's games to qualify.
Kyle Memarian is batting .360 (ninth in the NWC) and he leads the league in runs scored (45 – 16th in DIII) by a wide margin. Carson Coffield has a .345 average and he leads the conference with 36 RBIs while ranking second in runs scored (32). Caleb Gray is batting .303 and has six home runs, which is tied for fourth in the league, and he is tied for second in the NWC in runs scored (32).
On the mound, Dillon Hartman leads the NWC with six pitching victories this season (10th in NCAA Div. III), while Nathaniel Kurano is tied for second with five. Seth Mahler leads the league in saves with five (16th in Div. III).
Spreading the Wealth: Whitworth has a plethora of hitters who can drive in runs. Ten different Pirates have at least 11 RBIs this season. Eight players have at least 20 RBIs, led by Carson Coffield and Spencer Shipman, who each have 36, Caleb Gray has 26, Kyle Memarian has 25, while Austin Paul and Dominic Guisti have 22 apiece. There are only 25 players in the entire NWC with 20 or more RBIs and Whitworth has eight of them.
The Opponents: Pacific Lutheran comes into this weekend's series 9-16 overall and 7-8 in the NWC. The Lutes are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, but still in the hunt for one of four spots in the NWC tournament, tied for fourth place with Puget Sound. They dropped all four games at Chapman (Calif.) last weekend.
PLU comes into the series hitting .275 (8th in the NWC) and with an ERA of 6.42 (5th). The team fielding percentage is .963 (5th). Sophomore 1B Kyle Tat leads the team with a .329 average with 19 RBIs and 17 runs scored. Senior IF Carson Burke provides the power with five home runs and 20 RBIs while hitting .275. Junior P Matthew Sherwood is 3-3 with a 5.29 ERA. He is second in the NWC with 53 strikeouts in 42.7 innings.
Whitworth swept PLU last season at Merkel Field. The Lutes won two out of three games the last time the teams played at PLU in 2023.
Watch on FloCollege: Like the rest of the Northwest Conference, Whitworth's home athletic events will be steamed through FloCollege in 2025-26. Fans can sign up to watch Pirate sports on the FloCollege portal. Registration is $116 for an annual subscription or $20 per month. Those who register with a .edu email address get a significant discount.
Finally Home-Sweet-Home: A road-heavy non-conference schedule and unfortunate weather meant that Whitworth had not played any of its first 23 games at Merkel Field. The Pirates played all 15 non-conference games away from home and the first two games of the series vs. Lewis & Clark had to be played in Pasco due to heavy snow in the Spokane area that covered Merkel Field the weekend of March 14-15. The Bucs finally played at home on March 28-29 and swept Pacific in a three-game set.
Pirates Picked First: Whitworth is picked atop the 2026 NWC preseason coaches poll. The Pirates returned several key pieces from 2025 when they finished second in the regular season standings before winning the NWC tournament. Whitworth picked up seven of nine possible first place votes and 63 total points in the poll. Defending regular season champion Pacific (Ore.) is second with one first place vote and 54 points, while Puget Sound is third with a first place vote and 45 points.
The Coach: CJ Perry is now in his ninth season as the Pirates head coach and has a record of 149-152 through the 2025 schedule. He's led Whitworth to the NWC Tournament in four of his eight seasons, including a tournament championship in 2025. 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 get a bye weekend on April 25-26 before closing the regular season at home against Whitman on May 2-3.
