PARKLAND, Wash. – Visiting Whitworth rolled to an 8-1 win in the opener, but Pacific Lutheran responded to outscore the Pirates 15-9 in the second game as the squads split a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at PLU Field.
Whitworth (21-14 overall, 16-4 NWC) continues to hold onto first place in the NWC standings. The Lutes (10-17, 8-9) ended a nine-game losing streak and stayed in the hunt for one of the four spots in the upcoming NWC tournament. The teams will complete the series with another doubleheader on Sunday at noon. Only the first game will count toward league standings.
Game 1 – Whitworth 8, PLU 1
Dillon Hartman dominated on the mound for six innings to lead the Pirates to a win in the series opener.
Hartman improved to 7-1 this season with six innings of work, allowing no runs on three hits. He struck out eight Lutes without allowing a walk. Tyler Disch (1.2 innings, 1 run) and Rylen Blair (1.1 innings, 0 runs) finished up the game on the mound.
Whitworth got on the board quickly, scoring three in the top of the first. Dominic Giusti had a two-run triple before Nate Gray Jr. singled home Giusti. Kyle Memarian added an RBI double in the second for a 4-0 lead.
Ty Komoda's single in the fifth scored Giusti again to increase the margin to 5-0. The Pirates added three more in the top of the eighth, two on Spencer Shipman's double and one on Caleb Gray's single.
Giusti and Memarian each had a pair of hits on the day and reached base four times apiece for the Bucs. Both also scored twice.
Alex Lopez (0-4) took the loss for the Lutes after giving up five runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings.
Game 2 – PLU 15, Whitworth 9
The Lutes scored seven runs in the second inning and six more in the eighth to end their nine-game losing skid.
PLU scored seven runs on six hits in the bottom of the second inning against Pirate starting pitcher Dylan Huntsman. Kyle Tat and Brody Phinney each had two-RBI singles in the rally, while Dallas Phipps drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Pirates spent most of the rest of the game working to catch up, beginning with four runs in the top of the third. Caleb Gray's three-run home run got the Bucs on the board and Gray Jr. added an RBI single later in the third.
The teams traded single runs over the next two innings before Whitworth got within 9-7 in the sixth on Giusti's sacrifice fly and Gray Jr.'s RBI single. The Bucs finally tied the game in the seventh on Memarian's two-run home run to center field.
PLU responded in the bottom of the eighth with six runs to put the game away. Rochne Beecham and Brody Phinney each had run-scoring doubles before Asa Reese drew a bases-loaded walk. Ethan Keintz added a two-run single and the final run came home on a wild pitch.
Keintz went 4 for 5 with four RBIs to lead the PLU offense. Phinney finished 3 for 4 and also had four RBIs.
Gray Jr. finished 3 for 4 for the Pirates, while Memarian and Yash Gupta had two hits apiece.
Five Pirate pitchers followed Huntsman in relief. Emerson Fleck pitched two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh. Seth Mahler (0-3) allowed four of the runs in the eighth and took the loss.
Matthew Sherwood started for PLU and left with a 9-5 lead after throwing five innings, but could not get the win once Whitworth tied the game. Cole Becker (1-1), who also plays football for PLU, got the win in relief by pitching shutouts in the eighth and ninth.
