SPOKANE, Wash. –Without even playing a game, Whitworth University clinched the 2026 Northwest Conference baseball regular season championship last weekend. The Pirates will close out the regular season at home this weekend against Whitman College. Saturday's doubleheader will start at noon, as will Sunday's single game.
Check the Whitworth baseball schedule for live links to this week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (23-14 overall, 17-4 NWC) went 3-1 at Pacific Lutheran on April 18-19, moving within a whisker of clinching the NWC title with two weekends left in the regular season. The Bucs clinched the league pennant this past weekend when Linfield dropped two of three games at Puget Sound, falling to 13-8 and being mathematically eliminated from catching Whitworth, no matter what happens this weekend.
The Pirates opened the series with an 8-1 win. Dillon Hartman was lights-out on the mound, improving to 7-1 thanks to six shutout innings. He allowed only three hits without a walk and struck out eight batters. Dominic Giusti went 2 for 5, drove in a pair and scored twice. Kyle Memarian finished 2 for 3 and was on base four times thanks to a pair of walks. He scored two runs.
Whitworth fell behind 7-0 in the second inning of Saturday's second game before rallying to a 9-9 tie in the seventh. PLU scored six more in the eighth inning to win 15-9. Nate Gray Jr. had three hits and drove in two runs. Caleb Gray hit a three-run home run and Memarian's home run briefly tied the game. Dylan Huntsman allowed seven runs in two innings as the starter. Five Pirates appeared in relief. Seth Mahler (0-3) took the loss after giving up four runs in two-thirds of the eighth.
Memarian's two-run home run in the top of the ninth lifted the Pirates to a 5-4 win in Sunday's first game. Whitworth led most of the way before the Lutes got a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth for a 4-3 lead, setting up Memarian's heroics. He finished with three RBIs and three hits, missing the cycle by a single. Nathaniel Kurano was strong on the mound, allowing one run on four hits and two walks in six innings. Tyler Disch (2-0) got the win in relief and Mahler bounced back to pick up his sixth save.
Whitworth won the non-conference series final 13-6 as Pirate second-teamers outslugged PLU starters. Yash Gupta went 3 for 4 and scored three runs as the leadoff hitter, drilling his first career home run. Tommy Lamb drove in four runs, including an RBI triple. Owen Schneider gave up two runs on six hits in 4.0 innings as the starter. Zach Wright (1-1) got the win with two shutout innings of relief.
Senior Recognition: The Pirates will recognize a dozen senior players prior to Sunday's game. This group has been to three straight NWC tournaments, including a tournament championship in 2025 and the upcoming event this spring. This year they led the Pirates to their first NWC regular season crown since 2019.
Champions to Champions: The 2026 Northwest Conference champion men's basketball team will be honored prior to Saturday's doubleheader. The hardwood Pirates won the league's regular season and conference tournament titles to advance to the NCAA Division III tournament for the 18th time in school history. The captains will throw out a ceremonial first pitch.
NWC Tournament Info: As the NWC regular season champions, the Pirates earn the right to host the 2026 conference tournament. That is scheduled to happen the weekend of May 8-10, but the exact days and times are still to be determined by a few considerations, mostly having to do with which other teams that make the NWC tournament have graduation scheduled for that weekend.
Statistically Speaking: Whitworth's team batting average is .296, which is third in the NWC. The Bucs rank second in home runs with 38 (21st in NCAA Div. III) and first in runs scored with 324.
The Pirates' team ERA is 5.86, which ranks fourth in the NWC, and the team fielding percentage is .967 (also fourth in the NWC). Whitworth leads the conference in double plays turned with 31.
Spencer Shipman leads the Pirates home runs (10), runs batted in (38), slugging average (.705) and OPS (1.118) while hitting .347. None of those rank among NWC leaders because he has played in 24 of 37 games and a player needs to have played in 75% of a team's games to qualify.
Kyle Memarian is batting .374 (sixth in the NWC) and he leads the league in runs scored (50) by a wide margin. Carson Coffield has a .325 average and he is fourth the conference with 36 RBIs while ranking fourth in runs scored (35). Caleb Gray is batting .305 and has seven home runs, which is tied for fourth in the league, and he is sixth in the NWC in runs scored (34).
On the mound, Dillon Hartman leads the NWC with seven pitching victories this season (18th in NCAA Div. III), while Nathaniel Kurano is tied for fifth with five. Seth Mahler leads the league in saves with six (20th 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 22 RBIs, led by Spencer Shipman (38) and Carson Coffield (36). Kyle Memarian has 31, while Caleb Gray has 30.
The Opponents: Whitman comes into the weekend 14-22-1 overall and 8-13 in the NWC. The Blues were 2-10 in the NWC and in last place at one point but are 6-3 in their last three conference weekends. Last weekend they won 3 of 4 against PLU and Whitman has won four out of its last five overall.
Whitman hits .294 as a team (fourth in the NWC) and leads the league with 43 home runs. The Blues are eighth in team fielding percentage (.950) and ninth in team ERA (8.80). First-year Nate Petz leads the team with a .390 average (third in the NWC) with four home runs, seven doubles and 26 RBIs. Senior Halen Otte provides the power with 11 home runs (tied for first in the NWC), six doubles and 38 RBIs (tied for second in the NWC), while hitting .307.
Last season Whitworth took two of three games against Whitman in Walla Walla.
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.
Pirates Picked First: Whitworth was 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 host the 2026 NWC tournament sometime the weekend of May 8-10 with exact days and times still TBD.
