SPOKANE, Wash. – Spencer Shipman's two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Whitworth to a dramatic 9-7 win over Linfield in the championship game of the Northwest Conference baseball tournament on Friday evening at Merkel Field.
The Pirates (28-14), who defeated Puget Sound 6-0 in Friday's semifinal, advance to the NCAA Division III tournament for the second straight season and third time under head coach CJ Perry. Whitworth will find out when and where it is headed for the NCAA Regional when the field is announced on Monday morning.
The 2026 NWC tournament was shortened to a single-day, single-elimination tournament because two of the participating schools (Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark) have graduation ceremonies this weekend. Linfield (28-15) edged L&C 8-7 in the day's first semifinal in walkoff fashion.
Semifinal: Whitworth 6, Puget Sound 0
Nathaniel Kurano threw eight dominant innings and Kyle Memarian led off the game with a home run to lead the Pirates to victory in the semifinal.
Kurano (7-3) allowed only two singles and one walk with eight strikeouts in his best career start at Whitworth.
Memarian, the two-time NWC Player of the Year, drilled his tenth home run of the season on the first pitch of the game from Logger starter Charlie Decker.
The Pirates added two more in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Ty Komoda and an RBI single from Austin Paul.
Whitworth put the game out of reach in the sixth. Memarian's RBI double drove in Yash Gupta and Shipman followed with an opposite field double that scored Paul and Memarian.
Seth Mahler closed the game with a perfect ninth, ending Puget Sound's season at 23-17.
Memarian finished 3 for 4 with a walk, scoring two and driving in two. Paul went 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI.
Championship: Whitworth 9, Linfield 7
The Pirates won a see-saw classic, leading 5-1 early before trailing 7-5. AJ Woodward threw four shutout innings of relief to get the victory, thanks to Shipman's home run off previously unbeaten reliever Zack Hampson.
Wyatt McClory's home run in the top of the first with two out gave the Wildcats an early lead.
Nate Gray Jr.'s two-run single in the bottom of the first highlighted a five-run inning. Carson Coffield singled in Memarian with the first run after Memarian led off with a double. Two more runs scored on a throwing error.
Linfield chipped away. Rylan Gullard led off the second with a home run and added an RBI single in the third to trim the margin to 5-3.
McClory's single with the bases loaded in the fourth tied the game. The go-ahead run scored on a Whitworth throwing error before Gullard came up big again with another single for his third RBI of the game. The four-run rally gave the Wildcats a 7-5 lead.
Colton Ouellette, who struggled in the first inning as the Wildcats' starting pitcher, settled down and blanked the Pirates for the next four frames. Matthew Tacheny, normally a starting pitcher for Linfield, threw a scoreless sixth before Gray Jr. drilled a two-run, two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game.
Linfield brought in Hampson (7-1) to pitch the eighth. The junior came into the game 7-0, including a win in relief in Friday's first semifinal, and seven saves. He retired the first two batters before Memarian drew a walk. Shipman, who had struck out three times earlier in the game, drilled a 1-1 pitch more than 400 feet over the fence in center field for his 11th home run of the season.
Mahler came back in to close out the game in the ninth, retiring all three batters with two strikeouts and a pop-up for his eighth save of the season.
Dylan Huntsman started on the mound for the Bucs and allowed three runs on five hits in 2.1 innings. Tyler Disch gave up four runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. Woodward (1-1), who spent much of the season out with an injury, allowed only two hits over his four shutout frames. He struck out two Wildcats.
Gray Jr. finished the game 2 for 3 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
