Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

NEWBERG, Ore. - Senior southpaw Nick Hedgecock spun a six-hit shutout in an 8-0 first-game win for the George Fox University Bruins, but the Willamette University Bearcats rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to win the nightcap 9-6 for a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader split Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field.

With the split, George Fox is now 12-5 overall and 9-3 in the NWC, dropping a game behind league-leading Linfield College, which is 14-3 overall and 10-2 in the conference after sweeping Whitman College Sunday. Fourth-place Willamette is now 9-8 overall and 5-3 in the league.

Hedgecock (2-0) was in constant trouble through the first four innings, mostly due to three Bruin defensive errors that kept innings alive, but he battled out of every jam in that time, stranding nine runners, including three in both the 2nd and 3rd innings. He finished with four strikeouts and three walks, allowing only two baserunners on two singles over the final three frames.

Willamette righthander Ty Sundlee (1-3) cruised through the first three innings, throwing only one pitch outside the strike zone in the first two innings and allowing only two hits. The Bruins finally broke through in the 4th, however. Ryan Fobert opened the inning with a single, Kyle Kuenzi bunted for a hit, Michael Woo loaded the sacks with a sharp single to center, and Todd Siler hit into a 3-6 force at second as Fobert scored the first run.

Then came the big plays of the game. With both runners breaking, Kyle Seymour tried to bunt but popped it straight back to Sundlee, who caught it with both runners scrambling to get back to their bases. Unsure which base to go to, Sundlee looked at third, turned to first, then decided on third, but his throw sailed into foul territory, allowing Kuenzi to score and Siler to reach second. Cody Spencer followed with a single to the hole at short, and Doug Bloom threw the ball away at first, scoring Siler and putting Spencer at second. Pat Bailey's single to center plated Spencer for a 4-0 Bruin lead.

The Bruins hit for the cycle to ice the game in the 6th. Woo led off with a double to center, Derek Aldrich scored pinch-runner Cody Curtin with a sharp single off the glove of Bloom into left field, Bailey tripled to center to score Aldrich, finishing Sundlee, and Dan Winterstein hit reliever Jimmy Meuel's first pitch over the center field fence for his first college home run.

Bailey, Matt Wyckoff, Fobert and Woo had two hits each out of the Bruins' total of 13, while Colin Young had two hits for Willamette. Sundlee struck out four and walked only one but surrendered 11 hits in his 5.2 innings of work.

George Fox struck quickly in the 1st inning of game two. Bailey singled to center, Winterstein was safe on a bunt when third baseman David Tufo threw too late to second trying to force Bailey, and Wyckoff bunted for a single to fill the bases. Fobert drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Bailey, Kuenzi and Siler hit sacrifice flies to score Winterstein and Wyckoff, and Aldrich doubled in Fobert.

Willamette righty Jarrid Summers (2-1) settled down after that rocky start, however, allowing only three hits the rest of the way. He fanned six and walked four, escaping no-out, runners-at-second-and-third jam in the 3rd that gave his offense a chance to catch up.

The Bearcats started their comeback against Shane Dalgleish in the 2nd as T.C. Lee and Tufo drew walks and Max Stepan singled to left for a run. Michael Rierson's two-out double scored Tufo and knocked out Dalgleish. Willamette went ahead with three runs in the 4th, all unearned due to two costly Bruin errors, the big blow a two-run double by Sean Anderson to score Stepan and Ellis Webster with the tying and go-ahead runs.

George Fox tied it in the home half of the 4th as Jason Brown walked, was sacrificed to second, went to third on Summers' wild pickoff attempt, and continued all the way home as Anderson in center overran the errant throw.

The Bearcats went ahead for good in the 6th. Rierson and Anderson singled to lead off the inning, finishing Kyle Johnson (1-1), and moved up on a bad pickoff throw to second by reliever Brian Davis. Bloom delivered both runners with a triple to right, and he scored when Aldrich misplayed Young's grounder to second. Back-to-back doubles by Aldrich and Brown in the last of the 6th got one run back for the Bruins, but it was their last gasp as Summers got the final six outs in order. Webster doubled and later scored on Anderson's sacrifice fly which was dropped by Kuenzi in center for the Bearcats' final run in the 7th.

Anderson, Stepan, and Rierson had two hits each for the Bearcats, with Anderson driving in three runs. Aldrich had two hits, both doubles, for the Bruins.

George Fox steps outside the conference next weekend for a three-game series at California State University-East Bay, playing a doubleheader on Friday and a single on Saturday, starting at 11:00 a.m. both days. Willamette hosts Pacific Lutheran University Friday and Saturday for a pair of NWC doubleheaders at 12:00 noon each day.