Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

NEWBERG, Ore. – After stranding 15 runners, nine of them in scoring position, in a 2-1 first-game loss, the George Fox University Bruins came up with some clutch hits in two big innings for an 8-4 second-game win and a split of their Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader with the visiting Pacific Lutheran University Lutes Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field.

In the opener, right-handers Robert Bleecker of PLU and Nick Bratney of GFU hooked up in a tense pitching duel that was not decided until the final frame.  Bleecker, who threw 120 pitches in seven innings of work, was in and out of trouble in every inning but one, walking seven batters, hitting two, and surrendering five hits, but came up with key outs when he needed them.  Six of his nine strikeouts came with runners in scoring position.

Bratney, meanwhile, was on top of his game virtually the entire way, scattering six hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 8.1 innings.  He gave up a run in the 6th due to a brief lapse of control as the Lutes took a 1-0 lead.  Josh Takayoshi singled to center to start the inning, and Jordan Post and Geoff Gabler drew one-out walks to load the bases.  Ryan Aratani sent a sharp one-hopper back up the middle that smacked Bratney but he could not get a handle on it as Takayoshi scored.  Bratney escaped further damage by inducing Matt Wolford to hit into a 1-2-3 double play.

The Bruins tied it in the 7th.  Matt Wyckoff was hit by a pitch, stole second, went to third on Bo Thunell's fly to right, and scored on Pat Bailey's single to left.  Dan Winterstein then sent a double down the right-field line and Bailey tried to score from first, but a strong relay from Takayoshi to Post at first to Gabler at the plate cut down the go-ahead run.

The Lutes ran into a similar situation at the plate in the top of the 8th.  With two out, Post reached on a fielding error and moved to second on a wild pitch.  Gabler then grounded a single sharply up the middle that was deflected and slowed down by a diving Cody Curtin at short, and Post tried to score, but second baseman Taylor Hunter alertly grabbed the ball and threw home to Brent Trask to catch Post.

Hunter Simpson (2-2) worked a 1-2-3 8th for PLU and picked up the win when the Lutes scored in the 9th.  Aratani started the winning rally against Bratney (2-2) with a lead-off single and moved to third on Corey Moore's hit-and-run one-out single to right.  Relief ace Chad Jones replaced Bratney at that point, and after several pickoff tries on Moore at first, finally bounced one away as Aratani scored the unearned run.

Sinpson ran into trouble in the last of the 9th as Thunell drew a one-out walk and Bailey singled him to second.  Winterstein hit into a force at third, but Seth Anderson walked to load the bases.  Simpson nailed down the victory, however, by getting pinch-hitter Michael Woo on a grounder to second.

In the second game, the Lutes jumped on Shane Dalgleish for three runs in the opening inning, due in large part to the Bruin righty's control issues.  Jaron Iwakami walked with one out, Jordan Post doubled, and Gabler was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  A walk to Aratani forced in the first run, Brandon Sales singled for another, and Moore hit a sacrifice fly to left for the third.

Dalgleish (5-0) settled down after that, allowing only one more run over the next five innings to get the win.  He finished with four hits allowed, four walks, and one strikeout.  The Lutes' final run in the 5th came on a double by Iwakami, a balk, and a sacrifice fly to right by Aratani.

The home team bats finally woke up against PLU right-hander Scott Wall (3-2) as the Bruins exploded for five runs in the 2nd and three in the 3rd.  Winterstein started the 2nd with a lead-off single, Anderson walked, and Curtin bunted for a hit.  A walk to Eric Gantenbein forced in one run, Hunter's 4-6 force out got another home, and Kyle Kuenzi tied it with a double to right-center.  Wyckoff's infield single off the glove of Post down the line at first scored Hunter, and when Post flipped the ball wildly to first trying to get Wyckoff, Kuenzi also scored.

In the 3rd, Winterstein singled, Anderson doubled, and Gantenbein singled for one run.  Hunter's safety squeeze scored Anderson, and Kuenzi tripled to score Gantenbein and knock Wall out of the game.  Nic Delikat for 4.1 innings and Bret Handy for one shut out the Bruins the rest of the way, but the damage had been done.  Kyle Johnson and Jones closed out the game for the Bruins, Johnson working two frames of one-hit ball and Jones a 1-2-3 9th.

Kuenzi and Winterstein each went 3-for-4 to highlight the Bruins' 13-hit attack, while Curtin and Gantenbein had two hits apiece.  Post had two of the Lutes' five hits in the game.

George Fox is now 16-5 overall and 11-1 in the conference, while Pacific Lutheran is 17-6 overall and 13-3 in the league.  The two are locked in a tight three-way battle for the NWC lead with Linfield College, which is 20-3 overall and 14-2 in the conference. 

The Bruins and Lutes will conclude their four-game series with a pair of seven-inning games Monday at 12:00 noon.