Box
Score Game 1
Box Score
Game 2
NEWBERG, Ore. – Keeping
themselves in the thick of things in the tight Northwest Conference
race, the George Fox University Bruins collected 34 hits en route
to 4-1 and 21-2 win over the visiting Whitman College Missionaries
in a baseball doubleheader Friday afternoon here at Morse Field and
regained the league lead when the two other top contenders lost
three out of four.
George Fox improved to 22-7 overall and 17-3 in the conference,
while Whitman fell to 3-20 overall and 2-15 in the
NWC. The twin wins enabled the Bruins to move
ahead of former leader Linfield College (23-7, NWC 17-5), which was
stunned twice 12-5 and 9-6 at Lewis & Clark
College. Third-place Pacific Lutheran University
(19-8, NWC 15-5) slipped two games off the Bruins' pace with
a home split against Whitworth University, winning 23-3 before
falling 8-7 in 10 innings.
The Bruins banged out 13 hits in the opener, but were never able
to mount any major rallies against Whitman righty Blaine Mercado
(1-8), who survived by walking no one and getting three double-play
grounders behind him. He struck out three and
allowed only three earned runs.
George Fox ace Nick Bratney (4-2) surrendered a home run to Erik
Korsmo, his second of the season, on the first pitch of the game,
then shut out the Missionaries through eight innings of
work. He scattered five hits, fanned six, and
walked three. Chad Jones pitched a 1-2-3 9th for
his fifth save, one short of the Bruin single-season record of six
by Glenn Boss in 2001 and Nick Hedgecock in 2005.
The Bruins tied the game in the 1st as Matt Wyckoff singled, stole
second, went to third on a single to center by Bo Thunell, and
scored on Pat Bailey's sacrifice fly to
center. Kyle Kuenzi broke the 1-1 tie with his
second home run of the season over the right-field fence in the
3rd. Bailey scored an unearned run in the 6th
and Wyckoff's sacrifice fly to left scored Taylor Hunter in
the 7th for some insurance runs.
Kuenzi, Wyckoff, Thunell, Seth Anderson, and Hunter all had two
hits each for the Bruins. Jason Sease and
Patrick Stauffer had two hits apiece out of the Missionaries'
total of five.
Thunell and Todd Siler each homered and drove in six runs as the
Bruins hammered out 20 hits in cruising to the second-game
win. Thunell, who was 4-for-4, doubled to score
Kuenzi, who had walked and swiped two bases, for a run in the 1st,
broke a 1-1 tie with a double to score Wyckoff in a four-run 3rd,
slugged a three-run homer in the 4th, his sixth of the season, and
lined an RBI single to left in an eight-run 5th.
Siler, in his first start since March 21 due to a hamstring injury,
had a two-run triple to cap the 3rd, an RBI ground out in the 5th,
and a three-run shot in the 6th, his first round tripper of the
season.
Wyckoff, Anderson, Michael Woo, Eric Gantenbein, and Hunter also
had two hits each for the Bruins. Wyckoff scored
three runs and drove in two, Woo scored three times and Hunter
twice, and Gantenbein knocked in two runs.
Lefty Calvin Davis (0-2), in his first start of the year, took the
loss as he allowed 11 hits and 11 runs, seven earned, in four-plus
innings. Shane Dalgleish (6-0) picked up the
win, allowing six hits and two runs in five innings while striking
out five and walking one. Three Bruin relievers
covered the last four innings, allowing only one hit while fanning
two and walking none.
Korsmo had two hits for the Missionaries, and Davis hit a solo
home run in the 5th, his second of the season.
George Fox and Whitman will complete their four-game series
Saturday afternoon with a pair of seven-inning ballgames starting
at 12:00 noon.
