Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

TACOMA, Wash. - Bouncing back from a 7-5 loss in the first game, the 21st-ranked George Fox University Bruins slammed the University of Puget Sound Loggers 15-2 in the second game for a baseball doubleheader split and remained in first place in the tight Northwest Conference race Saturday afternoon here at Logger Field.

The Bruins are now 27-8 overall and 22-4 in the NWC, while UPS is 12-17 and 9-12.  Pacific Lutheran University took sole possession of second place at 25-8 and 21-5 with a sweep at Whitman College 8-3 and 29-14, while Linfield College dropped to 26-8 and 20-6, two games back in the conference, after a split at home with Willamette University, taking the opener 6-1 before dropping the second 6-5.

In the first game, the Loggers got on the board in the bottom of the 1st when Will Mentor reached on an error that allowed Dakota Resnik to score from second.  The Loggers made it 3-0 in the 3rd when Mentor singled up the middle to score Mark Rockey and Travis Hernandez. 

The Bruins finally scored in the top of the 5th on a solo home run by Pat Bailey, his ninth of the season, but the Loggers extended their lead in to the bottom of the inning when Mentor knocked in Andrew Grady and Matt Cox hit a three-run home run to make is 7-1. 

George Fox scored three times in the 7th to get back within 7-4 on RBI singles by Brent Trask and Taylor Hunter and a run-scoring double by Perry Knudson.  Bo Thunell doubled and later scored on a force out by Seth Anderson in the 8th, but after Hunter singled with one out in the 9th to bring the potential tying run to the plate, Cameron Duvall got Knudson and Matt Wyckoff on fly outs for his first save of the year.

Tim Fogarty (4-2) got the win, allowing four runs on nine hits in seven innings with five strikeouts and two walks.  Nick Bratney (4-3) took the loss for the Bruins, allowing seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits in seven innings, with five strikeouts and four walks.

In the second game, the Bruins struck early and often, building a 9-0 lead by the middle of the 2nd with the aid of four Puget Sound errors and six hits.  Wyckoff and Anderson had RBI singles and Todd Siler a sacrifice fly in a five-run 1st, and Dan Winterstein hit a two-run double in a four-run 2nd.     

The Loggers got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Cox hit his second home run of the day and fourth of the season to make the score 9-1.  Wyckoff got that back in the 3rd by singling in Hunter, then the Bruins put the finishing touches on the win with five more in the 8th, including a grand slam by Anderson, his second home run of the season.

Shane Dalgleish (7-0) got the win for George Fox, allowing two runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk in seven innings.  James Lane (2-2) took the loss for UPS, allowing 10 runs on nine hits in five innings.

The Loggers and Bruins will go at it again Sunday in a pair of seven-inning games starting at 12:00 noon.