Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

NEWBERG, Ore. - Slipping back into a tie for first place in the Northwest Conference baseball race with Pacific Lutheran University with one day left, the George Fox University Bruins defeated the Linfield College Wildcats 5-4 in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon here at Morse Field but fell behind by too much in the second game and dropped a 7-6 decision to their Yamhill County rivals.

George Fox, ranked 19th in the latest D3baseball.com poll, is now 30-9 overall and 25-5 in the conference.  Pacific Lutheran, ranked 23rd, swept the University of Puget Sound 5-4 and 6-1 and is now 29-8 overall and 25-5 in the NWC.  Linfield, ranked 20th, is 28-10 overall and 22-8 in the league after being eliminated from contention with the first-game loss. 

George Fox hosts Linfield and Pacific Lutheran hosts Puget Sound Sunday, each playing a pair of seven-inning games at 12:00 noon to end the regular season.  The Bruins and Lutes split their four-game series, so the possibility of a tie and even a one-game playoff to decide the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs is awaiting the outcome of the final four games.

In the first game, the Bruins struck for two runs in the 1st against Wildcat right-hander Cameron Larson, who struggled with his control.  Kyle Kuenzi was hit by a pitch and Matt Wyckoff walked on four pitches before Bo Thunell moved them up with a sacrifice.  Pat Bailey then delivered both runners with a single to center.

The Wildcats got one back in the 2nd on Stew Davis's mammoth shot to dead center for his seventh home run, but the Bruins matched it in the home half.  Brent Trask was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a ground out, and after Kuenzi walked, Wyckoff singled in Trask, knocking out Larson.  Garrett Dorn came on to get out of the inning, but gave up a sacrifice fly to Trask in the 3rd, scoring Dan Winterstein, who had doubled and moved up on a sacrifice, for a 4-1 Bruin lead. 

Dorn settled down after that, twirling four shutout innings until the 8th that allowed the Wildcats to rally against Bruin ace Nick Bratney.  Singles by Eric Evenson and Dustin Smith and Cole Bixenman's sacrifice fly made it 4-2 in the 6th, and the Wildcats tied it with a pair in the top of the 8th. 

With one out, Tyson Smith singled, and southpaw Wyckoff replaced Bratney, who had allowed only six hits to that point.  Evenson singled, and after Dustin Smith fanned, Bixenman grounded a double just inside the third base bag to score one run.  Evenson scored the equalizer on Wyckoff's wild pitch, but Chad Jones relieved and got Chad Fenton to pop out.

In the last of the 8th, Jones had to bat for himself because the Bruins had lost the designated hitter when Wyckoff had taken the mound, and in his first college at bat, the pitcher stroked a one-out double to right-center on the first pitch he saw.  Trask singled him to third, and Taylor Hunter delivered the go-ahead run with a line single to left.  Jones then completed the win, allowing a two-out single to Ryan Larson in the 9th but striking out Tyson Smith swinging to end it.

Jones (6-1) got the win while Dorn (3-4) took the loss.  Winterstein was 3-for-4 for the Bruins, while Evenson and Tyson Smith had two hits each for the Wildcats.  Both teams had nine hits.

Game two saw a pair of unbeaten right-handers, both 7-0, take the mound as Reese McCulley of Linfield went against Shane Dalgleish of George Fox.  The Wildcats asserted themselves early, scoring an unearned run in the 1st on Davis's single that scored Evenson, then adding four more in the 3rd, the big blow a rally-capping three run homer to left-center by Zach Boskovich, his fifth of the year, after Davis had knocked in the first run of the frame with a double.

The Bruins finally got two in the 5th on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Wyckoff and Bo Thunell, scoring Hunter and Kuenzi, but the Wildcats got them back in the 6th.  Kelson Brown singled and Tyson Smith walked with one out, and Travis Schroeder replaced Dalgleish on the hill for the Bruins.  On a double steal, catcher Eric Gantenbein's throw bounced off the glove of Bailey into left and Brown scored.  Dustin Smith then singled in Tyson Smith, boosting the Linfield lead back to 7-2.

The Bruins made it a game with four in the 7th. Kuenzi singled, Thunell singled with one out, and Bailey singled for one run.  Winterstein hit into a force out at second, but Evenson's relay to first bounced into the Linfield dugout, allowing Thunell to score.  Bryon Clevenger replaced McCulley, and after Seth Anderson reached on an error, Todd Siler singled up the middle to score Winterstein, making it a 7-5 game.  Gantenbein walked to load the bases and Andy Hunthausen replaced Clevenger, but balked in Siler before he could throw a pitch, and suddenly it was a one-run game.  Hunthausen got out of the jam, however, by making a nice play on Hunter's sharp one-hopper back to the box.

Schroeder shut down the Wildcats on one hit over 3.1 innings, giving the Bruins a chance.  Wyckoff singled and stole second with one out in the 8th, but Hunthausen got Thunell looking and Winterstein on a fly to right.  In the 9th, Siler walked with one out and Hunter was hit by a pitch with two out, then both runners moved into scoring position on a passed ball.  Hunthausen finally nailed down his second save by inducing Kuenzi to ground out to short for the final out.

McCulley (8-0) surrendered nine hits and five runs, three earned, in 6.2 innings, while Dalgleish (7-1) was touched for seven hits and seven runs, six earned, in 5.1 innings.  Bailey, Anderson, and Siler had two hits each for the Bruins, who out-hit the Wildcats 11-8, while Davis and Brown collected two safeties each for Linfield.