Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

NEWBERG, Ore. - Stalwart pitching efforts by Mark Putney and Chad Jones and three-run rallies in their last at bats in each game enabled the George Fox University Bruins to sweep the Linfield College Wildcats 4-0 and 5-3 Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field and grab a share of the 2009 Northwest Conference baseball championship.

George Fox, ranked 19th in the latest D3baseball.com poll, finishes the regular season with a 32-9 overall record and a 27-5 mark in the conference.  Pacific Lutheran University, ranked 23rd, swept the University of Puget Sound for the second day in a row 5-0 and 11-10 to wind up 31-8 and tied with the Bruins at 27-5 atop the league.  Linfield, ranked 20th, finishes at 28-12 overall and third in the conference at 22-10.

In the first game, Bruin right-hander Mark Putney (4-0) shut out the Wildcats for the second year in a row, running his string of scoreless innings against Linfield to 14 straight.  He scattered three hits, struck out four, walked one and hit three, and worked out of jams in the middle innings when he stranded three Wildcats in the 3rd, two in the 4th, and three more in the 5th.  He retired the final eight hitters he faced. 

Linfield righty Evan Hilberg (5-2) was almost as stingy, spacing four hits through the first five innings against the hard-hitting Bruins, who had the nation's top batting average (.377) entering the four-game series.  The Bruins picked up a run in the 3rd when Hilberg's control deserted him.  Matt Wyckoff and Dan Winterstein walked around a single by Pat Bailey before Jason Brown drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Wyckoff.

The Bruin bats finally gave Putney a little breathing room in the 6th.  Brown walked, was sacrificed to second by Brent Trask, and scored on Kyle Kuenzi's sharp single to left.  Wyckoff then went the opposite way for his 10th home run off the season of the bottom of the screen on the left-field foul pole.  Wyckoff finished with two hits for the Bruins while Bailey had three singles.

In the second game, Linfield struck in the top of the 1st against Bruin starter Jeremy Cheney on a leadoff single by Eric Evenson, a balk, a sacrifice, and Cole Bixenman's single to left.  The Bruins answered with a pair in the home half against Wildcat starter Mitch Edwards as Kuenzi singled, Bo Thunell doubled him home, and Winterstein doubled in Thunell.  Those were the only three hits Edwards would allow in his 4.2 innings of work, and he left with a 3-2 lead as the Wildcats battled back. 

In the 2nd, Boskovich drew a one-out walk and Kelson Brown singled to right, knocking out Cheney in favor of Jones, the Bruins' relief ace.  Jones got a fly out but then surrendered a double down the left-field line by Tyson Smith that scored Boskovich with the tying run.  Brown tried to score on the play as well but was cut down at the plate on a perfect relay throw from shortstop Taylor Hunter to Eric Gantenbein, who swipe-tagged a diving Brown in a bang-bang play.  That brought Linfield coach Scott Brosius dashing out of the dugout to argue the call vehemently, but to no avail.

The visitors regained the lead with an unearned run in the 3rd.  Evenson reached on a lead-off error at short but was forced at second on a bunt attempt by Dustin Smith.  Bixenman and Stew Davis followed with solid singles to center to score Smith for a 3-2 lead, but Jones settled down to retire the next 13 in a row.

Cameron Larson, the Wildcats' game one starter who had lasted only 1.2 innings due to control issues, came on with two out and two on in the 5th to retire the dangerous Wyckoff, but gave up Thunell's ninth home run of the season to start the 6th, a blast to straightaway center that tied the game 3-3.  Bailey followed with a double to left-center and moved to third on Winterstein's fly to right.

Expecting a squeeze bunt, Larson threw the first two pitches to Seth Anderson well outside the strike zone, then the Wildcats decided to intentionally walk him to set up a double play possibility.  Larson induced Todd Siler to do exactly what the Wildcats wanted as the Bruins' designated hitter ripped a hard grounder to short, but the ball kicked off Brown's glove into center as Bailey scored the go-ahead run.  Anderson wound up at third and scored an insurance run on Gantenbein's sacrifice fly to right.

Jones retired the first two hitters in the 7th before Tyson Smith kept the Linfield hopes alive with a line single to center, advancing to second when the ball got away from Kuenzi.  Wyckoff then made a fine running catch of Evenson's foul down the left-field line to seize the Bruins' share of the conference crown, their ninth in the last 13 years.

Jones (7-1) worked 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and an unearned run while fanning three and walking none.  Larson (6-3) took the loss.

Bixenman and Tyson Smith had two hits each for the Wildcats, who out-hit the Bruins 7-6. Thunell had two hits for the Bruins with a double, a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Attention now turns to the NCAA Division III National Tournament and the automatic berth for the conference champion.  George Fox and Pacific Lutheran split four games in their head-to-head series, and the next tiebreaker, according to conference by-laws, is a one-game playoff, with the host site to be the higher-seeded team.  The next criteria for breaking the tie is record against the next-highest conference finisher, which would be Linfield. PLU split with the Wildcats while George Fox took three out of four, so the Bruins would host the Lutes. 

A playoff game is to be played on the Saturday following the regular season, according to NWC guidelines, but that is George Fox's graduation day, so a date is still to be determined.  There is also some question regarding the NCAA's 19-week playing window for Division III baseball, since George Fox has completed its 19-week fall and spring allotted time.  A determination about the playoff game may be made early in the week by conference and NCAA officials.