NEWBERG, Ore. – Southpaw Jeff Bethke
baffled the George Fox University offense with an assortment of
off-speed and breaking stuff and held off the Bruins long enough
for the Pacific University Boxers to secure a 7-4 win and avoid a
Northwest Conference baseball series sweep Sunday afternoon here at
Morse Field.
The Bruins had hammered out 27 hits in an 8-1, 10-0 doubleheader
victory on Saturday, but were held at bay by Bethke (2-1), who
tossed a six-hitter with four strikeouts and only one walk, though
he did hit five batters. George Fox had only two hits through
six innings, both by Sam Stahl, and half their
runs were unearned, both in the 9th inning.
Right-hander Brian Ranta (2-2) went the first five innings for
the Bruins, striking out six and walking three while allowing only
four hits. Unfortunately for the Bruins, three of those were
bunched together in the 2nd to produce three Pacific runs and an
early lead for the visitors.
Kaeo Lau Hee drew a walk to lead off the Boxer 2nd and Jeremy
Probert doubled him to third. After Blane Lloyd's
shallow fly to right, Kevin Schwartz lined a single to center to
score Lau Hee and took second on the throw home. Ranta fanned
Nate Rasmussen for the second out, but Scott Rowland came through
with his first hit of the season, a solid single to center to score
both Probert and Schwartz.
The Bruins got one run back in the 3rd. Josh Burch was hit
by a pitch with two out, Nate Hickok walked, and Stahl doubled down
the left field line to score Burch. The tying runs were
stranded, however, when Joey Pulito made a nice running catch of
Seth Anderson's soft liner to shallow left.
The Boxers made it 4-1 in the 6th off reliever Travis Schroeder
when Rasmussen went the opposite way to right for his second home
run of the season. The Bruins got that one back in the 8th
when Hickok was hit by a pitch and Anderson and Josh Rapacz hit
back-to-back singles, setting up a bizarre 9th inning.
George Fox brought on closer Chad Jones to try to keep it a
two-run game, but Rasmussen dumped a seeing-eye blooper down the
right field line for a leadoff single. Rowland sacrificed and
Nick Tasaka fanned, but Brandon Kon singled through the left side
to score Rasmussen, and Pulito followed with a long home run to
dead center, his first of the year, giving the Boxers a 7-2 cushion
that they would need.
Brent Trask opened the Bruins' 9th by reaching on an error
by Rasmussen at second and Jason Brown, who was 6-for-6 in the
series, hit a pinch-double down the left field line to score
Trask. After a ground out moved Brown to third, Hickok was
grazed with a pitch that brought Boxer coach Greg Bradley out to
argue, and he eventually was tossed. Stahl forced Hickok at
second as Brown scored, but Hickok's hard slide into
Rasmussen triggered a reaction from the Boxers' second sacker
that got him tossed as well. Bethke finally settled matters
by getting Anderson on a grounder to short to end the game.
George Fox (9-8, NWC 3-3) plays a non-conference game Wednesday
at Corban College, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:00
p.m. Pacific (6-9, NWC 4-5) hosts Pacific Lutheran
University in a conference series next weekend, starting with a
doubleheader on Saturday at 12:00 noon.
