NEWBERG, Ore. – Held hitless through the
first four innings by three Corban College hurlers, the George Fox
University Bruins rallied with multi-run innings in each of their
last four at bats to overcome the visiting Warriors 10-7 in a
non-conference baseball game Wednesday afternoon here at Morse
Field.
With both teams looking ahead to important conference and region
series in their respective divisions this weekend, the Bruins used
six pitchers and the Warriors seven in the game, which was
originally Corban's home game. Due to wet conditions in
the outfield at Warrior Field, the teams agreed to switch home
dates, with George Fox now traveling to Corban on Apr. 14.
Corban took an early 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning off George Fox
starter Chad Jones, normally the Bruins' closer. Marc
Labarthe singled to left and Nate Hiebert beat out a sacrifice bunt
for a hit. Both runners advanced on a balk and scored on
Jonathan Ramirez's two-out single to center.
Jake Balbas for one inning, David Hull for two, and Quinn Macnab
for an inning limited George Fox to two baserunners, one a hit
batsman and one a walk, before the Bruins woke up in the 5th.
Dan Winterstein drew a leadoff walk from Macnab. Chris
Trammell replaced Macnab, and after Winterstein stole second and
third, Brent Trask tied it with the first hit off
the Corban staff, his second home run of the season that just
cleared the left-field fence.
The Bruins went ahead 4-2 in the 6th off Tyler Doornink.
Jason Brown singled and Michael Woo doubled to left-center, with
Brown scoring and Woo going to third when center fielder Josh
Warner overran the ball for an error. Trask's infield
single to the hole at short scored Woo.
Corban rallied to retake the lead 5-4 in the 7th off reliever
Brian Davis. Craig Baker beat out an infield single and Tyler
Lake snuck a ball up the middle that Brown narrowly missed at
second to open the frame. Labarthe singled to left to score
Baker, and Hiebert reached when Davis threw his sacrifice bunt wide
of first, loading the bases. Warner walked to force in the
tying run, and Adam Weber (1-0) replaced Davis, getting Trevor
Winsor to hit into a force out at the plate, allowing a go-ahead
sacrifice fly to Ramirez, and striking out Steve Blum.
Weber, who also worked a 1-2-3 8th, got the win when the Bruins
scored four unearned runs in the 7th off Kyle Lamson (0-1).
With two out, Seth Anderson singled to deep short and Brown doubled
him to third, and both scored when Ramirez threw away
Winterstein's grounder to short. Taking advantage of
the miscue, Woo walked, Trask singled to load the bases, and Eric
Gantenbein delivered a two-run single to right-center.
The Bruins added two more in the 8th as Winterstein doubled in
Nate Hickok and Sam Stahl, who had both reached on infield
hits. Those runs loomed large as the Warriors scored twice in
the 9th off Travis Schroeder, Labarthe hitting a solo home run for
the first run and Hiebert and Winsor doubling for another
run. The rally died, however, as Schroeder got the last two
outs on grounders.
Trask had three hits and drove in three runs to fuel the
Bruins' 14-hit attack, while Hickok, Brown, and Gantenbein
all had two hits. Baker and Labarthe collected three hits
apiece for the Warriors, who had 13 in all, and Hiebert had a pair
of hits while scoring three times.
George Fox (10-8) visits Willamette University Saturday for a
Northwest Conference doubleheader at 12:00 noon. Corban
(6-15) hosts Simpson University in an NAIA West Region twinbill
Friday at 1:00 p.m.
