PARKLAND, Wash. - Blistered by two late-inning
meltdowns on Saturday, George Fox University found the soothing
balm it needed Sunday in the right arms of Brian
Ranta and Adam Weber, who pitched the Bruins to a 4-3 win
over the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes in the finale of a
three-game Northwest Conference baseball series here at PLU Field.
With the win, George Fox evened its overall record at 7-7, and
instead of falling three games behind pre-season conference
favorite PLU, moved back within a game of the Lutes at 1-2 in the
league. Pacific Lutheran, ranked 17th nationally, suffered
only its second loss of the season in slipping to 11-2 overall and
2-1 in the NWC.
With No. 3 starter Clay Gartner sidelined with a tender elbow,
Bruin coach Marty Hunter turned to the relatively-untested Ranta,
and the right-handed sophomore came through in spades. He
went seven strong innings, spacing nine hits while striking out
three and walking one to raise his record to 2-1.
The Bruins touched PLU starter Scott Wall for two runs in the
top of the 3rd, Josh Burch hitting his second home run of the
season to left with Eric Gantenbein aboard on a double. Seth
Anderson singled up the middle, moved up on a sacrifice and a fly
out, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 Bruins in the 4th.
Held to one hit through three innings by Ranta, the Lutes
finally broke through with a run in the 4th. With two out,Ben
Shively singled, Ryan Aratani walked, and Brock Gates singled down
the right-field line to score Shively. They tied it in the
7th on RBI singles by Sammy Davis and Josh Takayoshi.
The Bruin made a winner of Ranta in the top of the 8th off PLU
reliever Nic Delikat. Nate Hickok drew a leadoff walk, moved
to second on San Stahl's sacrifice, and scored on Anderson's double
to left.
Weber worked a 1-2-3 8th, but ran into trouble by surrendering
one-out singles to Corey Moore and Davis, putting the tying run at
second. The senior righty picked up his second save, however,
by inducing fly ball outs to Dan Winterstein in right and Hickok in
center to end the game and keep the Bruins close in the NWC race.
George Fox collected only six hits, five off Wall, who fanned
two and walked one in seven innings of work. Anderson was the
only Bruin with two hits. More importantly, George Fox
committed only one error (which was erased on a double play) as
opposed to nine the day before that cost them two one-run defeats.
Davis had three hits for the Lutes, with Takayoshi and Davis
getting two each, including a double for both.
George Fox hosts Pacific University in an NWC series next
weekend, with a doubleheader at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday and a single
game at 12:00 noon on Sunday. Pacific Lutheran is also in
action Saturday and Sunday when it plays a three-game
non-conference series against the Menlo College Oaks in Atherton,
Calif.
