PORTLAND, Ore. – Stymied for 13 innings on only five hits, the George Fox University Bruins finally broke through for three runs in the 14th inning to defeat the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers 5-2, completing a three-game sweep of their Northwest Conference baseball series Sunday afternoon here at the Huston Sports Complex.

The nail-biter between the Bruins and Pioneers took 4:04 to play and tied a George Fox record for the longest game by number of innings.  The Bruins played back-to-back 14-inning road games on Apr. 21 and 27, 1996, losing first at Pacific University 9-8 and then at Linfield College 2-1.

With the win, George Fox improved to 23-11 on the season and 16-5 in the conference.  The Bruins trail league-leading Pacific Lutheran (16-3) by one game and are half a game ahead of Linfield College (14-4), though Linfield has a better won-lost percentage.  Lewis & Clark fell to 9-20 overall and 6-15 in the league. 

The Bruins got on the board first, scoring twice in the 2nd.  Brent Trask drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second by Eric Gantenbein, and advanced to third when Dan Winterstein's double off the wall in center was nearly caught by Michael Ball.  Trask scored on Josh Rapacz's ground out to short, and Winterstein came in as Seth Anderson bounced a single through the left side.

Southpaw Eliot Smith then retired 11 Bruins in a row after the Anderson single, allowing the home team to get back into the game.  The Pios got their first run in the 4th when Ball reached on an error by Sam Stahl at short, was sacrificed to second by Parker Dane, and scored on Giuseppe Baffaro's double down the right field line. 

In the 5th, Andrew Frisina walked with one out and Roland Greene singled to the backhand side of a diving Gantenbein at third.  Frisina was thrown out at third by catcher Trask on a steal attempt as Greene took second, and Zach Perez singled sharply to center to drive in Greene with the tying run.

From that point on, it was totally a pitchers' duel.  Both teams squandered bases-loaded chances in the late innings of regulation.  A walk to Winterstein to start the George Fox 7th, a walk to Rapacz on which Winterstein went to third when Pioneer catcher Greene threw the ball into center field, and a steal by Rapacz put runners in scoring position with none out.  Reliever Tucker Laurence fanned Anderson looking and Nate Hickok swinging, walked Josh Burch to load the bases, then got Michael Woo on a liner to left.

In the 8th, the Pios loaded the bases against Bruin reliever Chad Jones on singles by Dane and Laurence and a walk to Smith with one out, but Jones fanned Jim Bray and got Frisina to pop to second on a 3-1 pitch.

The Bruins again left the sacks full in the 11th against Ball, the Pios' third pitcher.  Winterstein singled with one out and stole second, and Rapacz walked before the two pulled a double steal.  Anderson was walked intentionally before Ball got Perry Knudsen on a foul out to third and Burch on a force out at third.

Anderson started the Bruins' winning rally with a ringing lead-off double left center, and Knudsen was safe when Greene dropped his sacrifice bunt and then threw late to first.  Burch was intentionally walked to set up a force play, but Woo foiled the strategy with a single up the middle through a drawn-in infield that was deflected by diving second baseman Perez, scoring Anderson and Knudsen.  Burch was caught at home when Stahl missed a suicide squeeze bunt, but Stahl singled Woo to third and stole second before Trask was intentionally walked.  Gantenbein then delivered Woo with a sacrifice fly to center.

Perez and Ball singled to start the Lewis & Clark 14th, but Jones (3-2) nailed down the victory by striking out Dane and Baffaro and getting Laurence on a bouncer to first.  Ball (2-1) took the loss for the Pios.

Brian Ranta went the first 6.2 innings for George Fox, scattering six hits with two strikeouts, two walks, and two runs allowed, one unearned.  Jones, in his longest stint of the season, spaced seven hits in 7.1 innings of shutout ball, fanning six with three walks.

Anderson had three hits and Winterstein two out of the Bruins' total of eight.  Perez collected three hits and Ball, Baffaro, and Laurence two each for the Pios, who tallied 13 safeties.  Both teams stranded 14 runners in the game.

George Fox hosts Linfield in a critical three-games NWC series next weekend, starting with a Saturday twinbill at 12:00 noon.  Lewis & Clark visits Pacific Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. for a game that does not count on the conference record.