NEWBERG, Ore. - Using an incredible 17-run inning in the first game and five one-run innings in the second, the visiting Linfield College Wildcats swept the George Fox University Bruins 18-9 and 5-3 in a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon here at Morse Field, eliminating the Bruins from the conference race.

George Fox fell to 23-13 overall and 16-7 in the NWC with the double defeat, while Linfield improved to 26-10 and 16-4 in the NWC.  League-leading Pacific Lutheran University swept Lewis & Clark College 23-2 and 4-3 in 11 innings and is now 29-7 and 17-3 in the league.  Even if both Linfield and PLU were to lose Sunday, the two play each other next weekend, and there is therefore no way both could wind up with seven losses, thus precluding any Bruin hopes of a tie for first.

In the opener, Linfield took a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning as Tyson Smith led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on Dustin Smith's looping double down the left field line.  The Wildcats then exploded for 17 runs in the 2nd, sending 22 batters to the plate, banging out 13 hits, and taking advantage of five George Fox errors that kept the inning going.  Ten of the runs were unearned.

In the inning, Rhett Fenton doubled to start the inning, drove in a run from third while reaching on an error at short, drove in the 15th and 16th runs with another double, and scored three times.  Mitch Webb, Dustin Smith, and Kevin Coleman also had two hits apiece in the frame, Smith collecting an RBI with each hit.  Kelson Brown had a two-run single and Cole Bixenman a two-run double. 

As impressive as it was, the 17 runs in an inning is not an NCAA Division III record, Marietta College having scored 24 in one turn at bat against LaRoche College on Apr. 7, 1999.

Twelve of the runs in the inning, seven earned, were charged to Bruin starter Mark Putney (6-4), who had entered the game with a string of 14 consecutive scoreless innings and back-to-back seven-inning shutouts against the Wildcats.  Southpaw Tyler Richwine finished out the inning, allowing five runs but only one earned.  The Wildcats did not score again the rest of the game as Richwine went five scoreless innings and Brian Davis the final two.

Down 18-0, the Bruins scored nine runs over their final eight at bats, but it was far too little and too late.  Seth Anderson hit a sacrifice fly for the Bruins' first run in the 2nd, and lined a three-run double in the 6th for all the runs allowed by Linfield starter Ryan Larson (8-3), who went six innings for the win. 

The Bruins scored four times in the 8th, all unearned off reliever Evan Hilberg.  Bryan Martz and Michael Woo had RBI singles in the inning, and the other two runs scored on a ground out and a wild pitch.  Perry Knudson doubled and scored on a single by Derek Aldrich for the final run in the 9th.

Dustin Smith led a 17-hit attack with four hits and three RBIs for the Wildcats, while Fenton had three hits, three RBIs, and three runs scored.  Anderson and Sam Stahl each went 3-for-3 for the Bruins.

The nightcap was much tamer.  Linfield got a run in the top of the 1st as Tyson Smith walked, was balked to second, sacrificed to third, and scored on Brown's sacrifice fly to right.  George Fox tied it in the home half as Josh Burch singled to start the inning, was sacrificed to second, went to third on a wild pickoff attempt, and scored on Stahl's grounder to third which was mishandled for an error.

The Bruins missed a chance to go ahead in the 2nd when Dan Winterstein, trying to score from third on a squeeze bunt by Nate Hickok, came in standing and was blocked off the plate by catcher Mitch Webb, who tagged him out near the backstop.  The Wildcats then took the lead for good in the 4th on a double by Brown, a wild pitch, and Zach Boskovich's ground out to short.

Each of the Wildcats' final three runs were unearned due to a Bruin error in each inning.  In the 5th, Eric Evenson walked, was sacrificed to second, and scored on a throwing error at short.  In the 6th, Boskovich singled, moved up on a ground out and a wild pitch, and scored against a drawn-in infield on an error at short.  In the 8th, Fenton doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on an error at third.

The Bruins got two in the 8th as Jason Brown walked, scored on a double by Eric Gantenbein, and Josh Rapacz doubled in Gantenbein.  The Bruins got one on in the 9th against reliever Robert Vaughn when Josh Burch walked with one out, but Stahl hit into a 5-4-3 double play as Vaughn earned his first save.  

Garrett Dorn (7-2) was the benefactor for the Wildcats, going 8.0 innings while scattering seven hits, with five strikeouts and three walks.  Brian Ranta (4-3) suffered the tough loss for the Bruins, spacing seven hits over 8.0 innings with two strikeouts, a walk, and five runs allowed, only two earned.  Rapacz was the only Bruin with two hits, while Tyson Smith and Fenton had two apiece for the Wildcats. 

The Bruins and Wildcats conclude their three-game series Sunday with a single game at 1:00 p.m., the final home game of their careers for 11 George Fox seniors.  It is also the final conference game of the season for the Bruins, who close out their season with two games at Lewis-Clark State College on May 4-5.