SPOKANE, Wash. - Accomplishing something they had done only once before, the George Fox University Bruins swept a Northwest Conference baseball road series from the Whitworth University Pirates with 16-5, 11-3, and 15-10 victories Saturday here at Merkel Field, the first one completing a game that was suspended on Friday after seven innings.  

In the first game of the series, the Bruins had exploded for eight runs in the top of the 1st, seven of them off Jake Hanley (2-2), who only got one out before being lifted.  Dan Winterstein had a two-run single and Eric Gantenbein a three-run homer, his first of the season, in the outburst.

The Bruins wound up collecting 13 hits off of seven Whitworth hurlers, drew 12 walks, and got hit by pitches four times.  A five-run 7th inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Brent Trask, effectively sealed the win.

Michael Woo, Sam Stahl, and Seth Anderson had two hits apiece for the Bruins, while Gantenbein picked up four RBIs and Jason Brown, who got hit by pitches three times, scored four runs.  The Pirates out-hit the Bruins with 15 base knocks, led by Dan Belet, who had three safeties.

Jeremy Cheney (3-1) got the win for the Bruins, allowing 12 hits but only three runs in 6.0 innings, with three strikeouts and one walk.  Lefty Tyler Richwine worked the final three innings, one on Friday and two on Saturday, to notch his first save.

In the second game of the series and first full one on Saturday, the Bruins waited until the 3rd inning to get going.  Woo doubled in a pair of runs in that frame, then after the Bruins added a run on a Gantenbein sacrifice fly in the 4th, they erupted for five in the 5th to take control.  Trask had a two-run double and Gantenbein a two-run single for the big hits of the inning. 

The Bruins collected 11 hits in the game, three by Gantenbein, who scored twice and drove in three.  Trask had two doubles and four RBIs, and Woo had a three pairs of hits, runs, and RBIs.  Scott Landon and Kyle Krustangel had two hits each for the Pirates.

Mark Putney (4-3) went the first 6.0 innings for the Bruins, scattering nine hits while allowing three runs, two earned.  He fanned seven and walked one before giving way to Travis Schroder, who picked up his first save with three perfect innings of relief.  C.J. Perry (2-1) started and took the loss for the Pirates.

In the finale, George Fox built a 9-1 lead midway through the game, then nearly let it all slip away before hanging on at the end.  Doubles by Woo and Stahl gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the 1st, then Nate Hickok had an RBI double and Stahl a three-run homer, his second of the year, in the 2nd to up the lead to 5-0. 

The Bruins added two more in both the 3rd and 5th innings and appeared to be on cruise control as Brian Ranta breezed through the first four innings, allowing only two hits and one run to that point.  He got the first out in the 5th before the Pirates rallied, bunching three hits, three walks, two wild pitches, one hit batsman and a balk for five runs, cutting the Bruin advantage to 9-6.  Adam Weber (3-0) got Greg Hata on a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to end the threat.

Winterstein's RBI single in the 6th made it 10-6, but the Pirates got two off Weber in the home half on a John Rausch solo shot, his second, and an RBI single by Scott.  The Bruins got those two back in the 7th as Josh Rapacz scored on a balk and Woo singled in Josh Burch, only to have the Pirates score twice in their half off Schroeder to make it 12-10.

A costly Whitworth error on a sacrifice bunt in the 8th allowed two more Bruins to score for a 14-10 lead, but the Pirates put two runners aboard with one out in the last of 8th before the visitors turned to their closer, Chad Jones. He fanned Kevin Valerio, walked Belet to load the bases and bring the tying run to plate, then struck out Hata to snuff out Whitworth's last hope.  Jones retired the side in order in the 9th, catching the last two hitters looking, for his third save of the season and George Fox record-tying 10th of his career.

Whitworth starter Nathan Johnson (2-3) and two relievers allowed 14 George Fox hits, Stahl leading the assault with two doubles, a homer, three runs scored and four RBIs.  Burch, Woo, Gantenbein and Hickok had two hits apiece.  The Pirates totaled 12 hits, with Scott and Rausch getting three each, and Krustangel and Michael Takemura two apiece.

With the trio of wins, George Fox extended its winning streak to eight in row while climbing to 18-9 overall and 11-4 in the conference.  The Bruins' only other sweep of the Pirates came back in 1999.  Whitworth slipped to 8-18 overall and 5-7 in the NWC.

George Fox returns home to host the University of Puget Sound in a three-game conference series next weekend, starting with a 12:00 noon doubleheader on Saturday.  Whitworth visits league-leading Pacific Lutheran University for three also, opening with a pair on Saturday at noon.