NEWBERG, Ore. – Eric Gantenbein singled
in Taylor Hunter from second base with two outs in
the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the George Fox University
Bruins a thrilling 4-3 win over the Pacific Lutheran University
Lutes in the Northwest Conference baseball opener for both teams
Saturday afternoon here at Morse Field.
The game began as a pitching duel between right-handed aces
Brian Ranta (4-0) of George Fox, who entered the game with a 2.14
ERA and 23 strikeouts, and Max Beatty of PLU, who had not allowed
an earned run in 14 innings all season. The Bruins finally
picked up the first earned run scored off Beatty when they took a
1-0 lead in the third, Hunter singling up the middle with two out,
stealing second, and scoring on a single to center by Sam
Stahl.
The Lutes answered with a pair of unearned runs in the
fourth. Jaron Iwakami singled and Brock Gates walked with one
out, and both moved up on a ground out to second. Iwakami
scored when Hunter, unable to get solid footing on the damp infield
dirt, threw wide to first on Ryan Aratani's grounder to
short, and Gates came in when Stahl at third kicked Dan
Johansen's grounder.
The hurlers kept the hitters at bay from that point on.
Ranta allowed only three hits through eight, fanning four and
walking only one, while Beatty surrendered six hits, with six
strikeouts and two walks, until the Bruins came up in the
eighth. After getting the first two batters out, Derek
Aldrich took Beatty deep to left for a game-tying home run, his
first of the season.
Josh Rapacz was then hit by a pitch for the second time in the
game and Todd Nagamine walked, setting up a bizarre play that gave
the home team the lead. Nagamine was trapped off first by a
quick throw from catcher Zack Halverson, and while he occupied the
PLU defense in a rundown, Rapacz advanced to third and continued on
when the Lutes reacted too slowly to his move, not even throwing
home. PLU then missed Nagamine racing to second as well.
Down 3-2, the Lutes rallied against Ranta in the ninth as
Aratani led off with a single, was sacrificed to second, and scored
on Corey Moore's single to center. Moore was caught
stealing by Rapacz, a critical play that loomed large when
Halverson followed with a double, but Ranta escaped further damage
by getting Jacob Hoffman to ground out.
Johansen (0-1) replaced Beatty for the bottom of the ninth and
retired Nate Hickok and Dan Winterstein on strikeouts before Hunter
singled to center. Stahl hit a slow roller to the right of
the mound, but Johansen's throw to first was dropped by
Gates, and Gantenbein took advance of the miscue to line a single
to center as Hunter easily scored the winning run.
Gantenbein had three of the Bruins' nine hits, while
Hunter and Stahl had two apiece. The Bruin defense turned in
21 assists as Ranta got 21 outs on ground balls and only one in the
air. Halverson had half of the PLU hits with three.
NEXT: George Fox (10-1, NWC 1-0) and Pacific
Lutheran (4-6, NWC 0-1) will try to complete their three-game
series, if the weather will cooperate, with a doubleheader Sunday
at 11:00 a.m.