Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. –
Jared Chase went 3-for-4 with a key three-run
double and Bobby Orozco went five sterling innings in relief as the
George Fox University Bruins completed a three-game Northwest
Conference baseball series sweep of the Whitman College
Missionaries with a 12-5 victory Sunday afternoon here at Concordia
University's Hilken Community Stadium.
Whitman jumped on George Fox starter Tom Zarosinski for a pair
of runs in the 1st as Johnny Chow drew a lead-off walk, stole
second, and scored on Cameron Young's double to deep
right-center, then Aaron Cohen doubled to left to drive in
Young. The Bruins got one of those back in the home half
against Whitman southpaw Jake Nelson (1-5) when Taylor Hunter
reached on an error at short and scored on Danny Clifford's
triple to right-center.
A walk to MacLean Harned, a wild pitch, and back-to-back singles
by Chris Andrews and Chow in the 2nd made it 3-1 Whitman, but the
Bruins erupted in the bottom of the frame. Derek Dixon was
hit by a pitch, Derek Blankenship doubled, and Nick Benish walked
to fill the bases for Chase, who cleared them with a liner down the
left-field line to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead. David
Greenstein's single up the middle scored Chase, and
Greenstein later scored on an errant throw on Clifford's
grounder to third.
With the Bruins now in front, Orozco (2-0) replaced Zarosinksi
to start the 3rd and stifled the Missionaries over the next five
innings. The right-hander allowed no runs and only three
hits, striking out four without a walk to earn the win.
The Bruin offense, meanwhile, added single runs in the 3rd, 5th
and 6th innings. In the 3rd, Dixon doubled to knock Nelson
from the game and scored on Benish's single off reliever
Dakota Matherly. In the 5th, Benish walked, was sacrificed to
second, went to third when Cohen, now pitching, threw wildly to
that base on Greenstein's tapper back to the mound, and
scored on Josh Rapacz's ground single to left. In the
6th, Timothy Williams walked, advanced on a wild pitch and a bad
throw to first on Dixon's grounder to the mound, and scored
as Blankenship rapped into a 1-6-3 double play.
The Missionaries got their final two runs in the 8th off Bruin
reliever Carl Mason. Young singled, Moyes doubled him in,
Jimmy Madden singled Moyes to third, and Chris Konolige hit a
sacrifice fly to left off reliever Eric Kittelson.
George Fox closed out the scoring with three in the last of the
8th. Zach Miller and Emmett Ackerlund walked and John Mountz
singled to right to fill the sacks. Zac Israel's
sacrifice fly to center scored Miller, and two more runs scored on
Kyle Kirwan's double down the right-field line.
Each team used five pitchers, the Bruin hurlers surrendering 10
hits and the Missionaries 12. In addition to Chase's
three hits, Clifford had two safeties for the Bruins. Young
and Cohen collected two hits each for the Missionaries.
The entire series was played at Concordia's brand-new
artificial-turf soccer and baseball complex due to unplayable wet
conditions in the outfield at the Bruins' Morse Field.
NEXT: George Fox (12-12, NWC 8-4) steps outside
the conference to play Corban University Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in a
single game at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore. The game is
the makeup of a rainout that was postponed from Mar. 21 at Corban
... Whitman (2-22, NWC 2-10) hosts Lewis & Clark College in a
conference series next weekend, starting with a pair at 12:00 noon
on Saturday.