Box Score TACOMA, Wash. – Returning to the lineup
after two weeks out with a concussion, Josh Rapacz
went 4-5 with a home run and four RBIs, leading the
nationally-ranked George Fox University Bruins to an 8-4 win over
the University of Puget Sound Loggers in the first game of a
Northwest Conference baseball twinbill Saturday afternoon here at
Logger Field.
The second game of the doubleheader was suspended by darkness
after nine complete innings, with the scored knotted 4-4. The
game will be resumed where it left off Sunday morning at 11:00
a.m., to be followed by the third and final game of the
series.
Game 1 - George Fox 8, Puget Sound 4
Rapacz led an 11-hit attack that pinned the loss on UPS
right-hander Matt Robinson (5-4), who entered the game with a 1.29
ERA on the season, and gave George Fox ace Clay Gartner his sixth
win against no defeats, though he needed relief assistance from Ian
Buckles, who earned his first save.
The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st with a
couple of unearned runs. Zach Miller reached on a one-out
error at third, Derek Dixon singled, and Rapacz singled to drive in
the first run. After a wild pitch, Danny Clifford singled in
Dixon.
Two runs came across in the top of the 2nd. Zach
Hegelmeyer singled, moved up on a wild pitch and a stolen base, and
scored when Jared Chase reached on an error at third. Miller
was hit by a pitch, Dixon walked, and Rapacz singled in Chase, but
Miller was thrown out at home by right fielder Lucs Stone to
prevent further damage.
Single runs in the 5th and 6th made it 6-0. Rapacz slammed
his second home run of the season to left-center in the 5th, and
Hegelmeyer squeezed in Timothy Williams, who had doubled and
advanced to third on a hit by Zac Israel, in the 6th.
Gartner took a two-hitter into the last of the 6th but then ran
into trouble. Connor Savage singled with one out and Stone
doubled him home for the first UPS run. Christian Carter
walked, and after a force out at third and a wild pitch, Nathan
Backes and Jeff Walton drew back-to-back free passes to force in
another run. Buckles relieved at that point and allowed one
more run to score due to an error at third, but got the final out
on a foul to first.
The Loggers cut it to 6-4 in the 7th as Savage singled, was
balked to second, and scored on a single by Carter, but Buckles
retired the final seven batters in a row to end the game. The
Bruins added two more insurance runs in the 8th on a sacrifice fly
by Miller and a third RBI single by Rapacz.
Gartner went 5.2 innings, spacing four hits with eight
strikeouts and four walks. Buckles finished up with 3.1
innings of two-hit relief, fanning two with no walks.
Robinson got the loss while going six innings, allowing eight hits
with five strikeouts and two walks.
In addition to the big game by Rapacz, Clifford had a pair of
hits for the Bruins. Savage had half of the Loggers'
six hits.
Game 2 - George Fox 4, Puget Sound 4
(suspended)
The Bruins battled back from a 4-0 deficit after two innings to
tie it, and sent it into extra innings when Williams gunned down
Eric Lund, the potential winning run, at the plate on Bobby
Hosmer's single to right with two outs in the bottom of the
9th.
George Fox southpaw Connor Harris suffered his worst start of
the season as the Loggers touched him for four hits and four runs
in 1.1 innings. Hosmer doubled in two and Walton had an RBI
single in a three-run 1st, and Stone singled in a run in the 2nd
before Eric Kittelson relieved and shut out the Loggers over the
next 6.1 innings, scattering six hits with four strikeouts and no
walks.
The Bruins started their comeback against the Loggers'
Steve Wagar in the 4th. Miller led off with a triple and
scored on a single by Rapacz for the Bruins' first run, and
after Clifford was hit by a pitch, Kadyn Nannini singled up the
middle to score Rapacz.
In the 7th, Hegelmeyer singled to lead off, went to second when
Israel's sacrifice was mishandled at third for an error, and
both runners moved up on a sacrifice by Chase. Miller's
sacrifice fly to left made it 4-3. The Bruins tied it in the
8th when Rapacz led off with a double, was sacrificed to third by
Clifford, and scored on Williams' single through the left
side.
The Loggers made a bid to win it in the 9th against Sean
Eberhardt when Carter led off with a single and pinch-runner Lund
was sacrificed to second by Kaulana Smith. After Backes flied
to center, Hosmer singled sharply to right, but Williams, with one
of the strongest arms in the league, nailed Lund easily at the
plate to extend play to Sunday.
George Fox, which is ranked 14th in the ABCA / Collegiate
Baseball NCAA Division III poll and 17th by D3baseball.com, is
now 20-8 overall and 13-3 in the conference. Puget Sound is
11-16 overall and 6-7 in the league.