Box Score SALEM, Ore. – Brandon Chinn's
sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th
inning scored Shae Harrison with an unearned run, giving the
Willamette University Bearcats a 3-2 win over the George Fox
University Bruins and a sweep of their three-game Northwest
Conference baseball series Sunday afternoon here at John Lewis
Field.
There were plenty of runs scored in Saturday's first two
games of the series, the Bearcats taking both 8-2 and 11-9, but
Sunday's contest turned into a pitchers' duel between
right-handers Tom Zarosinksi of George Fox and Peter Hoffman of
Willamette. Zarosinski threw seven shutout innings and 7.2
innings in all, surrendering two runs on seven hits with four
strikeouts, three walks, and three runners picked off.
Hoffman went eight frames, allowing six hits and a run with five
strikeouts and no walks.
The Bruins got the lead-off batter on in both the 1st and 3rd
innings, only to hit into double plays each time, but finally broke
through against Hoffman in the 6th. Derek Dixon beat out a
high chop to third for an infield single and advanced to third on
Danny Clifford's hit to right. After a wild pitch sent
Clifford to second, Dixon scored on Zach Rapacz's slow ground
out to short for a 1-0 Bruin lead.
The Bearcats loaded the bases in the 7th, but Zarosinski induced
Rolenn Himura to ground into a well-turned 4-6-3 double play to get
out of the jam. He was not as fortunate in the 8th,
however. Chinn stroked a two-out single up the middle, moved
up on a walk to Tiras Koons, and scored on Ty Wyatt's single
through the left side. Christian Jarnigan then replaced
Zarosinski and, after walking Tosh Semlacher to fill the sacks,
threw a wild pitch as pinch-runner Bryan Afzali scored the go-ahead
run.
Jackson Watt (3-0) relieved Hoffman in the 9th and immediately
hit Clifford leading off. Pinch-runner Gabe Louthan stole
second with one out and scored the tying run on Zac Israel's
double to the gap in right-center that just eluded diving right
fielder Andrew Wilson.
The Bruins had a chance in the top of the 10th when
Derek Blankenship and Dixon hit back-to-back
singles with two out, but Watt got Zach Hegelmeyer to fly out, and
the Bearcats capitalized on two Bruin errors in the 11th for the
win. Harrison reached on a misplayed grounder at short, was
sacrificed to second, and moved third on a dropped fly deep in
center. Tommy Kawamura was intentionally passed to load the
bases, but Chinn's fly to right was caught by Rapacz too deep
for a play at the plate.
Watt got the win with three innings of work, allowing four hits
and a run while fanning two. Southpaw Connor Harris (0-1)
took the hard-luck loss, working 2.2 innings while allowing only
one hit with a strikeout and two walks.
Blankenship had three hits and Dixon two for the Bruins, who had
10 hits in all. Wyatt had two hits out of Willamette's
total of eight.
George Fox, ranked 17th in the D3baseball.com poll, fell to 15-5
overall and 5-4 in the conference, while Willamette improved to
10-8 overall and 4-4 in the league.
NEXT: George Fox hosts Whitman College in a
conference series next weekend, with a doubleheader on Saturday and
a single game Sunday, starting at 12:00 noon both days …
Willamette hosts Concordia University-Portland in a single game
Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.