Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 NEWBERG, Ore. – For a team that has often
built its reputation on the power and prowess of its hitters,
perhaps it is about time that the George Fox University mound staff
began to get its due.
“The pitchers certainly saved out bacon today,”
admitted relieved head coach Marty Hunter after his Bruins had
pulled out a pair of pitching duels with the visiting Pacific
University Boxers, 2-1 and 1-0 in 11 innings, in a Northwest
Conference baseball doubleheader Sunday afternoon here at Morse
Field.
The games had been postponed from Saturday because of rain and
were the first two at home for the Bruins this season. The
finale of the three-game league set between the Bruins (14-2, NWC
4-1) and the Boxers (3-7, NWC 0-5) will be Monday at 3:00 p.m. at
Morse Field. Live stats will be provided for fans to follow
the game at http://athletics.georgefox.edu/livestats/index.
Game 1 - at George Fox 2, Pacific 1
George Fox ace Clay Gartner ran his record to 5-0 with a
complete-game five-hitter, his second straight route-going effort,
in besting Pacific southpaw Tyler Kotchik (1-2) in the
opener. The senior right-hander ran his string of consecutive
scoreless inning to 26 in a row, the second-longest such streak in
George Fox history, before Kyle Treadway ended it with a tremendous
solo blast over the scoreboard in right-center leading off the 7th,
the first round-tripper of the year for the Boxers.
Gartner settled downed after that, finishing with a career-high
14 strikeouts and no walks. He now has 35 strikeouts and only
four walks in 39 innings, with an earned run average (which
actually went up) of 0.69.
Kotchik worked six innings, scattering six hits with four
strikeouts and three walks, before Topher Mood finished with two
innings of one-hit relief. The Bruins got an unearned run in
the 1st on a two-out infield single off Kotchik's glove by
Josh Rapacz, who went to second on an overthrow and scored on Derek
Dixon's looping double to right. They added what proved
to be the winning run in the 4th as Zach Rapacz doubled to
right-center, advanced on a sacrifice by Clay Mott, and scored on
Zac Israel's single to right.
The Bruins had only seven hits, the first and only time this
season they have been held to single digits in hits. Dixon
had three of the safeties and Israel two.
Game 2 - at George Fox 1, Pacific 0 (11
innings)
The second game saw George Fox right-hander Ian Buckles match
zeroes with Pacific lefty Colin McCusker, neither of whom figured
in the decision. McCusker frustrated the Bruins with nine
innings of nine-hit pitching, striking out three and walking three
and leaving 11 runners stranded. Buckles was brilliant for
the Bruins, throwing five perfect innings to start the game and 5
2/3 innings before allowing a hit. He finished with two hits
surrendered and no walks with eight strikeouts in seven
innings.
Sean Eberhardt threw 1-2-3 8th and 9th innings for the Bruins
before giving way to lefty Connor Harris to start the 10th.
After giving up a single but picking off the runner and recording a
strikeout, Harris surrendered back-to-back hits and was replaced by
Christian Jarnigan. The freshman righty walked Matt Hopp to
load the bases, but got out of the jam by getting Ben Duerr
swinging. He allowed a single and a walk in the 11th, but
escaped again with a pop out, and got his first win when the Bruins
finally broke through in the last of the 11th against reliever
Nathan Suyematsu (0-1).
With one out, Israel singled through the left side and Jarnigan,
in his first plate appearance in college, laid down a sacrifice
bunt up the first-base line to put the runner in scoring
position. Matthew Zeller sent a two-out grounder sharply to
short, but the throw bounced and first baseman Treadway could not
come up with it as Israel scored on a close play at the plate to
end the game.
Suyematsu had two of the Boxers' six hits in the game,
while Mott, Israel, and Zeller had two hits each out of the
Bruins' total of 10.
“Every one of our pitchers was on today; Gartner was his
usual self, Buckles was outstanding, Eberhardt, Jarnigan, even
Harris threw well,” noted Hunter. “I thought
their pitchers did a fine job on our hitters, and sometimes
you're just going to have offensive days like that, which is
why pitching like we got today is so critical. Our hitters
will get it figured out again - they're too good to be held
down long - but our pitching should keep us in ballgames until they
do.”
By allowing only one earned run in 20 innings all day, the
Bruins lowered their team ERA to 2.08, well ahead of their record
pace of 2.96 set in 2000, which was the first year George Fox made
the NCAA National Tournament. The Bruins are obviously
hopeful that this year's staff could lead them to a similar
reward in 2014.