By: Ryan Lackey

TACOMA, Wash. --- After falling by just one run in game one against the Lutes of Pacific Lutheran, the Bruins stormed game two with a 9-3 victory, splitting the double-header with PLU.

Game 1

The first game of Saturday's doubleheader was an education for George Fox in the axiom "Close, but not close enough." The Bruins dropped a heartbreaker, 2-1, despite a gritty complete game from bulldog starter Ian Buckles. Although he took the loss, Buckles gave up just two runs over eight innings, whiffing seven Lutes.

Buckles unfortunately made one mistake on a day he needed in be perfect. Warily protecting a gaunt 1-0 lead in the fifth, Buckles served a rare hanger to Landon Packard, who walloped it over the left-center fence to tie the game 1-1. Buckles then allowed back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases with just one out.

To Buckles' credit, he refused to let the game get out of hand. Bearing down, he got Connor Cantu to fly out – a sacrifice fly that drove in the winning run – and Drew Oord to roll over, escaping with minimal damage.

To the Bruins' chagrin, that minimal damage was just enough. Pacific Lutheran starter Chris Bishop was even better than Buckles, throwing eight innings of five-hit baseball and allowing just one run.

That lone run, unearned, came in the second. Andrew Reichenbach drilled a double and Riley McKean singled. With two outs, catcher Curtis Wildung let a ball skip past him, and the passed ball let Reichenbach score.

McKean finished 2-4 and stole a base, while Reichenbach had the Bruins' sole extra-base hit.

The loss puts the Bruins at 11-15, 7-6 in conference, heading into Saturday's nightcap.

Game 2

The excruciating 2-1 loss in Saturday's first game against Pacific Lutheran did little to check the Bruins in game two. Emerging ready to even the day's record, the Bruins scored in bunches and, once they took the lead in the fifth, refused to relinquish it. Starting pitcher Sean Eberhardt earned his third win of the season after a pragmatic, workmanlike four-and-two-thirds innings during which he surrendered three runs, just one earned. 

George Fox's three and four hitters, Zach Rapacz and Andrew Reichenbach, both went 3-5 with two runs scored. Rapacz added a pair of RBIs, and Reichenbach doubled that number. Catcher Ansel Webster also knocked in two runs while going 1-3, and leadoff hitter Aj Valencia scored twice and finished 2-5.

Early on, Pacific Lutheran looked dangerous again. Webster's passed ball let the Lutes take a 1-0 lead in the first, and Pacific Lutheran had a runner on third in the second.

In the third, though, the Bruins loaded the bases, helped by singles from Valencia and Wileman. Rapacz, batting, picked out a pitch and drove it far into the gap, scoring Valencia and Gabe Louthan, who reached on an error. With the Bruins up 2-1, Reichenbach's RBI groundout let Wileman race home and make the score 3-1.

The Lutes kept battling. In their half the of third, Pacific Lutheran tied the game at three when Eberhardt walked in one run and gave up a sacrifice fly to Tyler Thompson.

From that point on, though, the Bruins cruised. Reichenbach and Thran both doubled as part of the Bruins' four-run fifth – Webster added an RBI single, too. Up 7-3, the Bruins decided to add another two in the seventh. Back-to-back doubles from the big two, Rapacz and Reichenbach, made the score 8-3, and Webster's moonshot sacrifice fly made the final score, 9-3.

Michael Hirko earned his first save of the season, turning in four-and-a-third innings of shutout relief.

The victory puts the Bruins at 12-15 on the season, an even 7-7 in conference. George Fox finishes the three-game set with Pacific Lutheran tomorrow afternoon.