NEWBERG --- The George Fox baseball team split their the postponed series opening day against the Occidental College Tigers with a 7-3 win in game one and a 10-3 loss in game two.

Recap

Game One

The action started early when Occidental's Preston Chong hit a lead-off homer in the top of the first off Christopher Stone to make the score 1-0. Stone settled in, however, and retired the next three batters in order. George Fox was quick to get on the board in their half of the inning too.

Matt Ramirez made best use of an error by center fielder Gus Patrick to get runners on second and third with only one out. Sam Swenson drew a walk to load the bases and Travis Miller took an RBI walk to bring in Leon Johnson III with the unearned tally.

Stone worked around a runner on third in the second frame and struck out the next two batters to end the threat. The Bruins used their chance in the bottom of the second to take the lead themselves. Jared Gee doubled down the left field line with one out, setting up Trevor Nannini, who crushed a homer to straightaway center, making the score 3-1.

Stone retired the side with three strikeouts in the third and the Bruins continued to pile it on. Chase Fetzer homered with Matt Voelzke on second to make it 5-1, but the inning didn't end there. Johnson III joined the homer party, smashing a two-run shot over the left field wall to make it 7-1.

Though the lead was large, Occidental made it known the game was far from over. They strung together a two-out rally lead by a double to right and a walk to put two runners on. Nolan Upchurch and Michael Netzel hit back-to-back singles, scoring two and bring the score to 7-3. That score would hold the rest of the way in a solid win for Fox to start the day.

Game Two

Occidental got out front quickly in game two after taking advantage of an error and a passed ball in the top of the first, scoring five runs before the Bruins even got a chance to bat.

The Tigers extended the lead to 6-0 with some heads-up base running from Andrade, but the Bruins scored in the bottom half of the second to cut the lead.  Sam Swenson started the inning with a double to the left center gap that Marc Audet followed with a double of his own. Tiger pitcher Diego Ramirez attempted to pick off Audet at second, but the ball skipped away and Audet made it to third.  Brandon King brought Audet in with an RBI groundout to the Tiger shortstop to make it 6-2.

Voelzke knocked in the Bruins' next run in the bottom of the third.  CJ Ibara signed to center with one out and was advanced to second with a productive out from Jayce Lien.  Voelzke got the clutch two-out single to score Ibara from second.

That proved to be the Bruins' last run, however, and the Tigers continued to hit well off the Bruins' bullpen arms the rest of the way, tacking on four insurance runs down the stretch in a 10-3 win to level the series.

Top Performers

C. Stone allowed three runs in six innings and earned his first win of the season. The Bruins had three different batters with two-run homers: Johnson III (1-4, two RBIs), Nannini (3-5, one RBI), and Fetzer (3-4, two RBIs) in game one.

In game two, Swenson was 2-2 with a double and a run scored while Audet had a double, RBI, and a run scored. Spencer Roos went two for two in his collegiate debut after entering late in the game.

What It Means

The Bruins are now 4-1 overall after committing their first errors of the season in game two of the series and will have a chance to flip the script with one more home game left against the Tigers on Monday, Feb. 17.

What Happens Next

The Bruins will host the Tigers one more time on Monday, Feb. 17, with the first pitch scheduled for 11:00 am.