LACEY, Wash. – The George Fox baseball team had lost six games in a row, before returning to winning ways with a 5-1 win over the Saint Martin's Saints in the second game of their Saturday nonconference doubleheader.,

Game One
The Bruins' arms held the Saints to just six runs on the day, five of them coming in the first contest of the doubleheader. SMU opened up the scoring in the second, grabbing one run, to which Fox responded in the fourth inning with a Carson Coulter RBI single. Heading into the bottom of the fourth, the game was tied 1-1.

The Saints used a homerun, double, and a single to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth, putting Fox in a 4-1 hole. Saint Martins tagged the Bruins for another run in the fifth to extend the lead out to four. Fox couldn't find a way to respond until the seventh inning when Shane White hit a double down the left field line to score one run — the only run they could score in the inning, as the Bruins were still down three runs heading into the final two frames. 

After Fox couldn't find a way to score in the top half of the eighth, the pitching staff held off the Saints' bats in the eighth, giving GFU one final chance in the ninth. Coutler gave the Bruins hope with a solo home run to left field to start the inning, but Fox didn't get another run across in the frame, falling 5-3.

Game Two
The pitching of George Fox showed out in the second game, keeping the momentum going that started in the second half of the first game. GFU allowed two hits in the entire game and gave up just one run in the win. 

Senior Ethan Whitney went 7.1 innings in the contest, allowing one run on just one hit. The senior used his defense a lot, and they delivered — Whitney struck out just two batters on the day, but retired 22. In fact, Whitney stood on perfect game watch through five innings, and retired his first 17 batters. After he gave up a run in the seventh inning, he was replaced by Ryder Edwards, who, aside from a bases-loaded jam in the ninth, closed out the game with no blemishes. 

Fox scored five in the win, scoring two RBI singles throughout the contest, another off a sacrifice fly, one on a fielding error, and the final run in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk. GFU outhit the Saints, 10-2, and had no errors compared to SMU's three. 

Top Performers
Catcher Carson Coulter had an impressive first game, picking three hits and two RBIs including a home run. The previously mentioned Ethan Whitney had the best pitching performance of the day, and Jared Gee went 3-4 in the second game.

Coach's Thoughts
"Really good start by Ethan today," Bruin head coach Kevin Kopple said, "and we played clean baseball for nine innings.  Good to see some guys step up when they had the opportunity and give ourselves a chance to win a series tomorrow."

What It Means 
George Fox improves to 6-11 (1-6 NWC) after splitting the games today, and SMU is now 6-11 as well.

What Comes Next
Fox has a chance to win the series tomorrow in their final game against the Saints. First pitch, originally scheduled for noon, has been adjusted to 10:30 to try and beat the impending weather.