McMINNVILLE, Ore. – In their first pair of conference games, the George Fox University baseball team lost both games of their doubleheader against the Linfield Wildcats, losing the first 3-2, and the second 9-4. 

How It Happened – Game One
The first game of the day was a true pitchers' duel, as the game saw both teams starting pitchers go deep into the game – Bruins' starter Aidan Rady went six innings with two strikeouts while giving up two runs, and Linfield's Camden Oram went seven and two-thirds innings allowing two runs and picking up two strikeouts as well – with a run in the 8th proving to be the difference between the two sides. 

The Wildcats got on the board first, scoring a run off a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Rady then managed to get out of the bases-loaded jam by forcing a ground out to end the second inning. 

The two teams traded scoreless frames until the sixth inning, where Linfield managed to get a run across with a sacrifice fly to make the game 2-0 in favor of the Wildcats. 

The Bruins finished the game with more hits than the Wildcats but struggled to get them around the basepaths, leaving seven runners on base (many in scoring position). Carson Coulter changed that in the top half of the eighth, with two runners on and the Wildcats' Oram still on the mound amid a stellar start, Coulter unleashed a shot that ended up behind the left field fence, bringing himself and Mason Eastman home and tying the game at two runs each. The Wildcats responded, however, by putting runners on second and third and then scoring on a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2 going into the final at-bats for the Bruins. 

GFU's Garrett Strube hit a single to get himself on the basepaths with one out in the ninth, but Fox could not bring him home, as a strikeout and a groundout ended the game and gave the Bruins a 3-2 loss.

How It Happened – Game Two
Fox got on base right away to start game two, as Eastman got a walk and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Balingit. Eastman was driven home two batters later, as Strube hit a two-out RBI single to center field that gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Bruins game two starter Caleb Debban got out of a jam in the bottom half of the first, getting a punch out to end the inning with runners on first and second to preserve the lead. 

The GFU offense got on the board again in the third, as Eastman led the inning off with a double, then later scored on a two-out, bases-loaded walk. The Bruins were unable to cash in with the bases loaded after however, as they left three runners stranded after, as the Wildcats' pitcher Colten Oullette struck out the final Bruins batter of the inning. The Wildcats scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly, but Debban locked them down the rest of the inning, making the score 2-1 at the end of the third. 

The Bruins left the bases loaded again in the top of the fifth, as the Wildcats' defense snagged a line drive off the bat of Shayde Koga that would have scored at least one run, possibly two. In the bottom half of the same inning, the Wildcats put up a pair of runs – on an RBI single and sacrifice fly – which gave them the lead, 3-2. 

Linfield's Josh Mansur hit a towering three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, which pushed the Bruins deficit to four runs, 6-2. Bruins' pitcher Spencer Johnson rallied with a key strikeout and force-out that ended the inning, but the damage had been done. 

The Bruins responded in the next half-inning, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the eighth off of RBI singles from Eastman and Coulter to make the score 6-4, Wildcats on top. The Bruins left the go-ahead run on first though, as the Wildcats got a strikeout with runners on first and third. 

The Wildcats delivered the final blow however in the bottom of the eighth when they got three runs off an error from Bruins, a sacrifice fly, and an RBI single to push the score to 9-4. Fox went down in order in the top of the ninth to close out the second loss of the day.

What It Means
The Bruins fall to 3-6 (0-2 NWC) and the Wildcats improve to 4-1 (2-0 NWC). 

What Comes Next
The Bruins continue their three-game series against the Wildcats on Sunday, March 2nd at McMinnville. First pitch is scheduled for noon.