Lutes Open Baseball Season With Twinbill Sweep
LACEY - Pacific Lutheran opened its 2010 baseball season on a good note, recording 12-5 and 8-3 wins over host Saint Martin's in a non-conference doubleheader played on Saturday.
The Lutes collected 18 hits in winning the nine-inning opener and came back with 11 more hits to win the seven-inning second game. Trey Watt and Robert Bleecker, a pair of all-conference senior pitchers, were the pitchers of record for the Lutes.
Ryan Aratani had three hits in the opener and two more in the second game to lead the PLU offense.
PLU held a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning of the opener when the Saints scored three times to take the lead. The Lutes responded with six runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 7-3 advantage. After Ryan Aratani and Brock Gates reached on singles, Jaron Iwakami hit a two-run triple to right-centerfield. Pinch hitter Spencer Downs, in his first collegiate at bat, followed with a run-scoring single. After a Carl Benton single, Sammy Davis and Josh Takayoshi hit RBI singles, and Aratani, who led off the inning, finished the rally with a sacrifice fly.
In addition to Aratani's three-hit game, the Lutes got multiple-hit performances from Davis, Takayoshi, Gates and Iwakami. Davis, Takayoshi and Iwakami all finished with two runs batted in during the game.
Watt allowed three earned runs on eight hits while walking three and striking out six in five complete innings of work. Nathan Eisenhauer, Alex Bodenhamer, Paul DiPietro and Nic Delikat all threw an inning in relief of Watt.
In the nightcap, the Lutes scored twice in the first inning, three times in the second and once more in the third to take a 6-0 lead. They added their final two runs in the top of the sixth after the Saints had cut their deficit to 6-3.
Takayoshi drove in a run with a single and Aratani had a sacrifice fly in the first, and Dan Johansen and Takayoshi both had RBI doubles in the second inning.
Johansen, Aratani and Gates all collected a pair of hits in the game and Davis scored two runs.
Bleecker allowed three earned runs on nine with three walks and two strikeouts in five complete innings. Eisenhauser and Ryan Frost finished the final two innings in relief.
PLU hosts Saint Martin's as the teams complete their three-game series at noon on Sunday.
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