PARKLAND - Pacific Lutheran took advantage of timely hitting and some uncharacteristic defensive miscues to sweep George Fox in a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader played Saturday at PLU Field.

The Lutes won in the final inning of both games, 6-5 in the first game and 7-6 in 10 innings in the nightcap, to improve to 11-1 for the season, 2-0 in conference play.

George Fox (6-7, 0-2) took a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth of the early game after starter Trey Watt hit back-to-back hitters to put two on with none out. After a throwing error on an attempted pickoff, Jason Brown drove in Derek Aldrich with a sacrifice fly to left field off PLU reliever Nic Delikat.

Josh Takayoshi sparked the Lutes' comeback against George Fox closer Chad Jones with a one-out double to right center. Ryan Aratani singled to right field to load the bases following a Ben Shively walk. Jones struck out Brock Gates swinging for the second out, but Ryan Frost's routine chopper to second base tied the game when Josh Burch threw wide of the shortstop covering second for the Bruins' sixth error of the contest.

Catcher Ethan Ottemiller drove in Ben Shively with the game-winning run on a single to right-center field. Ottemiller entered the game in the seventh inning after Jaron Iwakami pinch-hit for starter Zack Halverson in the sixth.

The second game saw a bit of deja vu when Ottemiller singled to left against Jones with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning to bring home Gates and Aratani and tie the game. Corey Moore loaded the bases on a bunt single, advancing Ottemiller to second and Iwakami to third. Iwakami scored the winning run on Sammy Davis' walk-off single up the middle.

George Fox had taken a convincing four-run lead in the top of the 10th innning off PLU relief pitcher Nathan Eisenhauer. After shutting the Bruins down in the ninth, Eisenhauer gave up a leadoff double to catcher Josh Rapacz in the 10th. Aldrich struck out swinging for the first out, but Eisenhauer hit Eric Gantenbein with a pitch and the Bruins loaded the bases on a single by Nate Hickok.

Burch hit a hard ground ball to Shively at third base, who threw home to get the lead runner on the fielder's choice. With two outs, Eisenhauer fell behind Sam Stahl, 3-0, before working his way back to a full count. Stahl drove the 3-2 pitch into left field for a bases-clearing double. Dan Winterstein brought Stahl home for the fourth run of the inning with a single to left off Paul DiPietro to give the Bruins the 6-2 lead.

That led to PLU's comeback heroics in the bottom of the 10th.

Much like the first game, Takayoshi sparked the PLU rally with a leadoff hit, this time a single up the middle. Shively reached base on the Bruins' ninth error on the day and their third in the second game. Aratani walked to load the bases with no outs, and Gates worked back from a 1-2 count to earn the walk and bring home a run. After pitching nearly three innings in the first game, Jones came in to pitch for George Fox and walked Iwakami to force in another run prior to Ottemiller's game-tying hit.

George Fox defensive struggles were key for PLU in both games as a total of nine of the Lutes' 13 runs scored were unearned, including all six in the first game. Pacific Lutheran did not score an earned run until the 19th inning of the day, the final inning of the second game.

Takayoshi led the Lutes with five hits in seven at bats, with two walks and four runs scored in the doubleheader. Hickok had four hits in five at bats with a couple runs scored to lead George Fox on offense.

Trey Watt and Robert Bleecker each threw eight innings for the Lutes. Watt gave up four earned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts in the first game, with Nic Delikat pitching the final inning to earn his first win of the season. Bleecker gave up only two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts, with DiPietro earning his second win of the season for the Lutes when he put an end to the Bruins' four-run 10th inning.

Mark Putney and Jeremy Cheney had nearly identical pitching lines for George Fox. Both pitched six innings of five-hit ball with three walks and no earned runs. Cheney had seven strikeouts in the second game, while Putney had four in the early contest.

Pacific Lutheran and George Fox will conclude their three-game series at 11 a.m. Sunday at the PLU field.

- PLU -