NEWBERG, Ore. - Scott Wall shut down the George Fox offense in a complete-game performance to win the opener, but the host Bruins battled back to take the second game of a Northwest Conference baseball twinbill played Sunday at Morse Field.
The Lutes won the first game, 2-1, and George Fox took the nightcap, 10-7. PLU is now 5-6 overall this season and 1-2 in the conference, while the nationally ranked Bruins are 10-2 overall and 2-1 in the NWC.
Wall, a senior right-hander out of Yakima, completely baffled the Bruins. He allowed just one unearned run on six hits while striking out nine and walking none. If not for a couple of eighth inning errors, he would have had a shutout.
Wall retired the first eight batters he faced and did not allow a baserunner to second base until the fifth inning. Through the first seven innings, the Bruins had only four on base against the PLU hurler. But with two out in the eighth, Dan Winterstein hit a single and advanced to second on an error. Wall appeared to get out of the inning, but Taylor Hunter's grounder was thrown away for another error, allowing Winterstein to score. Wall got out of the inning by coaxing a ground out.
With two outs in the ninth he gave up a double to pinch hitter Zac Israel, but he closed the game by retiring pinch hitter Todd Nagamine on a fly out.
PLU's offense didn't give Wall much to work with, but it turned out to be enough to hand GFU starter Clay Gartner the loss.
The Lutes got on the board first on Dan Johansen's leadoff homer in the second, his first round-tripper of the season. They added what proved to be the winning run in the third, starting the rally with two outs when Jacob Hoffman hit a single. He advanced to second when Zack Halverson walked and then scored on Jaron Iwakami's base hit to right field.
Pacific Lutheran had several other chances to score but came up empty. Ryan Aratani led off the fourth with a double and reached third, but he was stranded there. Halverson had a single in the eight and moved up on Iwakami's bunt base hit, but against PLU failed to get the clutch hit. In the ninth, Corey Moore walked and Nicholas Hall hit a single, but both were eventually left stranded in scoring position.
PLU finished the game with nine hits, including two apiece by Hoffman and Iwakami.
The Lutes rallied from an early 2-0 deficit in the second game, scoring three times in both the second and third innings, to take a 6-2 lead.
In the second inning, Aratani and Moore sandwiched singles around Brock Gates getting hit by a pitch. With one out, Hall was hit by a pitch, scoring Aratani from third, and Blaine Myers followed with a base hit to drive in Moore. Moore scored the final run of the frame on a wild pitch.
An inning later, Johansen was hit by a pitch, Gates walked and Moore singled to load the sacks for the Lutes. Ethan Ottemiller hit a single to drive in Johansen, and Gates came in on Hall's ground out. For the second consecutive inning, Moore scored the final run on a wild pitch. Holding a 6-5 lead entering the top of the sixth, the Lutes added a run when Johansen's single drove in Jacob Olsufka.
By that point the Bruins had already knocked starter Nathan Eisenhauer from the mound, and they put up four runs in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of two-run doubles against reliever and losing pitcher Ryan Frost. They added the game's finally tally in the bottom of the eighth and then weathered a two-hit PLU ninth inning rally to get the win and take the series, two games to one.
PLU finished the game with 14 hits to only nine for the Bruins. Moore had three hits, while Iwakami, Aratani, Gates and Hall all had a pair for the Lutes.
The Lutes are back in action at noon on Saturday when they travel to Bellevue to face NCAA Division I Seattle University.
- PLU -
