PARKLAND - Pacific Lutheran scored a 10th inning run to win the opener 6-5, then gave up a late lead and lost 9-5 in the second game of a Sunday afternoon Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader against Puget Sound at the PLU baseball field.

The Lutes (15-14 overall) appeared on the brink of a crucial three-game sweep of the Loggers, but instead saw their conference record go to 10-8. Though they are mathematically alive in the race for the conference championship, just about everything would have to go their way because defending champion Linfield leads the circuit with a 15-3 record. Both teams have two series remaining, including a Linfield visit to Parkland on the final weekend of the regular season.

Game One: PLU 6, Puget Sound 5

PLU got a solid start from Dan Johansen in the opener as the senior right-hander cruised through the first six innings without allowing a run. Meanwhile, the Lutes put a couple of runs on the board in the first. Jacob Hoffman led off with a single, stole second, and then scored on Jaron Iwakami's double. He later scored on a single by Brock Gates.

Trailing 2-0 entering the top of the seventh inning, the Loggers tallied four runs, all of them coming with two outs. A hit batter and consecutive singles by Christian Carter and Andrew Grady accounted for the first run. Dakota Resnik's single plated the second run, prompting a pitching change. Reliever Ryan Frost walked a batter and then allowed a two-run single to Matt Cox.

Now behind 4-2, the Lutes replied with three runs in the same inning. Ryan Aratani was hit by a pitch, Corey Moore walked, and both advanced a base on a Ryan Boyles sacrifice bunt. Nicholas Hall then lined a two-run single to rightfield and moved up a base on the throw to the plate. He scored on a double by Dominick Courcy.

The Loggers tied the game with an unearned run in the eighth when Will Mentor led off with a double, moved up on a throwing error and then scored on a passed ball.

After spoiling a chance to take the game in the ninth inning, PLU won it in the 10th. Aratani hit a one-out double, and he scored when Hall crushed a single well over the head of the left fielder.

Frost pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits to improve his pitching record to 1-2. Hall had three hits and three RBI, and Courcy had a pair of hits, giving the bottom two batters in the order five of the Lutes' 10 hits.

Puget Sound finished the game with nine hits, two apiece from Resnik and Cox.

Game Two: Puget Sound 9, PLU 5

Scott Wall cruised through seven innings of the second game, allowing only one run on two hits while striking out eight and walking three. After throwing 98 pitches, he came out of the game, and the Loggers got to the PLU bullpen.

The Lutes built a 4-0 lead through the first four innings. An Aratani double and Courcy single accounted for a run in the second, Iwakami's single, Johansen's RBI double and Aratani's sacrifice fly scored two in the third inning, and Courcy's walk, steal and Hoffman's RBI base hit gave PLU its fourth run in the fourth inning.

The Loggers got to Wall for a run in the seventh on consecutive walks to open the inning, followed by Grady's two-out RBI single.

Kipp Godfrey entered the game for Wall in the top of the eighth and gave up a walk, two hits and three runs without getting an out. Frost relieved Godfrey and gave up a two-run double to Kainoa Correa, with the runs being charged to Godfrey. By the time the inning ended, the Loggers had scored five runs on three hits, two PLU errors, two walks and a wild pitch. Andrew Yu had a RBI single and Carter a sacrifice fly in the uprising.

Now leading 6-5, the Loggers made it 9-5 with three more runs in the ninth inning. Cox hit a one-out triple and scored when a wild pitch on a two-out strikeout continued the inning. Jeff Walton added a two-run double to finish the scoring.

PLU had one last chance in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with two outs, but a pair of strikeouts by winning pitcher Alex Baugh sealed the victory for the Loggers. Baugh pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings, all seven outs coming on strikeouts, and gave up just two hits.

The Lutes out-hit the Loggers, 10-8, with Johansen getting three hits and Hoffman and Gates a pair apiece. Ryan Aratani scored a run in the game, tying him with Jay Chennault (1997-2000) for first place on the PLU career list with 142 runs scored.

The only Puget Sound player with more than one hit was Cox, who finished with two.

Pacific Lutheran is back in action next Friday and Saturday when it plays a three-game series at Lewis & Clark in Portland, Ore.

- PLU -