SPOKANE - Pacific Lutheran's hopes of staying in the hunt for the Northwest Conference baseball title took a major hit on Saturday as the host Whitworth Pirates swept the Lutes, 7-6 and 13-2, in a doubleheader at Merkel Field.
With the losses, the Lutes (12-13 overall), fall into sixth place in the conference standings with a 7-7 record. Linfield currently leads the NWC with a 14-3 record. Whitworth (14-15 overall), which ended a five-game losing streak, is 8-6 in the conference, one game ahead of PLU.
The Lutes didn't do a lot right on Saturday, managing just 12 hits total while allowing 26 in the doubleheader. In addition, they committed four errors, three coming in the second game.
On a positive note, senior centerfielder Ryan Aratani hit a run-scoring single in the fifth inning of the first game, giving him 117 career RBI, tying him with Jordan Post (2005-08) for first place on the PLU career list.
Game 1 - Whitworth 7, PLU 6
Gerhard Muelheims drove in three runs, including the game-winner with an infield single to shortstop in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Michael Taylor pitched five sharp innings of relief to give the Pirates a win in the series opener.
Ryan Frost, who started at third base before pitching the final three innings, put the Lutes on the board first with an RBI single in the second inning.
Muelheims gave Whitworth the lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, his first of the season. JR Jarrell led off the fourth with his first round-tripper of the season and Kyle Krustangel singled home another run in the inning to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead through four.
But Whitworth starter Liam O'Brien tired in the fifth inning, walking the first three batters to load the bases. Taylor came on in relief and allowed a two-run single to Corey Moore, Aratani's record-tying RBI single, and a run-scoring ground out by by Dan Johansen. By the time the inning was over PLU had taken a 6-4 lead.
The Pirates answered in the bottom of the inning, tying the game when Valerio doubled home Landon Scott, and then scored on Nick Ashley's sacrifice fly.
Meanwhile, Taylor settled in. He did not allow a single Lute baserunner after the fifth inning, setting down the final 14 batters he faced. He did not walk or strike out a batter on the way to improving to 2-0 on the mound this season.
The Pirates got the first two batters on base in the eighth but Frost, in relief of PLU starter Scott Wall, appeared poised to get out of the threat when he retired two batters with the go-ahead run at third base. But Muelheims drove a ball deep into the hole at shortstop and Bo Pearson was not able to field it cleanly, allowing pinch runner Taylor Isadore to score the winning run.
The Lutes managed only five hits in the game. Frost fell to 0-2 in relief after allowing one run on five hits in three innings.
Game 2 - Whitworth 13, Pacific Lutheran 2
Eric Anderson pitched seven strong innings, Scott went 3-for-4 with four RBI, and Whitworth broke open a close game with seven runs in the bottom of the seven inning.
Once again the Lutes jumped ahead in the second inning when Johansen drove a pitch over the left field wall for a two-run homer, his second of the season. But that was all PLU would score against Anderson and reliever Troy Duppenthaler.
Whitworth tied the game in the third with two runs and then took the lead in the fifth when Michael Takemura scampered home on a wild pitch. The Pirates broke the game open in the seventh, scoring seven runs on only four hits. The Bucs took advantage of two PLU errors and another wild pitch. Pfeffer had a two-run double, then Kevin Valerio doubled to right field to score two more runs. Jarrell added an RBI single and CJ Perry had a sacrifice fly in the inning. For good measure Scott stroked a three-run homer in the eighth, his fourth of the season, for the final margin.
Johansen (3-2) started on the mound for PLU and gave up six runs (five earned) on five hits. He also accounted for both Lute runs.
Whitworth and Pacific Lutheran will complete the three-game NWC series with a single contest on Sunday at noon.
(Courtesy of Whitworth Sports Information Office.)
