SPOKANE – A pair of dominant pitching performances told the story Saturday as Pacific Lutheran and Whitworth split a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader at Merkel Field.

Trevor Lubking absolutely shut down the Whitworth offense in the opener, pitching a complete-game three-hitter to improve to 4-0 as the Lutes picked up a 3-1 win. The Pirates bounced back in the second game, as Cory Mack limited PLU to one hit in eight shutout innings as the hosts won 4-0.

Alec Beal was the key offensive producer for the Lutes, picking up two hits in the first game and driving in two of PLU's three runs. He cranked a one-out home run to right field in the top of the first to put PLU on the board and drove in the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third.

Whitworth scored its lone run of the opener in the bottom of the first inning, tying the game at 1-1 on a homer by shortstop Nick Motsinger. The Lutes strung together four hits with Beal's sacrifice fly in the top of the third to bring two more runs home. Bo Pearson and Ben Welch opened with singles, and Dominick Courcy dropped a bunt single to load the bases prior to Beal's flyout to center. With two outs and runners at first and second, Collin Nilson singled to right field to bring home Welch and set what would go on to be the final score at 3-1.

Lubking finished the game with 13 strikeouts and only one walk as he threw 119 pitches, 78 for strikes. He faced 31 total batters and wrapped set down the Pirates in order in six of the nine innings to drop his earned run average to 1.77 for the season.

The second game was all about Mack, as the Whitworth starter allowed only three PLU base runners with one hit and two walks in eight innings while throwing 104 pitches. The Pirates scored three runs in the bottom of the first, as a two-out double brought home a pair of runs following an RBI single for the hosts. They added one more in the bottom of the third via a pair of singles and a wild pitch.

Pearson finished with the Lutes' only two hits in the game, as PLU put together its best chance at a rally in the ninth inning after Taylor Isadore came in to pitch in relief of Mack. Pearson opened the inning with a single, and Tyler Thompson walked to put two on with no outs. A double-play ground out wiped away most of the threat, but another walk put two runners on again before Isadore induced a game-ending flyout to center.

Pacific Lutheran goes to 11-5 overall and 6-1 in conference play, while Whitworth goes to 6-8 overall and 3-2 in the NWC. The teams will wrap up the three-game set with the rubber game Sunday, with first pitch set for 12 p.m.