PARKLAND – Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound took the idea of a pitchers' duel to the extreme on Saturday afternoon, matching zeroes through 14 innings of play before the Loggers finally broke through to win 2-0 in 15 innings. The length of the game forced the eventual postponement of the scheduled second contest due to darkness on the field.

Puget Sound improves to 6-9 overall and 5-3 in Northwest Conference play, while PLU falls to 12-6 overall and 7-2 in the NWC. The teams will resume play Sunday at 1 p.m., beginning with the conclusion of the second game. Puget Sound leads 13-6 in the bottom of the eighth with one out, runners at first and second and Nicholas Hall at bat against Jarrod Beiser. After that game is wrapped up, the teams will play their regularly-schedule third game of the series.

Lasting just over four hours and featuring a total of 442 pitches, the NWC rivalry series opener featured numerous pitchers escaping jams and even three different runners being thrown out at the plate on perfect throws from the outfield.

Trevor Lubking and Steve Wagar each pitched 8.1 shutout innings for their respective teams, though neither factored into the decision. Lubking posted a nearly identical pitching line to last week's three-hitter against Whitworth, limiting Puget Sound to three hits while striking out 13 – including six looking. He gave way to AJ Konopaski with two runners on in the ninth, and Konopaski pitched out of the jam and proceeded to toss 4.2 innings of two-hit ball before taking a seat with a total of 58 pitches thrown. Cory Nelson took over in the 14th and took the loss, yielding the game's only two runs – one earned – on two hits and a walk in 2.0 innings pitched.

Wagar held PLU scoreless despite yielding five hits and four walks with five strikeouts before Kian Kuokawa came on to throw 4.2 shutout innings on 73 pitches. Jarrod Beiser struck out two in his one inning pitched to earn the win, while Troy Kakugawa moved from shortstop to the mound in the bottom of the 15th to claim the save.

For the PLU offense, the game was a story of missed opportunities. The Lutes stranded 17 base runners and twice had potential go-ahead runs thrown out at home. The first came in the bottom of the first inning when Tyler Thompson tried to score from second on a Drew Oord single to shallow left field before a perfect throw from left beat Thompson to the plate for the final out of the inning.

The most painful for the Lutes was in the 13th inning. Collin Nilson reached on a throwing error, and Oord singled to put runners at first and second with one out. Curtis Wildung drove a line drive into right field for a hard single, and after Nilson was waved in from third the throw to the plate beat the PLU outfielder for the second out of the inning. Ben Welch followed with a five-pitch walk to load the bases, but a popup ended the inning.

The Loggers finally broke through in the top of the 15th inning, taking advantage of two hits, a PLU error and a wild pitch to put two on the board and claim the hard-fought win. The game almost continued, however, when the Lutes put runners at second and third with two outs in the bottom of the frame before Kakugawa struck out Daniel Altchech to clinch the win.

The second game turned into a bit of a slugfest midway through the contest. PLU scored a run in each of the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead before UPS cranked out four runs on four hits in the fourth. Wildung powered his second home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-3, but the Loggers added another run in the fifth to go back up by two.

Puget Sound's sixth inning broke the game open, as the Loggers tallied seven hits – including four doubles – in the frame to score seven runs and take a 12-3 lead. A Jeff Walton solo homer in the top of the eighth made it 13-3, but PLU scored three in the bottom of the eighth before the umpires gathered together to postpone the final inning-plus due to darkness setting in.