SALEM – Tyler Thompson hit two homers and drove in five runs to lead Pacific Lutheran to an 11-5 Northwest Conference baseball win against Willamette Sunday afternoon at John Lewis Field.

With the win, Pacific Lutheran improved to 22-14 overall and 13-8 in conference play. Willamette fell to 22-14 overall and 14-7 in the NWC. The Lutes return home next weekend to wrap up the 2014 regular season with a three-game conference series against Pacific.

Thompson totaled four hits in five at bats with one walk as he hit two home runs and a double and scored three runs as the Lutes' 11 runs marked the team's second-highest total this season. Shawn Abe and Drew Oord each tallied three hits, while Ben Welch finished with a pair of hits. Tiras Koon homered for Willamette and was one of three Bearcats with two hits.

Derrick Mahlum improved to 6-3 this season after limiting Willamette to three earned runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Eland Tsubata took the loss for the Bearcats, giving up six runs on seven hits in only two innings.

PLU got on the board in the top of the second, as Thompson hit a one-out double and Curtis Wildung brought him home with a single to left. The Lutes blew the game wide open the next inning, erupting for eight runs on seven hits. Abe opened the inning with an infield single, Collin Nilson walked and Oord singled to load the bases. Kory Vanderstaay forced a run in with a full-count walk following an eight-pitch plate appearance, and Welch singled through the right side to bring in another run.

That prompted Willamette to replace Tsubata on the mound with Albert Garcia, just in time for Thompson to step to the plate. The PLU third baseman offered quite the welcome to Garcia, crushing a grand slam over the left field wall to make it 7-0 before the Bearcats even recorded an out in the inning. One out later, Nicholas Hall doubled down the right field line. He came in to score on a Willamette error that allowed Abe to reach base for the second time in the frame. Nilson followed with a single to left, and Oord's second single of the inning scored Abe to make it 9-0.

The Lutes added two more in the top of the fourth. Thompson led off with his second homer of the day. Wildung walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Abe's single to left. Willamette finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning, piecing together three singles to make it an 11-1 game.

Koon's homer gave Willamette its second run in the bottom of the sixth, and the Bearcats added three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Devin Bales hit a one-out double and scored on a single by Tommy Kawamu. A PLU error allowed Kawamu to score, and Ty Wyatt singled home the Bearcats' third run of the inning.