PARKLAND – An early-season matchup of two nationally-ranked Northwest Conference favorites saw both teams come away with a win as the 17th-ranked Pacific Lutheran Lutes split a baseball doubleheader against the 14th-ranked Linfield Wildcats in the Lutes' 2016 home opener Saturday.

Linfield won the opener 7-2 before PLU bounced back to pound out 17 hits in an 8-3 win in game two to clinch the doubleheader split with an 8-3 win. The two teams will match up Sunday at 12 p.m. in the rubber game of the series.

"I thought our guys did a good job bouncing back after a tough loss in game one," PLU head coach Nolan Soete said. "We played well offensively in the second game, with Landon and Drew leading the way. On the mound Cole didn't have his best stuff, but he battled and was able to go deep into the game. Leif did well in relief, as well. We still need to clean it up defensively."

Landon Packard and Drew Oord combined to reach base in all 10 of their plate appearances in the second game, as the duo went 9-for-9 with a walk. Packard tallied a pair of doubles and drove in three runs, while Packard and Oord each scored three times. Tyler Thompson also picked up a pair of hits and scored twice in the second game after drilling a game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of the first game.

Kyle Rossman limited Linfield to one earned run on seven hits over eight innings in the opener. Linfield took a 2-0 lead into the eighth before Thompson tied it up with one swing. However, the Wildcats rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth to clinch the win.

The Lutes bounced back in game two, scoring the first eight runs of the game with three in the second, two in the third, two more in the fifth and their final run in the sixth. Cole Johnson overcame six walks to pitch 6.2 innings for the Lutes, earning his second win of the season. Leif Hansen pitched the final 2.1 innings in relief, allowing only one unearned run on one hit.

Packard got the Lutes on the board in the second, following back-to-back singles by Thompson and Oord with a double down the right field line to make it 1-0. A Linfield error allowed the Lutes' second run of the inning to score, and Ben Welch singled up the middle to bring Packard home for an early 3-0 lead.

A two-out walk by Oord in the third set the stage for Packard's second straight RBI double, and Brett Johnson scored Packard with a single to put the Lutes up 5-0. Oord and Packard were again at the center of a PLU rally in the fifth, as they opened the inning with consecutive singles and each came in to score on a Matt Vick single up the middle. PLU's final run came in the sixth as Thompson reached on an infield single and – who else – Oord and Packard followed with back-to-back base hits to bring him home.

Ben Andrews led Linfield with three hits in the opener, while Ryan Ross had two hits in the first game and one in the second. The Wildcats' starting pitcher in the opener Callahan Neely pitched seven innings of two-run ball, while Riley Newman took the loss in the second game after giving up five earned runs and 12 hits in five innings.