By Christian Bond, Sports Information Student Writer

SPOKANE, Wash. - Kory VanderStaay clubbed two home runs and Pacific Lutheran overcame an early five run deficit to claim a 13-6 victory over George Fox in the first round of the Northwest Conference tournament. Garrett Brown pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief earning his seventh save of the season. 

The Lutes (23-16) used four home runs to key their come-from-behind victory. 

"Our offense was great today," PLU head coach Nolan Soete said. "We went down 5-0 and 
started to have a ton of quality at bats. Wells is a good pitcher, he was undefeated in conference 
play this year, so I was definitely pleased with our offensive production. Thompson's home run 
was the spark, we were down by two and he gave us a one run lead. Vanderstaay did a great job 
coming in ready off the bench and Benny hit a nice shot to left."

With the Lutes trailing 5-0 in the second inning, Brett Johnson singled and scored on Landon Packard's RBI double to deep center field. A pair of singles by Marques Carlson and Sean Rehon and a Connor Cantu walk loaded the bases for Ben Welch. Welch singled up the middle scoring Carlson and Rehon and bringing the Lutes within one, 5-4. 

The score remained 5-4 until the fourth inning when the Bruins tacked on a run and extended their lead to 6-4.

The Lutes took a 7-6 lead in a big way, led by Tyler Thompson's three-run home run. It was his seventh home run of the season. 

Welch and VanderStaay extended the lead to 11-6 in the sixth inning on a pair of two-run home runs. It was the first homerun of the season for both. 

VanderStaay then put the game out of reach in the eighth inning with his second two-run home run of the game. 

The PLU bullpen pitched well as the team shut down George Fox in the final five innings of the 
ball game. Lee Larson came on in relief for Cory Nelson and pitched 2 2/3 innings allowing just 
one earned run while striking out one. Garrett Brown came on to shut the door as he has all season long. The conference leader in saves pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and striking out three hitters.

"Our pen really did a nice job today," Soete said. "Larson came in and calmed things down and 
Brown did an excellent job finishing it out."

With the victory, the Lutes advanced to play Whitworth in the semi-finals of the double-elimination tournament after Whitworth defeated Pacific earlier in the day. 

"We will need to play well in all three phases of the game (against Whitworth)." Soete said.

SATURDAY

Game 3 (10:00 am): Pacific vs. George Fox (loser out)
Game 4 (1:00 pm): Whitworth vs. Pacific Lutheran
Game 5 (4:00 pm): Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 (loser out)