Written by Student Assistant Sarah Cornell-Maier

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team completed its third straight sweep on Sunday, blasting host Whitman College 10-3 in the final game of the Northwest Conference weekend series.

This will be the Lutes' 11th straight win, sitting them firmly on top of the Northwest Conference with a 16-8 overall record and a 14-2 mark in conference.

The Lutes today proved just how dominant they are in the conference, scoring 10 runs on 16 hits to best the Blues (12-15, 7-7 NWC).

The game started off with a great performance in the top of the first inning. Connor Cantu hit a lead-off single through the right side, Anthony Gosline hit a single in the same area, and Cole Johnson reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Max Cummings, the designated hitter on the day, came in and hit a devastating triple to right field, scoring all three of the base runners to take the Lutes to a 3-0 lead to start the game off.

"We swung it well all weekend," said Cummings. "We've really found our groove offensively."

By the top of the fourth inning, the Lutes were sitting at a 3-2 advantage, and singles from Adam Stump, Tori Doten, and Gosline loaded the bases for Jacob Bockelie, who then drew an RBI walk to get the Lutes to a 4-2 spot in the fourth.

In the fifth inning, the Lutes increased their lead even more, starting with singles from Marcus Carlson, Cummings, and Matt Vick loading the bases for Doten, whose single drove in Carlson. A walk to Cantu gave the Lutes another run, and a fielder's choice to Gosline scored Vick to put the total score for the Lutes at 7-2.

In the sixth inning, the Lutes showed up yet again, with a single from Carlson and two groundouts moving him to third to start off the batting. A single from Stump drove Carlson in, putting the Lutes at an 8-2 advantage going into the seventh.

In the seventh, the Lutes decided that eight wasn't enough, and Cantu and Gosline singles put them on base to take advantage of two wild pitches, the first of which moved them each up a base and the second of which scored Cantu and moved Gosline to third. A single from Cole Johnson drove in Gosline, and took the Lutes to their final score of 10-3.

On the mound for the Lutes, Justin Armbruester pulled out another win, only allowing three hits and two runs on the day, while striking out eight batters through six innings. In relief, Andrew Curran and Nathan Anderson combined for three innings, only allowing a single run and helping maintain the win for the Lutes.

"We played well all weekend. Armbruester did a good job grinding out seven innings today," said Head Coach Nolan Soete. "I thought we worked a lot of quality at bats today as well. Overall it was a good weekend."

The Lutes pick up their bats again on Tuesday, March 27 as they take on the Pioneers of Lewis & Clark College at PLU field in a makeup game from February 25, with the game starting at 11 a.m.