Written by Student Assistant Sarah Cornell-Maier

NEWBERG, Ore. – The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team clinched the Northwest Conference regular season title on Sunday, dropping the front end of a doubleheader 6-2 to host George Fox University before taking game two 7-6 in 11 innings to hoist the title.

In the first game, the Lutes (19-12, 17-6 NWC) had a rough first inning, giving up five runs on six hits, which put them in a hole that they didn't manage to come back from.

In the top of the eighth inning, the Lutes showed some fire, with a Tori Doten single and Anthony Gosline walk putting two Lutes on the bases for Jacob Bockelie. Bockelie hit a hard RBI single to right field, driving Doten in from second to score the first run of the game for the Lutes. A sacrifice fly from Cole Johnson drove in Gosline from third, but the two runs were not enough to overcome the early game heroics from the Bruins (18-15, 10-10 NWC) who hung on for the win.

On the mound, Sophomore Chad Gidoen started off the game with a rocky first inning, but came back for the next four innings, striking out five batters and only giving up one hit outside of the first inning. In relief for Gideon, Janson Pederson went for three innings, striking out one.

In the second game, the Lutes fought back from a deficit to win in an extra-innings spectacle.

The scoring started in the second inning, with a Marques Carlson single, a walk to Doten, and Matt Vick being hit by a pitch loading the bases. A balk from the pitcher brought Carlson in to score to take the Lutes to a 1-0 lead. The Bruins came back in the bottom of the second to tie things up at 1-1.

In the top of the third, Connor Cantu was walked, and an Anthony Gosline single advanced Cantu to second. A groundout from Bockelie advanced the runners, and a Johnson sacrifice fly scored Cantu from third. In the bottom of the third, the Lutes experienced a lead change with the Bruins scoring two to take a 3-2 lead over the Lutes. The Bruins then added two in the bottom of the fourth to put the Lutes behind 5-2

The sides didn't score in the fifth or sixth inning, but the top of the seventh proved to be an important spot for the Lutes. A walk to Adam Stump and a Vick single put runners on the bases, and consecutive singles from Max Cummings and Cantu drove in one run each, moving the Lutes nearer to closing the score gap. A sacrifice bunt from Anthony Gosline moved the runners up, and a single from Bockelie drove Cummings and Cantu home, taking the Lutes to a 6-5 lead.

The Bruins scored a run in the bottom of the eighth and the teams went into extra innings, with both teams knowing that a win for the Lutes would give them the conference regular season title.

The teams were held scoreless in the ninth and tenth innings, but the top of the eleventh inning gave the Lutes the win they had been searching for. Consecutive singles from Gosline and Bockelie put them on base, and after getting hit by a pitch Johnson joined them to load the bases. In a stressful two-out scenario, Stump was walked to bring in what would be the final run of the day. The Lutes won with a score of 7-6.

Because the Lutes were the guest team, they still had to keep the Bruins from scoring in the bottom of the eleventh. Thankfully, the Lutes bullpen had been very strong today. Jacob Mortensen and Alex Gregory pitched in relief for Johnson, only having a single run between the two of them. Gregory finished off the last five innings of the game, striking out six batters, most importantly striking out two in the final half inning in a fashion that brought his teammates out of the dugout to pile on top of him as they clinched the regular season title.

"I'm just thankful for the opportunity that I was put in the game," said Gregory. "My teammates rallied the whole game and gave us the lead down the stretch. We've worked really hard the past week and we really deserved this."

With today's win, the Lutes will be hosting the Northwest Conference Championship Tournament from April 20-22.

The Lutes continue this series on Monday at 1 p.m.