TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team split its Northwest Conference doubleheader against crosstown rival University of Puget Sound on Sunday, winning the first game 6-5 but dropping the second 6-5.

In the first game, a walk to Max Cummings in the top of the fifth inning put him on base, and a groundout by Andy Schmitz moved Cummings to second.  Cummings then scored on an error that put Chase Lariza on base, opening up the scoring for PLU (12-5, 4-2 NWC).

In the top of the sixth, the Lutes took another chance to add to their lead.  An Austin Gormley single put him on base, and a double from Jacob Bockelie put him and Gormley in scoring position. A Marques Carlson groundout drove in Gormley, and a single from Cummings brought Bockelie in to score for the 3-0 lead.

The Loggers (3-13, 2-7 NWC) gained one run back in the bottom of the sixth, but the Lutes came back with a fire in the top of the eighth. Carlson singled to left, and was pushed to second when Cummings was hit by a pitch. Corey Ng came in to pinch-run for Cummings, and a Schmitz single loaded the bases. An error on the Loggers gave Carlson and Ng a chance to move up a base, and Carlson scored on the play.  Michael Cesar was hit by a pitch, re-loading the bases for Lariza who reached on an error, and Ng scored to take the Lutes to a 6-1 lead.

While the Loggers tallied four more runs over the course of the next few innings, it was not enough to overcome the Lutes, who wrapped up the 6-5 win.

From the mound, starting pitcher Justin Tucker tallied 7 1/3 innings for the Lutes, securing six strikeouts and only allowing two runs. Tommy Snyder came in in the ninth inning to secure the last two outs to net the save and secure the win.

"Tommy did an excellent job performing under pressure in game one today," said Head Coach Nolan Soete. "How he handled the ninth inning was impressive."

In the second game, the Lutes were down early as the Loggers scored two runs in the first inning. For the next few innings, they were unable to get anything on the board, but in the top of the fifth inning the Lutes came back to tie the Loggers. 

Jordan Haworth reached base on a fielder's choice, and a Bockelie double drove him home to score the first run of the inning. A Carlson groundout drove Bockelie to third, and a Cummings double brought Bockelie around to score, tying the game at 2-2.

In the eighth, a single from Schmitz put him on base, bringing up Cesar who smashed a home run through to left, driving in Schmitz and putting the Lutes up 4-2. Unfortunately, the Loggers came back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth, reclaiming the lead.

In the top of the ninth inning, the Lutes gave one last attempt to get back into the game. A lead off Gormley home run to left started out the inning strong, but it was only enough to tie the Loggers, and a single run in the bottom of the ninth secured a UPS victory.

From the mound, Tommy Snyder came in to pitch seven innings, striking out three and giving up only three runs on five hits after closing out Game one. Unfortunately, the last three innings of the game proved to be too much for the Lutes, with no strikeouts occurring in the rest of the game.

"Both games today were hard fought, coming down to the last inning in both of them," said Austin Gormley. "Unfortunately we were not able to pull through in the 2nd game but our team showed a ton of fight the entire day and a clutch home run from Michael Cesar gave us a chance to win it at the end. On the mound Tommy Snyder kept us in it the entire game which was great after having to use him to close out game 1."

The Lutes return home this next weekend to take on NWC opponent Lewis & Clark College in a four-game series.  Game 1 of the series begins at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 16.