Tacoma, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University Baseball team split the day in their first doubleheader against Northwest Conference Opponent Lewis & Clark College.  The Lutes took game 1 with a final score of 11-3 before falling to the Pioneers 0-7 in the second game.

During the first game, the Lutes took a few innings to warm up.  In the bottom of the 3rd, a Tori Doten single led off the inning, followed by a Sac bunt from Austin's Gormley to advance Doten.  A single from Jordan Haworth drove in Doten to open the score for the Lutes, putting them ahead 1-0 going into the 4th inning.

In the bottom of the 4th inning, the Lutes started the inning off with consecutive singles from Marques Carlson and Michael Cesar.  King Jimenez-Cruz advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Carlson scored on a wild pitch.  Doten then singled to center, driving in Cesar, while a Gormley double then drove in Doten.  Haworth walked, and Bockelie doubled down the right field line, scoring Gormley.  Max Cummings hit an RBI groundout to second, bringing Haworth in to score, and an Andy Schmitz single to left scored Bockelie.  Bringing the Lutes back to the top of the batting order, Carlson doubled to right-center, advancing Schmitz to third. After a pitching change, Michael Cesar singled to shortstop, driving in Schmitz to take the score at the end of the inning to 8-0 in the Lutes' favor.

"Game 1 was well played with consistent offense and really good defense played through all 9 innings," said Jacob Bockelie. "We were putting good swings on the ball that game and capitalized on our opportunities."

Lewis & Clark put two on the board in the top of the 6th inning, but the Lutes fired right back in the bottom of the 6th.  Jacob Bockelie showed how he earned the title of NWC MVP last year, smashing a solo home run right in front of the scoreboard, tacking another run onto the PLU lead. Schmitz then  singled and advanced to second on an error, and a Carlson single drove Schmitz in unearned, taking the Lutes to a 10-2 lead.

"Getting the first homerun at home is like getting the monkey off your back, especially at this point in the year," said Bockelie.  "I put a good swing on the ball and knew it was out right off the bat."

The Lutes weren't satisfied with this lead, however, and added another one on in the bottom of the 7th.  Gormley doubled to left, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  Bockelie was walked, and Cummings singled to right to drive in Gormley, taking the Lutes to an 11-2 lead. While the Pioneers were able to put another run on the board, it wasn't enough to overcome the staggering PLU lead, and the game ended at 11-3 in favor of the Lutes.

As a fun and unique defensive play, a Pioneer hitter smacked a ball straight into Jacob Bockelie's glove while there was a player on first, giving Bockelie the chance to get an unassisted double play, the first of his career.

"The double play was really cool considering it's the first time doing something like that," said Bockelie.

From the mound, PLU was fairly dominant, with started Justin Armbruester logging 7 innings and 7 strikeouts against the Pioneers and tallied another win to his now 3-0 record, while reliever Janson Pederson rounded out the game, only allowing a single hit on the night.

"Armbruester threw well and we played excellent defense," said Head Coach Nolan Soete. "Offensively we did a great job stringing together a lot of quality at bats."

During the second game of the day, the Lutes were less lucky on the field. 
The Pioneers scored 6 runs in the 4th inning before adding insult to injury with another run in the top of the 9th.  Unfortunately, the Lutes were unable to score during the entirety of game two, with several untimely errors cost them runs throughout the game.

Lewis & Clark played better than us in every phase of the game," said Soete.  "They out pitched us, outhit us and certainly played better defensively. We have to have a better approach offensively going forward, do a better job commanding the zone on the mound and make the routine plays on defense. Our guys will work hard and I expect them to perform better tomorrow."

The Lutes return to the field on Sunday, March 17 at 11 a.m. for the rubber match against the Pioneers, and then host a non-conference game against Lewis & Clark directly after.