TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team is returning home to PLU Field after a successful spring break to take on Northwest Conference rival Whitworth University on Saturday and Sunday.

The Lutes (16-8, 8-4 NWC) have had a week of training before heading back to the field for a competition, and are itching to get back into the grind of the NWC. The Lutes were last on the diamond a week ago, earning a three-game sweep of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, coming away with 5-4, 10-7, and 8-4 victories. 

Junior pitcher Andrew Curran and some of his teammates decided to use their time over spring break to experience even more baseball.

"Spring break has been nice so far, it's always nice being able to wake up and know you only have baseball, it's a well needed break from classes. We had a couple of days off at the beginning of the week, so me and a few other guys on the team decided to head up to Seattle and watch the Mariners exhibition games that they were playing before their home opener, it was nice to be able to relax and watch some baseball."

Curran, in his third year on the PLU team, has seen the Lutes through a lot of different changes.
 
"I think one of our biggest challenges this year was how young we are. At the beginning of the year there were a lot of questions in terms of who was going to play where and who would step up for us, but as the season has gone on we have matured a ton. A lot of programs would look at a year like this as a 'rebuilding year', but our mentality is why not us and why not now?"

"We want to win for each other, especially the seniors.  Winning came easy at first, but I think as a team we became a little complacent and we started to coast, something you can't do in this conference. This was something I don't think we all truly learned until our series against Lewis & Clark, but we're going to use that to our advantage, we're glad that weekend happened earlier in the year rather than later."

When not learning lessons on the field, Curran is preparing to teach them, both on the field and in a classroom.

"After PLU I plan on becoming a high school math teacher and hopefully a coach. I've wanted to be a teacher for a while now and I've always enjoyed math so I figured becoming a math teacher was the perfect choice. Being at PLU has helped me a ton, with the small class sizes being a huge advantage with being able to ask questions in class and having a more personal experience."

As the Lutes move forward into the rest of the NWC season, they are looking to maintain momentum and strength as a program.

"Our main goal right now as a team is to build off of our success last weekend and continue to get better. Everything is starting to click for us so we need to be sure to trust the process and keep doing what we've been doing in terms of practicing hard and doing what we can to stay healthy."

"For the rest of the season I'm exciting to see how much more we can grow as a collective group. We all know how much talent we have, we just need to put it together and play to the best of our abilities. If we do that, we're going to be a fun team to watch."

The Lutes have four series remaining in the regular season, and are looking to put their best foot forward in hopes of making it to the NWC Tournament.
 
"There are a lot of things that set our team apart from others in the conference. This year's team is one of the closest teams I've ever been on, everyone is family. This translates on the field because we all have a lot of trust in each other, I know that when I pitch the entire defense has my back, making plays when they need to and they know that I have their back as well, doing everything I can to get outs and make it as easy as I can for them. That extends beyond just on the field too, I know that if I ever needed anything that I could go up to any guy on the team and they'd be there for me. It's a dynamic that's really cool to be a part of and it's exciting to see how much we've all grown together."

The Lutes play Whitworth on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at noon before closing the series with a single game on Sunday.

Mar. 30: PLU vs. Whitworth (DH) at PLU Field (12 p.m.)
Mar. 31: PLU vs. Whitworth at PLU Field (12 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Pirates have met 131 times since the 1980 season with Whitworth holding a slim 69-62 edge in the all-time series. The two teams met four times last season with Whitworth winning the lone non-conference encounter while the Lutes won all three NWC games.

About the Pirates: Whitworth (12-10, 9-3 NWC) heads to Tacoma sitting tied atop the league standings with Pacific after winning eight of its last nine games.

The Pirates dropped two of three against Whitman College to open the NWC slate but has been nearly unstoppable since, earning series sweeps of Pacific University and Willamette University before taking two of three against George Fox University last weekend.

Taylor Pofenroth leads the team with a .400 batting average while Tayler Bailey has driven in a team-best 18 runs on the season.