FOREST GROVE, Ore. - Second-seeded Pacific Lutheran University's route to the 2021 Northwest Conference Baseball Tournament title got a bit more difficult on Thursday, dropping a 6-2 extra innings affair against third-seeded Willamette University at Chuck Bafaro Stadium.

The Lutes (25-16) will face fourth-seeded Whitworth University in an elimination game tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. The survivor of that game will face the loser of the Willamette-Pacific University clash for a chance to advance to Saturday's title game.

After two scoreless frames the underdog Bearcats (28-13) drew first blood, stringing together a single and a double to seize the 1-0 lead. Pacific Lutheran broke up the shutout in the fifth inning. Kenton Robillard led off the frame with a single to right field, advancing to second on an Andy Schmitz sacrifice bunt. Robillard moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Jordan Haworth sacrifice fly, knotting the score at 1-1.

PLU threatened in the ninth with a runner on second with one out but consecutive flyouts ended the inning prematurely.

With runners placed on second base to start extra innings, Willamette manufactured a score in the 10th only to have the Lutes match it in the bottom of the inning. An Austin Gormley sacrifice bunt pushed Schmitz to third to start the inning before another Haworth sacrifice fly allowed Schmitz to score.

Neither team was able to generate a run in the 11th before the Bearcats plated four in the 12th to steal the win.

PLU stranded 15 runners on base over the course of the game, including having two men on in the 11th.

Alex Boyd paced the Lutes at the dish, going three-for-five while Schmitz was two-for-five.

Tommy Snyder struck out two and allowed no walks in eight innings of labor on the mound, earning a no decision. Alex Gregory was tagged with the loss, allowing just one hit in three innings of action.

PLU returns to the diamond tomorrow at 10 a.m. to face Whitworth who fell 5-4 to host and top-seeded Pacific.