FOREST GROVE, Ore. – The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team announced they will be a force to be reckon with this spring.  Opening the Northwest Conference schedule against league favorite Pacific University, the Lutes knocked off the No. 18-ranked Boxers 8-2, before the home team rallied for a 7-4 win in the night cap. 
 
"It was a good matchup between two good teams," said PLU Manager Nolan Soete.  "Tommy Snyder threw excellent in Game 1.  We had a lot of quality at-bats.  Tori Doten, Alex Boyd and Andy Schmitz all had a great game.  We didn't play well in any phase during Game 2.  Nate Anderson had a good showing out of the pen.  Pacific did a good job making us pay for mistakes.  We are excited to get back at it tomorrow."
 
Game 1
 
Senior Tommy Snyder threw a gem in the opening game of the league schedule, tossing seven innings and striking out six while allowing just one earned run.  That run came in Snyder's seventh and final inning after the Lutes were already comfortably ahead, 8-0. 
 
The Lute offense had two big innings to give Snyder plenty of run support.  Right Fielder Alex Boyd was the offensive star for the visitors, and opened the scoring in the second when he ripped a two-run triple to the right center gap.  Braeden Lundberg followed with a base hit up the gut to make the score 3-0.  Boyd picked up a RBI for the second straight inning when he found the right center gap again for a single that scored Ashton Barton. 
 
After two scoreless frames, Tori Doten hit a RBI double in the sixth and Sean Kauffman scored Barton on a sacrifice fly in the following inning.  Andy Schmitz poured it on later in the seventh when he hit the Lutes second triple of the game to score Boyd and Connor Lemma. 
 
Leading 8-1, Trevor Mason pitched the final two innings, allowing two hits and an earned run in his first inning of work. 
 
Boyd had four hits, three RBI and a pair of runs scored to spark an attack that had 16 hits.  Schmitz and Doten both had three hits, while Barton added a pair. 
 
Game 2
 
Pacific scored six runs in the first three innings and scored in five of the first six frames to earn a 7-4 win in Game 2. 
 
PLU starter Cole Trotignon surrendered three earned runs on five hits, before being chased one batter into the second inning.  Spencer Howell came on in relief and struck out six in 4.1 innings, but did allow three more earned runs and exited the game with the Lutes trailing 8-3.  The Boxers took advantage of four errors by the PLU defense, scoring an unearned run off of the Lutes' first two pitchers. 
 
PLU answered Pacific's three-run first inning with a solo tally in the second.  The Lutes had runners at the corners with nobody out, but Braeden Lundberg grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, which allowed Sean Kauffman to score, but ended a potential big inning.  The offense strung together four hits in the third as Tori Doten, Jordan Haworth, Trotignon and Ashton Barton had base hits to cut the Boxer lead to 5-3. 
 
Pacific turned things over to the bullpen for the final six innings and kept PLU off balance as the visitors had just two hits the rest of the way. 
 
Lutes will look to win the series tomorrow when they square off with the Boxers for a third and final time this weekend.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.