TACOMA, Wash. - John Graham was on fire at the plate on Sunday, going three-for-three including a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the 12th-ranked Pacific Lutheran University baseball team to a 5-4 victory over Northwest Conference rival Whitworth University. The win secured the series victory for the Lutes while propelling the squad back into first place in the NWC standings with just two weeks left in the regular season.
Tied at four in the bottom of the ninth,
Connor Lemma got things rolling with a pinch hit single up the middle.
Sean Kauffman came in as a pinch runner and advanced to second after
Andy Schmitz drew a walk. Kauffman would score the winning run two batters later with Graham blasting a single up the middle to bring him in to win the rubbermatch between the Lutes and Pirates.Â
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Tori Doten single through the right side put the Lutes (18-9, 11-7 NWC) up 2-0 in the bottom of the third, scoring
Jordan Haworth and
Andy Schmitz. The Pirates (6-23, 5-13 NWC) tied the game in the fourth with Jaxsen Sweum blasting a two-run home run before taking the lead in the sixth courtesy of another two-run home run from Sweum.
Pacific Lutheran responded in the bottom of the frame with an
Ethan Keintz triple scoring Doten before Keintz came home on a RBI single from
Ashton Barton tying the game at 4-4.Â
PLU finished the day with 11 hits, including three off the bat of Graham who was three-for-three with one RBI while also drawing two walks. Doten was two-for-three with a pair of RBIs while Barton was two-for-four.
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Cole Trotignon got the start on the hill, going 5 1/3 innings before giving way to
Noah Ferguson. Ferguson pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to secure the win, striking out four while allowing just one hit and one walk.
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The Lutes hit the road next weekend, trekking to Walla Walla, Washington for a four-game series against Whitman College. Â
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