SALEM, Ore. – After dropping the opening game of the series 7-3 to Willamette University on Saturday, the Pacific Lutheran University baseball team rallied for a 5-1 victory to earn a split with the Bearcats to begin the three-game, Northwest Conference series.
 
"Game 1 was tough today," said PLU Head Coach Nolan Soete. "Their ace did a good job. Our hitters struggled to put anything together. We bounced back in Game 2, thanks to a tremendous effort by Spencer Howell. He really set the tone for us. Offensively, we did just enough to get the win. We had some big hits by Andy Schmitz, Ashton Barton, and Braeden Lundberg. It felt good to get back in the win column against a very good team."
 
Game 1
Willamette scored in the opening inning against PLU starter Cole Trotignon (1-2), but the Lutes answered in the third when Aaron Barber doubled home Rutger Youch to tie the score. In the bottom half of the inning,  Jeff Hoffman connected for a two-run home run to give the home team a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
 
Trotignon helped his own cause in the top of the fourth with a solo shot to left, but surrendered a solo home run in the home half of the inning. In the sixth, Schmitz drew the Lutes to within one with a home run to center, but the Bearcats scored the final three runs to earn a 7-3 victory.
 
Schmitz had two hits and a run scored to lead the attack. Youch added a single for the Lutes as the offense mustered five hits in the opening game. Trotignon allowed five runs in five innings of work on nine hits. Jonathan Cohen retired two of the four batters he faced and Wyatt Norris pitched a perfect eighth. Chris Moreno recorded four outs across the sixth and seventh innings and allowed the final two runs.
 
Game 2
PLU scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and two more times in the sixth to give plenty of run support to Howell in a 5-1 victory. Howell (3-1) struck out 10 in eight innings pitched and allowed just one run in the seventh inning. The senior tossed 115 pitches and scattered nine hits over the course of the outing. Moreno allowed two hits in the ninth, but retired the side without allowing a run.
 
Barton got the scoring going for the visitors in the fourth on a single to left to score Schmitz. It was Schmitz in the next inning that singled in Lundberg and Sean Kauffman to put the Lutes up 3-0. Ethan Keintz and Lundberg added RBI in the sixth to complete the scoring for PLU.
 
Howell worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh. With the score at 5-1, back-to-back singles loaded the bases for the Bearcats, but Howell got Luke Werkmesiter-Martin to fly out to end the threat.
 
Barton led the effort with two hits in the nightcap. Barber, Schmitz and Lundberg all added singles to aid the effort.
 
PLU (7-9, 2-6 NWC) snapped a seven-game losing streak with the win today. The Lutes will look to win the series against Willamette (10-4, 6-2 NWC) tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.