TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team had the tying run at the plate on Sunday afternoon but was unable to complete the comeback and earn the series sweep, falling 9-5 to Northwest Conference rival Willamette University.

"Whenever you win a series on Saturday you want to finish the job on Sunday and get the sweep. Unfortunately, Willamette was better than us today," said Head Coach Nolan Soete.

"We battled and put ourselves in a position to make a comeback, but we didn't pitch well enough or hit well enough today. But overall it was a successful weekend and we improved in a lot of areas."
 
The Lutes (3-9, 2-3 NWC) had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs but a strikeout allowed the visiting Bearcats (9-2, 4-2 NWC) to escape PLU Field with a win and avoid the sweep. 
 
Willamette struck first, plating a run in the top of the first before the Lutes answered with an Aaron Barber RBI single to score Brayden Adcox in the bottom of the first before a Rutger Youch double down the line the next inning made it 2-1 PLU.
 
The Bearcats added two runs in the third and single runs in the fourth and five innings to stake a 5-2 lead. Adcox scored again in the fifth inning before a Rochne Beecham single scored Barber and Youch in the seventh inning to tie the game at five.
 
Willamette's offense responded for four runs in the eighth inning for what turned out to be the final runs of the game.
 
Adcox finished three-for-six with two runs scored while Youch, Barber, and Beecham all had two hits on the day.
 
Lute pitchers combined for 13 punchouts on the day with starter Matthew Sherwood inking four in his 2 2/3 innings of work. Logan Egge had seven strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings and was hit with the decision. Jon Crawley pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just two hits and no walks while fanning one.  

Despite the loss, the Lutes still won the series after securing 7-2 and 1-0 victories over Willamette on Saturday afternoon. 
 
The Lutes are back on the diamond tomorrow afternoon, hosting Alfred State College at 2 p.m.