LACEY, Wash. --- The Pacific Lutheran baseball team took on the Saints of Saint Martin's University in a single game matchup on Sunday, coming away with a 4-3 loss on the road.
 
In a game that featured 17 different Lutes at the plate and seven total arms on the mound, the Lutes eighth-inning heroics weren't enough to take down the Saints. Matthew Sherwood earned the starting nod on the bump for the Lutes, striking out two and allowing one hit in his opening inning of work. Brody Phinney ripped a one-out double in the second inning, setting up senior Christian Cambridge for an infield single. The Lutes bats were unable to execute with runners in scoring position though as senior Rowan Amann would ground out the end the effort.
 
Kamryn Swartz came in in the third inning to relieve Sherwood on the mound with the game still scoreless at 0-0. Swartz hit one batter with a pitch but ultimately kept the Saints from driving in the run. The Lutes struck first in the top of the fourth as Phinney's second double led to a Cambridge single to the shortstop who would make a throwing error to score Phinney.
 
Trevor Mason entered the game on the mound in the home half of the fourth, allowing no hits on one error to maintain the Lutes lead. Senior Jake Sulya would make his fourth appearance of the season, relieving Mason to open the fifth. Sulya walked a batter with one out, later coming around to score following a single and fielder's choice to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Jonathan Cohen pitched the sixth for the Lutes, allowing a leadoff double and a pair of singles to give the Saints a 3-1 lead. The Lutes bats went cold until the eighth inning, where Brayden Adcox and Aaron Barber worked one-out walks before stealing both second and third base. Senior Ashton Barton's double to left field scored both, once again tying the score at three a-piece in the eighth.
 
Chris Moreno pitched the home half of the eighth for PLU, as a one-out double followed by a single would force a play at the plate in which the runner was thrown out on a relay from center field. An ensuing single to left field would score the runner before the batter was thrown out at second to end the inning with the Saints taking a 4-3 lead.
 
Rochne Beecham's leadoff walk would not come around to score in the final inning as Beecham was caught between second and third base on a Carson Burke fielder's choice.
 
Sherwood did the most work for the Lutes on the mound, going two innings and allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four. Six other Lutes each pitched one inning, as Cohen was credited with two earned runs meanwhile Sulya and Moreno each had one.
 
Phinney and Cambridge combined for two hits each, totaling four of the Lutes seven total hits. Barton drove in the Lutes only two runs in the game in his one-for-four day.
 
"It was a tight game today. From a pitching perspective we staffed it well and most of the pitchers had pretty clean outings." Said Head Coach Nolan Soete following the loss.
 
"We didn't really get much going offensively, and we did a good job tying the game up late on a big double by Ashton Barton. We had a couple opportunities with runners in scoring position throughout the game but we couldn't get the clutch hit. We are shooting to end the season on a good note this weekend at home."
 
Baseball looks to snap their two-game skid on Friday at home against the Loggers of Puget Sound at 3 p.m. The Lutes host the cross-town rivals in a three-game set with one game on Friday and two on Saturday to close out the regular season.
 
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