MCMINNVILLE, Ore. --- The Pacific Lutheran baseball team dropped an early Northwest Conference matchup at a neutral site against the reigning conference champion Whitman Blues; 9-1.
 
Rochne Beecham opened the game with a leadoff single in the top half of the first, but was cut down in a inning-ending double play. Matthew Sherwood got the starting nod on the bump for the Lutes, sitting down the first three batters he faced.
 
Whitman notched their second hit of the game in the bottom half of the third, as a one-out double led to a two-run innings for the Blues; one of which advancing on a Sherwood balk. The Blues took a 2-0 lead through three.
 
After two runners were stranded in scoring position for the Lutes in the fourth inning, Braeden Lundberg hit a two-out single that sparked a Rutger Youch double to left field; putting the Lutes on the board, but trailing 2-1 after four.
 
Sherwood's outing came to an end after just 4.2 innings, as a pair of walks and three fielding errors scored four for Whitman. The Blues pull out to a 6-2 lead after just one hit in the fifth. Sherwood allowed four hits and six runs, while just two were earned. He walked two and struck out five.
 
PLU was unable to get a hit against one of the conference's best pitching staff for the next three innings, while Whitman tacked on three more in the seventh. Two of the three runs were unearned after a fourth fielding error from the Lutes infield. Down to their final two outs, Lundberg and Peter King hit consecutive singles, but a pair of looking strike outs ended the game.
 
The Lutes were 7-6, but the 9-1 difference came as a result of the Lutes four errors to the Blues two. Lundberg went 2-3 at the plate, while Youch went 1-5 and added the Lutes lone run batted in. 15 total Lutes earned playing time on Saturday afternoon. Sherwood earned the loss after his 4.2 innings of work, while Alex Lopez, Andrew Hickman, and Anthony Adams, all saw time on the bump.
 
"It was a tough one today. We made a lot of mistakes defensively and that really cost us." Said Head Coach Nolan Soete following the loss.
 
"Whitman is a great team, and they played better than us in all phases today. We will learn from it and get back to playing cleaner baseball going forward."
 
Baseball looks to snap their two-game skid tomorrow afternoon at home, as they host cross-town rival Puget Sound at 12 p.m.
 
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