TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team rallied to win both ends of a doubleheader on Sunday, winning its first Northwest Conference series of the season with a 10-7 victory in the opener before downing Lewis & Clark College by an identical 10-7 score in a non-conference game to cap off the weekend at PLU Field.
"It was a good weekend for us. We know every time we play Lewis & Clark it's going to be a battle and this weekend was a battle. Our hitters did a good job all weekend and a lot of guys had a solid four games at the plate. Burke had a monster weekend with three home runs. Beecham and Barber also had great at bats every game," said Head Coach
Nolan Soete.
"From a pitching standpoint Egge did a great job closing out game one and three. It was also nice to see Lopez and Hickman picked up their first collegiate wins."
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The Pioneers (5-4, 1-2 NWC) struck first in the opener, establishing a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The homestanding Lutes (4-4, 2-1 NWC) battled back and whittled the gap to just a single run in the bottom of the first.
Rutger Youch had a leadoff single, later scoring on a
Braeden Lundberg double to left center field. Lundberg would subsequently score on an
Aaron Barber groundout to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
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Lewis & Clark pushed across another run in the top of the second but PLU again answered in the bottom of the third, plating four runs to take a 6-4 lead.
Rochne Beecham singled in Lundberg for the frame's first run before a
Carson Burke single scored both
Aaron Barber and
Ethan Keintz to give the Lutes' the lead. A
Brody Phinney sacrifice fly made it a two-run cushion, scoring Beecham.
The Pios tied the game on a two-run home run in the fourth inning before pulling ahead 7-6 in the top of the fifth.
Carson Burke put the Lutes back on top in the bottom of the seventh, belting his third home run of the series— a two-run blast that also scored
Aaron Barber.
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The Lutes went yard again in the eighth inning, this time with Barber banging the ball over the left field fence, also scoring Keintz to make it a 10-7 cushion for PLU a scoreline that would hold up the rest of the way, giving the Lutes' the series win.
Burke led the Lutes at the plate, going three-for-five with four RBIs while Lundberg and Keintz both finish with a pair of hits.
Andrew Hickman secured the win on the mound, tossing two innings of scoreless relief, striking out two and allowing just one hit.
Logan Egge was lights out the final two frames, securing the save after allowing no hits and no walks while striking out one.
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Lewis & Clark struck first in the second game of the day— the non-conference contest— scoring one run in the first, four in the third, and two more in the fifth to stake a 7-0 advantage.
It would be all Lutes after that. A Youch single scored
Asa Reese for PLU's first run of the day  in the bottom of the fifth before a wild pitch scored
Kyler Gerber. A Lundberg sacrifice fly would score Youch, closing the deficit to just 7-3.
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Pacific Lutheran tied the game in the sixth, getting sacrifice flies from both Reese and Gerber before a Keintz two-RBI single tied the game at 7.
Reese and Gerber each drove in a run in the seventh inning to make it 9-7 while a
Brody Phinney RBI single scored
Aaron Barber in the eighth to make it a three-run game.
Lewis & Clark threatened in the top of the ninth with the tying run at the plate but
Alex Lopez got the job done, securing the win on the hill after tossing the final 4 2/3 innings and striking out five.Â
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PLU's offense pumped out 10 hits on the day with Keintz and Beecham each finishing with a pair of hits while Keintz, Gerber, and Reese all had a pair of RBIs.Â
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The Lutes are back on the diamond next weekend with a three-game NWC slate against George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.Â
