TACOMA, Wash. — Carson Burke blasted his team-leading ninth home run of the season, setting the tone on Tuesday as the Pacific Lutheran University baseball team breezed past Division II Saint Martin's University 8-2 in a non-conference game at PLU Field.

"It was a good team effort," said Head Coach Nolan Soete who was honored pregame for becoming just the third coach in program history to win 200 games.

"We were sloppy at times defensively, but we had enough timely hits and we pitched well."

Burke put the Lutes on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo home run to dead center field but the Saints (2-38) tied the game the next half inning, manufacturing a score to tie the game at 1-1.

Pacific Lutheran (13-18) regained its lead in the second, pouring in a trio of runs. Ethan Keintz drew a walk to lead off the inning, stealing both second and third base before getting driven home by Lukas Delisle. Delisle later scored after a Saint error kept the inning alive while Braeden Lundberg later scored by stealing home to make it a 4-1 cushion. 

Lundberg drew a bases loaded walk in the sixth inning to score Rochne Beecham while the Saints closed the gap to three in the seventh, scratching across an unearned run. PLU answered in the bottom of the seven with a Beecham single scoring pinch runner Kyler Gerber. Gerber would double in Brody Phinney the following inning while Keintz scored Gerber later in the frame to make it an 8-2 Lute advantage.

Seven different Lutes had a base hit while six different Lutes had an RBI. Lundberg and Beecham led the way, both collecting a pair of hits.

PLU's pitching staff combined for seven strikeouts and allowed just four hits on the day. Jonathan Cohen got he start and allowed just one hit in two innings of work before turning it over to Andrew Hickman. Hickman struck out three in 2 1/3 innings of action. Matthew Sherwood didn't allow a hit in 1 2/3 innings of action while Cade Hamel struck out one and allowed no earned runs in his one inning of work. Jon Crawley tossed the final two innings, allowing no baserunners and fanning two.

With the victory, PLU has now logged wins against teams from all three NCAA divisions. In addition to today's win over the Division II Saints, the Lutes had a memorable 3-1 victory at the expense of the University of Washington back on March 18. 

The Lutes continue their homestand on Saturday, resuming Northwest Conference play with a doubleheader against in-state rival Whitman College. First pitch for game one is set for noon.