TACOMA, Wash. — Braeden Lundberg drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the Pacific Lutheran University baseball team earned a doubleheader split with Linfield University on Saturday to close out the Northwest Conference series. The Wildcats dazzled on the mound in game one, prevailing 6-0 but the Lutes rallied for a 7-6 victory in the rubbermatch to secure the series win.
"That was a huge win in game three today," said Head Coach
Nolan Soete.
"Sherwood through well in the first game today we just couldn't get anything going offensively and Linfield's Swenson was really good today. Moreno set the tone in the second game and battled hard for the team. Offensively, we did a great job of putting up two runs in the eighth and Swartz was lights out in the ninth. It was a big series win for us and I'm proud of how hard everyone played today."
The visiting Wildcats (14-11, 6-6 NWC) took the lead on just the second pitch of the day with leadoff hitter Elijah Maris hitting a solo home run in the top og the first inning. Maris would go deep again in the top of the fifth, belting another solo shot. An outfield single plated an unearned run later in the frame to make it 3-0 Linfield. The Wildcats added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings, getting a solo home run in the eighth and scoring on an error in the ninth for the 6-0 win.
Linfield pitcher Jacob Swenson stole the show in the opener, striking out 17, allowing just two hits and one walk to collect the complete game win.
PLU's (9-14, 6-9 NWC) counterpart
Matthew Sherwood had seven strikeouts in five innings of action and was saddled with the decision.
Jon Crawley tossed three innings of middle relief with
Andrew Hickman tossing the ninth inning.Â
Game two saw Linfield push across a run in the second inning but the Lutes' answered in the third inning with a
Rochne Beecham single scoring
Ethan Keintz and
Lukas Delisle before a
Rutger Youch double to center field allowed Beecham and
Brody Phinney to score, making it a 4-1 ballgame.
Youch collected his third RBI of the game in the fifth inning, scoring Keintz to make it 5-2 PLU. Linfield responded with a four-run seventh inning, taking the lead on a two-RBI single with two outs.
Carson Burke led off the eighth with a base hit while a
Jaden Pieper walk put the winning run at first base. A
Lukas Delisle sacrifice bunt followed by a throwing error allowed Burke to score before Lundberg's sacrifice fly scored Pieper for the go-ahead run to make it 7-6.
Youch was two-for-four with three RBIs while Burke tallied a pair of hits.Â
Chris Moreno struck out four, handling the opening six innings of the game before turning the keys over to
Kamryn Swartz. Swartz— who tallied in save in Friday night's win— allowed just one hit and struck out two over the final three innings to collect the win.Â
The Lutes are back on the diamond on Tuesday with a mid-week non-conference tilt at crosstown rival University of Puget Sound.Â
