SPOKANE, Wash. – Visiting Pacific hit eight home runs and overcame early Whitworth leads to sweep the Pirates in a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday at Merkel Field.
The Boxers (11-7 overall, 6-5 NWC) won 12-3 and 11-4 as they attempt to return to the NCAA Division III tournament in 2022. The Pirates (4-14, 3-4) will attempt to avoid a series sweep in Sunday's finale.
Isaac Lovings went 7-11 at the plate with six RBIs for Pacific, while Gage Gibson hit a pair of home runs for the Bucs on Saturday.
Game 1 – Pacific 12, Whitworth 3
Lovings hit two of the Boxers' four home runs to help his team overcome an early 3-1 lead.
Gibson led off the bottom of the first with his first home run of the season, as the ball just cleared the fence under the scoreboard in right center field.
Lovings tied the game with a home run leading off the second. Whitworth loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the second and scored two runs on Jacob Doughty's seeing-eye single to left. But Pacific starter Will Clark induced double play to prevent further damage and get out of the inning.
Pacific scratched together single runs in the fifth and sixth off Pirate starter Hunter Dryden. After Dryden was relieved in the seventh, the Boxers took over the game with six runs in the top of the seventh inning. Patrick Muskat hit a three-run home run in the rally, and Drew Thomas ended the rally with a two-run shot for a 9-3 lead.
The Boxers hit two more home runs in the top of the ninth, a solo homer by Lovings and a two-run job by Dawson Tokishi.
Clark improved to 2-1 after allowing three runs on four hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked two. Tyler Agnew threw the final three innings and limited the Pirates to a single hit.
Dyden (2-3) tossed six innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits. Despite the solid effort, he gets the loss. Hunter Williams allowed four runs in two-third of an inning, while Dylan Bishop finished up with 2.1 innings of work, giving up four runs on four hits.
Game 2 – Pacific 11, Whitworth 4
Once again the Pirates led early, but Pacific hit four more home runs and scored seven runs over the final three innings to break away late.
Cole Strober led off the game with a double and scored on Tyler Quinn's single. Brenden Duncan hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give Whitworth a 2-1 lead. It was Duncan's second of the season.
Ty Yukumoto hit the first of his two home runs in the top of the third to tie the game. Pacific took the lead in the fifth on Ryan Krout's RBI single. Walker Mathews scored from second base on a sacrifice in the sixth after the Pirates lost track of him during a discussion near first base.
Lovings added a two-run homer in the seventh, his third of the day, for a 6-2 lead. Yukumoto drove another ball over the wall as part of a three-run eighth for the Boxers to make it 9-3.
Gibson hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the eighth, but Pacific added two more in the ninth on a two-run shot by Elijah Gonzales in his first at-bat of the year.
Kahi Bisho started on the mound for Pacific, but only went four innings, allowing two runs on two hits. Cayden Okada (2-0) tossed the next two frames and picked up the win in relief, allowing only a single hit. Davis Koester finished up.
Jack Leary started for Whitworth on the mound and allowed two runs on four hits in four innings. Dylan McCardle (0-1) took the loss after he allowed four runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings. Jarred Yara, Aiden Smith and Landon Shigeta all saw work for Whitworth on the mound.
