CLAREMONT, Calif. – Whitworth split a non-conference baseball doubleheader at 18th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, handing the Sagehens their first loss of the season along the way. The Pirates won the opener 7-4 in eight innings, but dropped the night cap 12-7. Both games were set as seven-inning contests.
Whitworth (2-4) will finish of a demanding five-game swing through Southern California with a single contest at Whittier College on Sunday. Every team the Pirates have played so far this season has been nationally-ranked.
Game 1 – Whitworth 7, Pomona-Pitzer 4 (8 innings)
The Pirates scored the tying run in the seventh and then three more in the extra frame to come from behind to beat the Sagehens.
Whitworth jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on a solo home run by Spencer Shipman and a two-run shot from Carson Coffield. The first inning bomb marked Coffield's third of the season.
Kyle Gonzaga got one back for P-P with a solo shot in the bottom of the first. Cooper Berry's two-run home run in the fourth gave the Sagehens a 4-3 lead.
Will Polishuk looked poised to throw a seven-inning complete game victory for Pomona-Pitzer. But Dominic Giusti spoiled his day with an RBI single in the top of the seventh that drove in pinch runner Tristan Butts with the tying run.
The Pirates added three in the top of the eighth. Reed Gunnett had a two-run double and Giusti added another RBI single off reliever Lincoln Oelschlager (0-1).
Dylan Stutesman (1-1) got the pitching victory in relief for the Bucs, throwing four shutout innings while allowing three hits and two walks. Dylan Huntsman started and gave up four runs on eight hits in four frames.
Game 2 – Pomona-Pitzer 12, Whitworth 7
The Sagehens (5-1) opened an 11-1 lead before the Pirates made them work harder for the victory in the late innings.
P-P scored two in the first and five more in the second to grab a quick 7-0 lead. Gonzaga hit his second home run of the day in the second.
Caleb Gray got Whitworth on the board with a solo home run in the third. The Sagehens answered with four more in the third, including a two-run triple by Sammy Lee, to open their 11-1 lead.
The Pirates got three back in the fourth, two scoring on a P-P throwing error. Gray added an RBI single, followed by another run-scoring single from Kyle Memarian, in the sixth to get the Bucs within 11-6.
Lee added an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth for the Sagehens' final run. Shipman's sacrifice fly in the seventh plated Whitworth's final run.
Gray finished the game 4 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs.
Zach Wright (0-1) started on the mound for the Bucs, and took the loss after giving up four runs on four hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Three relievers followed, including a three-inning stint by Jared Hardie who allowed only one run on two hits and six walks. He struck out five.
