NEWBERG, Ore. – Visiting Whitworth scored plenty of runs early to run away with the opener, then rallied late to capture the nightcap on the way to a sweep of George Fox in a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Morse Field.
The Pirates took the first game 9-2 and the second 4-2 in 10 innings to improve to 11-11 overall and 6-1 in the NWC. The Bruins fell to 7-11, 5-5. The teams will complete the series with a single game on Sunday at noon.
Game 1 – Whitworth 9, George Fox 0
Spencer Shipman went 3 for 5 and hit a home run to spark the Pirates, while Dillon Hartman and Rylan Blair combined to shut down the Bruin bats.
Whitworth got to GFU ace Aidan Rady early, scoring four runs in the top of the first while sending nine batters to the plate and forcing Rady to throw more than 40 pitches in the opening frame. After a walk and hit batter with one out, Carson Coffield singled in the first run and Shipman's single drove in the second. Later in the first Dominic Guisti drew a bases-loaded walk before Ty Komoda's sacrifice fly scored Shipman.
The Bucs added three more in the third. Komoda doubled down the left field line to drive in one before Kyle Memarian got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the second. Caleb Gray's sacrifice fly drove in Austin Paul.
Shipman and Giusti each hit solo home runs in the fourth for a 9-0 lead.
Declan Corrigan's two-run single in the sixth were the only runs for the Bruins. Hartman (3-1) got the win with 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks with a season-high nine strikeouts. Blair got his first save of the season by closing out the final 3.2 innings while giving up only two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Rady fell to 3-2 for GFU after giving up seven runs on five hits and four walks in 2.1 innings. He came into the game with a 2.13 ERA and only three walks allowed.
Game 2 – Whitworth 4, George Fox 2 (10 innings)
Emerson Fleck doubled home the winning runs in the top of the tenth to help the Pirates come back from an early 2-0 deficit.
The Bruins got solo home runs from Brennan Bates in the second and Gabe DeBenedetto in the third.
Whitworth got one back in the fourth when Carson Coffield's sacrifice fly drove in Memarian. In the fifth Paul beat out a bunt single when he was trying to sacrifice runners to second and third. A throwing error from third base on the play allowed Komoda to score from second and tie the game.
The teams traded zeros until the Pirates rallied after two were out in the tenth. Gray drew a walk before Reed Gunnett's single moved Gray to third. Fleck's double to left field drove in both runners.
Seth Mahler allowed only a two-out single in the bottom of the tenth to get his fourth save of the season. He came on in relief of Ryan Boehm (1-0), who got the victory with three innings of hitless relief.
Dylan Huntsman posted a solid start for the Bucs, allowing two runs on six hits in 6.0 innings.
Andrew Miller (0-1) was the hard-luck losing pitcher for GFU. He had kept the Pirates scoreless in relief for four innings until the rally in the tenth.
