NCAA Division III
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Laurie Turner, Athletic Director

2007 Northwest Conference Champions
 
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Pacific Lutheran Univ.
Tacoma, WA 98447
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March 12, 2007

BASEBALL: Lutes to Play First Home Game After 43 Days on Road

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran returns home to host the Pacific Boxers in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. The Lutes and Boxers conclude the series on Sunday with a single game at noon.

LAST WEEK: The Lutes went into the weekend series against Linfield College on a six-game winning streak and came out winning one out of three from the Wildcats. PLU took the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday with a 7-1 victory. The Lutes scored two runs in the top of the second on a RBI ground out from senior infielder Jared Simon and an RBI single from senior infielder Roger Guzman. In the top of the third sophomore first baseman Jordan Post came to the plate and smacked out his first homerun of the season and Guzman’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning scored senior catcher Bryce Depew. The Wildcats only run came in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI fielder’s choice. PLU plated three runs in the top of the seventh on a two-RBI single from senior infielder Logan Andrews and an RBI single to center field from Depew. PLU got great starting pitching from senior Joe DiPietro who pitched a complete game. DiPietro gave up ten hits but only allowed one Wildcat run, while striking out four. He improves his record to 4-1. Senior outfielder Justin Whitehall had four hits, Andrews added three, and sophomore designated hitter Kris Hansen had two hits and two RBI’s. Saturday’s second game was a close 3-2 loss for the Lutes. PLU got another complete game from a starting pitcher. Junior Brett Brunner allowed six hits and three earned runs in eight innings of work and also struck out six batters. Linfield scored one run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth off of a 2-RBI double from Shannon Chung. Down 3-0, the Lute baseball squad attempted a comeback in the top of the eighth, but only scored two. With senior Tyler Green on second and sophomore catcher Brandon Sales on third base, Post came to the plate and proceeded to hit single that scored both Green and Sales. That was all the PLU came up with as they fell 3-2. Post finished 1-4 with two-RBI’s and Simon had two hits. Sunday’s game did not fare well for the Lutes as they fell 5-1. PLU scored one run in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly from Post to take an early 1-0 lead. Linfield answered in bottom half of the first and scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one in the eighth to finish the scoring. Guzman, Green, Post, Simon, Andrews, and senior Ryan Thorne each had a hit for PLU.

“We got unbelievable starts from Joe (DiPietro) and (Brett) Brunner,” said head coach Geoff Loomis. “We hit well in the first game but it was the lack of two-out hits in the final two games that hurt us.”

BOXERS VISIT THE LUTES: Pacific University travels to Tacoma for a three game series against the Lutes. The Boxers currently post a 4-6 overall record and are 2-4 in the Northwest Conference. Pacific is coming off a weekend in which they were swept by the UPS Loggers. Junior Zach Gantenbein leads the Boxers with a .400 batting average in ten games played. He also has 16 hits and five stolen bases. Sophomore infielder Frankie Guros is batting .343 with 12 hits and 11 RBI's.

DIPIETRO RUNNING HOT: For the season DiPietro is 4-1, with a 2.25 earned-run-average in five games. In 36 innings of work, the defending Northwest Conference pitcher of the year has struck out 25 opponents.

HOME SWEET LUTE DIAMOND: PLU finally returns to the Lute diamond after four weekends on the road. The Lutes will have gone 42 days between home games. On Feb. 3, PLU swept St. Martin’s University at home and have since have made trips to Arizona, California, and twice to Oregon. The baseball squad went 7-5 on the road trip and is thrilled to finally be playing in front of the home crowd. “It’s awesome to be home,” exclaimed Brunner.

NEXT WEEK: The Lutes and Puget Sound will square off on Wed. March 21 in a non-conference game on the PLU diamond. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. PLU will then hit the road again as they travel to Portland, Ore. for a three-game series against Lewis & Clark.

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