DiPietro, Whitehall Carry Lutes to Sweep of Willamette

April 6, 2007

Game One
Game Two

Joe DiPietro - four-hitter

Justin Whitehall - two homers

SALEM, Ore. - Joe DiPietro continued to dominate Northwest Conference hitters, and Justin Whitehall hit two homers and drove in five runs to lead Pacific Lutheran to a baseball doubleheader sweep of Willamette on Friday afternoon.

DiPietro improved his season record to 8-1 and his mark against conference opponents to 5-0 as Pacific Lutheran beat Willamette, 7-0, in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. In the second game, Whitehall hit a three-run homer in the first inning to pace PLU to a 14-6 victory.

With the wins, PLU maintains its lead in the Northwest Conference with a 12-2 record. Combined with a Friday doubleheader split between George Fox and Linfield, the Lutes are three games ahead of both teams in the loss column. PLU, winner of 13 of its last 14 games, is now 23-6 for the season, the best record at this stage of the season in the program's history.

DiPietro, the 2006 Northwest Conference Pitcher of the Year, has been spectacular this season. In his five conference starts he has three complete games and pitched eight innings in the other two. In 43 innings he has allowed just 24 hits, three earned runs and has a 0.63 earned run average. He went the distance Friday against Willamette, allowing four hits while striking out seven and walking three.

Whitehall had three hits in the first game, including his third homer of the season with no one on base in the fifth. Jordan Post had a two-out solo homer, his fourth round-tripper of the season, to get the Lutes going in the first inning. Bryce Depew drove in a run with a single in PLU's three-run second, and he added a two-out, two-run double to put the Lutes ahead 6-0 in the third inning. Kris Hansen added a pair of hits to PLU's 10-hit attack.

Whitehall, a senior rightfielder who earned first team all-conference honors one year ago, got the Lutes off to a strong start in the second game with his three-run blast. His clutch hit came with two outs and only after Post and Tyler Green kept the inning alive with back-to-back base hits.

PLU held a 7-4 lead before putting the game away with seven runs in the final three innings. Brandon Sales hit a three-run double in the seventh inning and Whitehall hit a single for an RBI in the eighth. In the ninth, Ryan Thorne drove in two runs with a double, and he came in on Jordan Post's double.

Sales led the Lutes with four hits, two runs and three RBI. Whitehall had two hits and four RBI, Post added three hits, and Thorne scored three runs and stole three bases.

Hunter Simpson picked up the win for the Lutes in relief of starter Kael Fisher. Simpson entered in the fifth inning and immediately walked in two runs, but he settled down to improve his record to 4-1. He allowed two runs on three hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. Fisher was one out away from getting the pitching victory, but he allowed four runs on three hits, four walks and hit a batter before being pulled in favor of Hunter.

The two teams conclude their conference series with a nine-inning game scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday.

- PLU -