March 4, 2008
BASEBALL: After NWC Split, Lutes
Head South to Face Boxers
THIS WEEK: Pacific (2-5, 1-3 NWC) hosts
Pacific Lutheran (4-3-2, 2-2) in a doubleheader, Saturday,
11 a.m.; Pacific hosts PLU in a doubleheader, Sunday, 11
a.m.
ABOUT THE BOXERS: Pitching has caused
the biggest issues for a Pacific team picked to finish seventh
in the Northwest Conference. Through 48 innings pitched,
the Boxer pitching staff has a 7.12 earned run average,
allowing 74 hits and 24 walks. This equates to over two
base runners per inning pitched, and bodes well for a Pacific
Lutheran team hitting .314 with a .431 on base percentage.
The Lutes will look to continue their patient approach at
the plate, forcing the Pacific pitchers to throw strikes.
Pacific has one more game before the weekend series, Tuesday
afternoon against Corban.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSE: Pacific Lutheran’s
biggest struggle thus far has been its defense. After finishing
at the top of Division III in fielding last season, the
Lutes have committed 17 errors in nine games so far this
year. Weather has played a major role in this issue, as
the Lutes have not had much of an opportunity to practice
outside due to the Pacific Northwest winter weather. Also,
since the Lutes are such a young team this season, with
seven new position starters, the defensive miscues are more
likely early in the season. PLU’s 17 errors have led
to a total of 10 unearned runs through nine games, but Pacific’s
defense has been far more atrocious. Although the Boxers’
14 errors in seven games are only slightly more per game
than the Lutes, Pacific’s fielding miscues have led
to 18 unearned runs, more than 2.5 per game.
LAST YEAR: Pacific Lutheran swept Pacific
in the three-game series in Parkland last season. The Lutes
won the games by scores of 7-5, 20-3 and 4-2, serving as
the beginning of a stretch in which PLU won 25 of 27 games.
ABOUT THE LUTES: Through nine games, the
Lutes have shown a penchant for solid, patient hitting.
Led by Brandon Sales and his .405 average, the Lutes have
three hitters with double-digit hits at this point: Sales
(15), Jordan Post (11) and Ryan Aratani (10). Carl Benton
leads the team in one of the most painful categories for
a hitter with 10 hit-by-pitches. Offensively, the only aspect
of the game in which the Lutes have yet to excel is power,
with only 22 of their 93 hits going for extra bases. This
will likely improve as the weather warms up and the balls
start to fly further off the bat. In terms of pitching,
freshman Bret Handy leads the team with 12.2 innings pitched
after an outstanding 8.2-inning debut start Saturday against
Linfield. Hunter Simpson’s 0.82 earned run average
and .154 opponents’ batting average is the lowest
among pitchers with at least five innings pitched, and his
nine strikeouts are tied with Robert Bleecker for the most
on the team. As a team, the Lutes have a 4.83 earned run
average, which should only improve as the pitchers reach
mid-season form and the defense warms up.
RANKINGS DROP LUTES: After the weekend
split with Linfield, the Lutes dropped out of the d3baseball.com
top 25 rankings. Pacific Lutheran received 64 votes, which
essentially ranks the team no. 27.
CONSTRUCTION MOVES SERIES: Construction
delays have forced Pacific to move this weekend’s
four-game series with the Lutes to Joe Etzel Field at the
University of Portland. The games will still begin at 11:00
a.m., and all four games will be held as scheduled. Anyone
planning to make the trip to Portland is advised to arrive
early as parking will be very limited due to the 5A/6A high
school state basketball championships taking place at the
Chiles Center next to the field. (Pacific University press
release with Mapquest map to University of Portland - http://www.goboxers.com/news/detail.cfm?NEWS_ID=4459&CATEGORY_ID=17.)
LUTES SPLIT FOUR-GAME SERIES:
Saturday - Pacific
Lutheran got a strong pitching performance from freshman
Bret Handy in the second game to split a Northwest Conference
baseball doubleheader with the Linfield Wildcats. Linfield
rode Brian Kerr’s three-run homer to a 6-4 victory
in the first game before Handy handcuffed the Wildcats in
the nightcap, 8-1. Handy allowed only the one earned run
on seven hits while striking out two and walking three in
8 2/3 innings. He left the game only after Kerr’s
pinch hit base hit drove in the Wildcats’ only run
of the second game with two outs in the ninth inning. Trey
Watt came in to get the final out and wrap up the PLU victory.
The Lutes scored a run in the second inning on singles by
Geoff Gabler and Tyler Goarck and a sacrifice fly by Matt
Wolford, then broke the game open with four runs more in
the third against Linfield starter and loser Garrett Dorn.
Brandon Sales and Jordan Post singled to start the inning,
and both scored on a double by Kris Hansen. With the bases
loaded, Goarck’s ground ball was thrown away, allowing
more runs to score. PLU added two runs in the seventh inning
on Carl Benton’s RBI double and Ben Shively’s
run-scoring single, and then finished its scoring in the
eighth when Sales walked and eventually tallied on a passed
ball. In the opener, the Wildcats scored a run in the second
before posting a big five-run outburst in the third inning,
with Kerr being at the heart of both rallies. He doubled
and scored on Jordan Boustead’s two-out double in
the second, then clubbed a three-run homer to right-centerfield
an inning later. Drew Van Cleave started the third with
a long homer to left before Kerr hit his two-out drive.
After three innings the Wildcats had collected six runs
on 10 hits against PLU starter and loser Ian Opsal. He was
relieved by Hunter Simpson, who threw six hitless innings
to allow the Lutes to get back into the contest. Hansen
hit a homer for the team’s first run, and they added
another an inning later when Sales singled to drive in Shively.
PLU cut its deficit to 6-3 in the sixth when Benton hit
a leadoff double and eventually scored on an RBI groundout
by Matt Akridge. The Lutes added their final run in the
eighth inning courtesy of a hit batter, a single and a Linfield
error, but that was all they could muster.
Sunday - Pacific
Lutheran scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh
inning to take the first game, 5-4, before falling in the
second game by the same final score when Linfield rallied
to go ahead in the top of the seventh. The first game was
an ugly affair as the teams combined for seven errors, 10
walks, five hit batsmen and five unearned runs.
The first five innings were relatively smoothly as Pacific
Lutheran starting pitcher Robert
Bleecker settled down after giving up a first-inning run
to hold the Wildcats scoreless in the next four frames.
After leadoff hitter Jordan Boustead walked and stole second
base, catcher Drew Van Cleave singled to drive home the
leftfielder for a 1-0 lead. The Lutes finally broke through
in the fifth inning against Linfield starter Reese McCulley
to even the game at 1-1, when first baseman Jordan Post
hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out to
drive home Tyler Libadia. In the top of the sixth inning,
David Bachofner reached after being hit by a Bleecker pitch.
An error loaded the bases, and a walk to Kevin Mills forced
Bachofner home for the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the
frame, however, the Lutes took advantage of a couple of
Wildcats’ defensive miscues to take a 4-2 lead going
into the final frame. With the bases loaded and no outs,
Kyle Mosbrucker threw a wild pitch that allowed all three
PLU runners to advance, tying the score at 2-2. After Matt
Akridge walked to load the bases once again, Sam Beatty
hit a sacrifice fly to give the Lutes a one-run lead. But
after another walk to load the bases, a throwing error by
the catcher scored Akridge to give the Lutes a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the final frame, another fielding error by
the Lutes allowed runners to reach second and third. Singles
by Van Cleave and Bachofner drove home a couple more Linfield
runs, tying the game at 4-4 and forcing the Lutes to bat
in the bottom of the seventh. The Lutes started out the
bottom of the inning with a couple of walks. Ryan Aratani
hit a sharp one-hopper to third baseman Shannon Chung, who
was playing in to prevent a bunt. Chung threw to Bachofner
covering at third base for the first out, but when Bachofner
tried to throw back to first for the double play, his throw
was wide and rolled into right field. Carl Benton, running
from first on the play, scored the winning run, barely reaching
around Van Cleave's tag to touch the plate for the 5-4 victory.
In the second game, the Wildcats scored three runs on three
hits in the first inning against Post, the PLU starting
pitcher. Cory Ellis hit a double to lead off and Van Cleave
drew a walk. Ellis scored on Bachofner's single, and Van
Cleave and Bachofner tallied on Rhett Fenton's double. The
Lutes tied the game in the third with a pair of two-out
runs, the first scoring on a Brandon Sales single and the
next two coming in on Post's single to right. Linfield scored
again in the fourth inning, taking advantage of Pacific
Lutheran’s only defensive miscue of the second game.
The Lutes got the run back in the bottom of the frame when
Tyler Goarck singled home Matt Wolford from second base.
In the top of the seventh, Van Cleave once again came through
in the clutch for the Wildcats, hitting a single to drive
in Chung with what proved to be the winning run. Joshua
Guterman retired the Lutes in order in the bottom of the
inning to preserve the victory for Linfield.
- PLU -
