BASEBALL: Lutes Return to Northwest Conference Play Against Pirates

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (14-12-2, 11-9 NWC) at Whitworth (11-19, 10-14 NWC) in a doubleheader, Saturday, noon; PLU at Willamette in a doubleheader, Sunday, noon.

ABOUT THE PIRATES: Baseball is comprised of three key components: hitting, pitching and fielding. So far this season, Whitworth has struggled in all three categories, ranking last in the Northwest Conference in fielding and second to last in hitting and pitching. The Pirates have compiled a .275 team batting average, ahead of only Whitman’s .212. On the mound, Whitworth’s 8.12 earned run average is also ranks second to last, ahead of only Whitman’s 10.50 ERA. Defensively, the Pirates own a league-worst .943 fielding percentage, having committed 63 errors – most in the conference – so far this season. One bright spot for the Pirates this season has been outfielder Dan Belet. The sophomore leads the team with a .358 batting average, and his 39 hits rank fifth in the Northwest Conference.

LAST SEASON’S SERIES: Pacific Lutheran traveled to Spokane, where they dropped a close first game, 5-4, before bouncing back to blow out the Pirates in the final two games, 14-0 and 14-3, during a stretch in which the Lutes won 18 out of 19 games.

ABOUT THE LUTES: Pacific Lutheran boasts a .299 team batting average and .402 on base percentage through 28 games this season. Despite outscoring opponents by 37 runs, the Lutes have only two more wins than losses this season. This can be attributed to the fact that the Lutes have fallen short in seven of ten one-run games this season, as well as all three two-run games they have played. Freshman Ryan Aratani leads the team with 37 hits and a .366 batting average. Jordan Post has followed up his all-Northwest Conference sophomore season with a .343 batting average, and his five homeruns, 22 runs batted in, 27 runs scored, 22 walks, 56 total bases, .566 slugging percentage and .464 on base percentage all lead the team. Post went 5-5 in the Lutes last game against Menlo with a home run and double. Second baseman Carl Benton boasts an impressive .429 on base percentage thanks to an incredibly painful 20 hit by pitches so far this season. Pitching-wise, sophomores Robert Bleecker and Trey Watt have stepped up in the starting rotation, ranking one and two on the staff in innings pitched and throwing the Lutes’ only two complete games this season. As a team, the Lutes own a 4.57 earned run average, with 172 strikeouts in 232.1 innings pitched.

SERIES REMINDERS: This season, all Northwest Conference series feature four games: two nine-inning games on the first day of the series and a couple of seven-inning games the following day.

OAKS TAKE TWO OF THREE FROM LUTES: Sophomore Trey Watt allowed only three hits and struck out six Menlo batters as the Lutes scored an 8-3 victory in the second game. Menlo won the opener, 6-4 in 12 innings, on Rob Monderine’s two-run homer to rightfield. The Lutes scored three times in the first inning on Kris Hansen’s sacrifice fly and Geoff Gabler’s two-run single. They added three more runs in the second inning on an error, Ryan Aratani’s ground out and Brandon Sales’ hustling two-out double. PLU’s final two runs came in the eighth on a run-scoring double by Andrew Hernandez and a sacrifice fly by Josh Takayoshi. Menlo used two hits and three PLU errors to score twice in the top of the ninth. Pacific Lutheran finished the game with six miscues after committing three errors in the opener. Menlo took a 2-0 lead on Will McLoughlin’s two-run single in the second inning of the opener. The Lutes got one back in the bottom of the inning on Aratani’s base hit, and they tied the game in the fifth on Carl Benton’s single. The Oaks regained a 3-2 lead in the seventh on a PLU error, but the hosts came back to tie the game in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Sales. Again, Menlo tallied a run in the top of the ninth on Dwayne Haakma’s run-scoring single, but the Lutes tied it in the ninth when Matt Akridge led off with a single and scored on a clutch one-out RBI triple by Takayoshi. The Lutes tried to win the game then and there but a squeeze bunt was popped into the air and turned into an inning-ending double play. Monderine finally won the game for the visitors from the Bay Area with a drive off of Ian Opsal in the 12th inning. On Sunday, Pacific Lutheran left 12 runners on base in dropping a 3-2 decision to give Menlo the series win. Rob Monderine drove in the game-winning run with a one-out single in the eighth inning. His game-winning hit came after PLU relief pitcher Jeff Danforth walked Jeff Budelli to lead off the eighth inning. Budelli advanced to second base when PLU rightfielder Josh Takayoshi made a diving catch in foul territory of Robert McDonald’s fly ball. Budelli easily scored on Monderine’s single to right-centerfield. The Lutes had an opportunity to tie the game in the ninth inning but came up short, leaving the tying run at third base when Ryan Aratani’s soft liner was caught by Menlo second baseman Kyle Wilkerson. Takayoshi led off the ninth with a walk but he was forced out at second base on a ground ball by pinch hitter Andrew Hernandez. Pinch runner Matt Wolford moved up one base on Jordan Post’s single to left, his fifth hit of the game. Menlo first baseman McDonald took away a potential game-tying hit from Kris Hansen, diving to right to snare Hansen’s grounder and forcing Post out at second base. Aratani hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Brian Phillips, but Wilkerson reached up to catch the ball for the final out.

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