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Pacific Lutheran Univ.
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April 17, 2008

BASEBALL: Lutes Face Winless Whitman in Final Home Series

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (18-12-2 overall, 15-9 NWC) hosts Whitman (2-30 overall, 0-24 NWC) in a doubleheader, Saturday, noon; PLU hosts Whitman in a doubleheader, Sunday, noon.

ABOUT THE MISSIONARIES: With only two weeks to go in Northwest Conference play, Whitman is still looking for its first conference win. The Missionaries rank last in the conference in all three major categories, with a .211 team batting average, a 9.94 team earned run average and a.941 fielding percentage. As a team, the Missionaries have only 200 hits this season with 172 strikeouts, and their six home runs as a team equal PLU first baseman Jordan Post’s individual total. Whitman ranks last in the league with only seven stolen bases on 17 attempts this season, and no conference team has allowed more stolen bases than Whitman’s 52. On the mound, Whitman’s pitching staff has walked 194 batters, most in the conference, while striking out a league-low 103.

LAST SEASON’S SERIES: Pacific Lutheran swept the visiting Whitman Missionaries, 4-2, 11-4 and 4-3 during a stretch that saw the Lutes win 10 straight games and 25 of 27 overall.

ABOUT THE LUTES: The Lutes are looking to finish strong after struggling early in close games. Pacific Lutheran ranks in the top three in the Northwest Conference in the three major categories. The Lutes’ team batting average saw a 25-point spike after last weekends’ dominant performance in Spokane. Pacific Lutheran now ranks second in the conference with a .324 team batting average, behind only George Fox’s .335. PLU’s 4.39 team earned run average ranks just behind George Fox’s 4.21 for third in the league, with Linfield’s astounding 2.62 ERA easily taking first. In spite of some early-season struggles, the Lutes own the second highest fielding percentage in the conference at .961, behind only Linfield’s .975. Ryan Aratani continues to lead the team with a .377 batting average. Right behind him sits Jordan Post, with a .370 average and a team-leading six home runs, 27 runs batted in, 35 runs, .613 slugging percentage, 24 walks and .476 on base percentage. Post is also tied for the team lead with nine doubles and one triple. Catcher Brandon Sales’ bat has heated up as of late, as he has upped his average to .363 and leads the team with 45 hits this season. Robert Bleecker’s 2.56 earned run average ranks second in the Northwest Conference, and Trey Watt’s 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings pitched leads the league.

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.

SENIOR RECOGNITION: Since this weekend’s series is the final home series of the 2008 season, the Lutes will hold a special ceremony before Sunday’s doubleheader to honor the seniors on the team. This year’s seniors include pitchers Matt Keller, Jeff Danforth, Brett Brunner and Jeremy Ellison.

LUTES SWEEP PIRATES: On Saturday, the Lutes used solid pitching and defense to win the opener, 4-0, and broke out the bats in a big way in the second contest, 23-5. In the first game, Whitworth could not get the timely hit against PLU starting pitcher Robert Bleecker, who threw a complete-game shutout despite allowing 10 hits and four walks. Bleecker got help from three double plays and the Pirates left runners on base in seven of the nine innings. Carl Benton singled home a run in the top of the fifth to get the Lutes on the board, Tyler Libadia and Sammy Davis added RBI hits in the sixth, and Matt Akridge singled home the final run in the seventh. Bleecker (4-0) got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first with a double play and got a ground out when the Pirates had two runners in scoring position in the seventh. Whitworth out-homered PLU, 3-2, in the second game, but that was about the only thing that went the Pirates' way as the Lutes scored 10 times in the third inning to break the game open before adding five more in both the fourth and sixth innings. Mitch Ramsey homered in the first inning and Matt Monahan singled home a run in the bottom of the second to give Whitworth an early 2-1 lead. But the Lutes broke through for 10 runs in the top of the third. Jordan Post began the onslaught with a two-run home run, and Geoff Gabler and Ryan Aratani added two-run hits to conclude the rally during the second at-bat of the inning for each. Gabler added a three-run home run in the Lutes' five-run fourth inning to increase the lead to 16-2. PLU ended all hope of a comeback with another five run rally, this time in the sixth inning. Gabler, who finished with seven RBIs in the game, drove home two more with a single. The Lutes finished off their scoring with another pair of runs in the eighth. On Sunday, Pacific Lutheran finished the four-game sweep by taking 12-5 and 15-2 victories. Whitworth pulled within 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning of the opener before PLU outscored the Pirates 7-1 over the final two frames. Trey Watt went the distance for the Lutes, allowing five runs (four earned) on 12 hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in seven complete innings. Matt Akridge had a pair of doubles and hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the seventh, to complete the PLU scoring. PLU built a 6-0 lead after five innings and added nine runs in the final two frames in the series finale. Leadoff hitter Josh Takayoshi, along with Akridge, provided the spark at the top of the order. Each finished with three hits and three RBIs. Akridge, batting second, hit his second home run of the day, while Takayoshi scored three times. Brett Brunner threw the first six innings for PLU to improve to 2-3 this season. He allowed one run on six hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Collin Gibbs fell to 1-6 for Whitworth, allowing six runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings.

LISTEN LIVE ON KCCR: The Pacific Lutheran athletic department will conclude this season’s KCCR baseball broadcasts on Saturday, broadcasting the softball team’s doubleheader against Lewis & Clark on Sunday. Just click the link that says “LISTEN” on the Lutes’ schedule on the right side of the athletics homepage and then click the link that says Broadband (128Kbps) in the center of the KCCR homepage to tune in. The student broadcast team includes Andrew Croft, Bobby Pimentel, Chris Ramirez and Tyler Scott.

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