April 22, 2008
BASEBALL: Lutes Finish Season Against
Loggers in Cross-Town Showdown
THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (22-12-2 overall,
19-9 NWC) at Puget Sound (17-18 overall, 13-15 NWC) in a
doubleheader, Saturday, noon; PLU at UPS in a doubleheader,
Sunday, noon.
ABOUT THE LOGGERS: Puget Sound looks to
finish strong and finish with a winning record for the first
time since going 20-18 in 2004. In order to accomplish the
feat, the Loggers must take three of four from the visiting
Lutes this weekend. UPS ranks in the bottom half of Northwest
Conference teams in the three major statistical categories,
with a .286 team batting average, 6.50 earned run average
and .956 fielding percentage. Outfielder Michael Olson is
undoubtedly the Loggers’ best hitter and arguably
the top NWC performer this season. The senior has compiled
a league-leading .402 batting average, .533 on base percentage
and .875 slugging percentage, while ranking second in the
conference with 14 homeruns, 43 runs batted in, 98 total
bases.
LAST SEASON’S SERIES: The Lutes
and Loggers matched up six times last season, with PLU winning
all six by a combined score of 66-20.
ABOUT THE LUTES: After back-to-back series
sweeps against two of the weaker teams in the Northwest
Conference this season, the Lutes are looking to finish
strong against the Loggers. With Linfield facing George
Fox this weekend, the Lutes could finish the season in second
place in the NWC depending on the outcomes of the series.
While a season-long struggle had been consistently putting
together the three key facets – hitting, pitching
and defense – of the game, during the Lutes’
eight-game winning streak they have outscored their opponents
92-18 while only committing four errors. For the season,
PLU ranks second in the NWC in all three categories. The
Lute’s .329 batting average trails only George Fox’s
.333, while PLU’s 4.10 earned run average only falls
short of Linfield’s astounding 2.76. On defense, the
Lutes’ .963 team fielding percentage also trails only
Linfield, whose .975 fielding percentage leads the nation.
Jordan Post continues to lead the Lutes in virtually every
offensive category, including runs (39), hits (51), doubles
(11), homeruns (6), runs batted in (31), total bases (82),
slugging percentage (.626), walks (28) and on base percentage
(.491). Freshman Ryan Aratani leads the team with a .394
batting average, fifth highest in the Northwest Conference.
Robert Bleecker’s 2.65 earned run average ranks third
in the conference, while Trey Watt’s 2.89 ranks sixth.
Watt also leads the conference with 52 strikeouts in only
53.0 innings pitched.
PAINFUL PLACE IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Second
baseman Carl Benton bruised his way to a single-season Pacific
Lutheran record with his 24th hit by pitch of the season
in Sunday’s first game against Whitman. After taking
one more for the team in the second game of the doubleheader,
Benton now has 25 HBPs for the season, tops in the nation
and two more than Paul Montmeny’s 23 for the Lutes
in 1990.
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.
LUTES SWEEP MISSIONARIES: The Lutes picked
up where they left off last week when they hit .463 and
scored 54 runs in a four-game series sweep of Whitworth.
Brandon Sales had three hits and Jordan Post, Geoff Gabler
and Ryan Aratani each had a pair in the first game, a 10-2
victory on a 35-degree day that saw occasional snow flurries.
The Missionaries, whose losing streak increased to 30 consecutive
games, scored the game’s initial run in the first
when Erik Korsmo led off with a single and tallied on Luke
Marshall’s ground out. Marshall also drove in Whitman’s
other run with a single in the ninth inning. The Lutes scored
twice in the first inning and broke the game open with five
in the third and two more in the fourth. Post, Aratani and
Sales all had run-producing hits in a third inning rally
that was aided by three Whitman errors and Gabler and Aratani
both drove in runs in the fourth. PLU’s final run
came in the seventh on Kris Hansen’s double and a
single by Sammy Davis. Pacific Lutheran led the second game,
8-1, before it was suspended in the eighth inning due to
wet field conditions. The next day, the Lutes finished off
Saturday’s suspended contest, 8-3, and took Sunday’s
games by 13-1 and 7-0 scores. Paul DiPietro was the winning
pitcher in the suspended game, allowing just one earned
run on five hits in six innings of work. The Lutes managed
only seven hits against a trio of Whitman pitchers, but
a four-run second inning paved the way to the victory. Andrew
Hernandez ripped a two-run homer and Sammy Davis drove in
three runs in the victory. Micah Babbitt had three of Whitman’s
10 hits. In Sunday’s opener, PLU senior Brett Brunner
went the seven-inning distance, allowing one run on six
hits while walking two and striking out seven to improve
to 3-3. The Lutes took a slim 2-0 lead into the bottom of
the fifth inning before finally getting to Whitman starter
Pete Stadmeyer for five runs. They added six more tallies
in the sixth inning and finished the game with 15 hits.
Ryan Aratani had three hits and Hernandez and Josh Takayoshi
added two each, while Carl Benton drove in three runs for
PLU. Erik Korsmo, Adam Knappe and Dan White evenly shared
the Missionaries’ six hits. William “Trey”
Watt improved his pitching record to 5-1 with a complete-game
three-hitter in the series finale. The sophomore right-hander
from Tualatin, Ore., didn’t walk a batter and struck
out seven in throwing his second complete game in six starts
this season. The Lutes supported Watt with a 10-hit attack.
Jordan Post had three hits and scored three runs, Geoff
Gabler had two hits and drove in four runs, and Aratani
added two more hits.
- PLU -
