April 29, 2008

BASEBALL: Lutes Take Third in NWC, Bid Farewell to Seniors

LUTES AND LOGGERS SPLIT: Bleecker allowed only four hits and just one earned run in seven innings of work as the Lutes won Saturday’s opener, 11-3. Jeremy Ellison finished the final two innings, allowing only one hit. Puget Sound scored the most runs allowed by the Lutes in a game this season when it won an exciting 18-16 decision in the second game. That duo got plenty of offensive support as the Lutes came up with 11 hits, including two each my Josh Takayoshi, Matt Akridge and Geoff Gabler. Takayoshi scored three runs and Gabler drove in three, including one in the first inning with a double and the other two in the third inning with a home run. The Lutes scored three more runs in the fourth on Carl Benton's RBI single and a two-run homer by Akridge. The other two runs came on the ninth inning on RBI singles by Ryan Aratani and Brandon Sales. The Loggers had all kinds of base runners in the second game. In addition to their 20 hits, they took advantage of seven walks and five hit batsmen by a total of five PLU pitchers. Puget Sound led 12-8 through seven innings and then scored three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Trailing 18-8 going into their last at-bat, the Lutes rallied for eight runs on eight singles, two walks and a UPS error. PLU had the tying runs on base when the final out was recorded. Pacific Lutheran had 15 hits in the game including two each by Takayoshi, Gabler, Aratani, Andrew Hernandez and Ben Shively. Gabler hit his second home run of the day and his fourth overall this season leading off the sixth inning. Pacific Lutheran lost Sunday’s first game to a walk-off home run but came back with 17 hits to win the nightcap. The Loggers used Gregorio Beck's two-out homer in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Lutes, 9-8, in the first game. Brandon Sales had four hits and Geoff Gabler capped a great offensive series with three hits as the Lutes won the finale, 11-5. As was the case in Saturday's second game loss to Puget Sound, the PLU pitching staff simply could not stop the Loggers' offense. The hosts collected 16 hits in Sunday's opener after getting 20 in their 18-16 win on Saturday. Pacific Lutheran actually led 5-3 entering the bottom of the fourth when Puget Sound broke through for five runs. The Lutes whittled away at the lead and eventually scored two runs on a Matt Akridge base hit in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 8-8. That led to Beck's heroics against Jeremy Ellison, PLU's fifth pitcher in the game. Unfortunately for the senior, it was the first earned run he has allowed in two years as a member of the Lutes pitching staff. Gabler had three singles and Ben Shively added two doubles and a single to PLU's 12-hit attack. Trey Watt improved his season record to 6-1 with a complete-game effort in the finale. He allowed nine hits while walking two and striking out four. Watt got plenty of support from the Lutes, who broke open a close 1-0 game with four runs in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth inning, and it was Gabler who started both rallies. He led off the fifth with a double and scored on a base hit by Ryan Aratani. Sales followed with a hit and Aratani scored on a single by Andrew Hernandez. Sammy Davis laid down a bunt for a hit, scoring Sales, and Shively hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Hernandez. In the sixth inning, Gabler led off with a single and Aratani followed with a single. Consecutive walks to Sales and Hernandez brought in Gabler, and Kris Hansen followed with a pinch-hit two-run single. After a walk to Josh Takayoshi, the final run scored when Carl Benton was hit by a pitch for a school record 26th time this season. The Lutes scored their final two runs in the seventh on doubles by Gabler and Sales and a single by pinch hitter Ryan Boyles. Sales was 4-for-4 during the game and Gabler finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored. Aratani, Davis and Shively all added a pair of hits for the Lutes.

FINAL RANKINGS: The Lutes finished the season in third place in the Northwest Conference with a 21-11 record, 24-14-2 overall. Pacific Lutheran’s .334 team batting average ranked first in the conference, with its 4.57 earned run average placing third and its .962 fielding percentage ranking second. Geoff Gabler’s late-season offensive explosion carried him all the way to the NWC batting title, as he finished the season with a conference-leading .429 batting average in 26 games played. Gabler also led the team with a .701 slugging percentage and .482 on base percentage. Ryan Aratani finished an outstanding freshman season with a .397 average, good for second in the conference. Brandon Sales followed up an All-American season with a .388 batting average and a team-leading 57 hits and 14 doubles in his junior campaign. Jordan Post paced the Lutes in numerous offensive categories, including runs (41, tied with Josh Takayoshi), home runs (6), runs batted in (34), total bases (85) and walks (30). Robert Bleecker finished the season with an undefeated 6-0 record and a conference-best 2.51 earned run average in 64.2 innings pitched. Trey Watt’s 56 strikeouts tied for the conference lead, with his 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings the most in the conference. Jeremy Ellison finished his PLU career giving up only one earned run.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Geoff Gabler earned Northwest Conference player of the week honors for the final week of the season, batting .588 (10 for 17) with three doubles and two home runs in four weekend games. He drove in five runs and scored nine times, and also had a pair of stolen bases in two attempts.

BENTON’S PAINFUL RECORD: Second baseman Carl Benton earned his place in the PLU record books with a painful assault on the single season hit by pitch record. His 26 hit by pitches easily surpassed Paul Montmeny’s 23 in 1990.

SENIOR RECOGNITION: With the season coming to a close, the Lutes bid farewell to four seniors, all pitchers, this season. Jeremy Ellison, Brett Brunner, Jeff Danforth and Matt Keller all completed their final year of eligibility. Pacific Lutheran would like to thank these players for their contributions over the years, both on and off the field, and wish them all the best of luck in their next endeavors.

- PLU -