March 27, 2007

Lutes' Seven-Game Win Streak Stopped by Saint Martin's

Line Score

LACEY, Wash. - Saint Martin's took a 5-0 lead after three innings and held on to defeat Pacific Lutheran, 9-7, in a non-conference game played Tuesday afternoon.

The loss ended a seven-game PLU winning streak and dropped the Lutes to 17-6 for the season.

With his team coming off of a three-game conference sweep of Lewis & Clark on Sunday and Monday and with an important conference series against No. 5-ranked George Fox looming this weekend, PLU head coach Geoff Loomis elected to rest his starters. The Lutes had five players in the starting lineup who had not started a game this year, and two more that had a total of only three starts between them.

Trailing 5-0 in the top of the fourth, the Lutes put together a two-run rally with Geoff Gabler and Ben Shively producing run-scoring singles. PLU cut its deficit to 5-3 with another run in the fifth, but Saint Martin's scored two in the bottom of the frame to take a 7-3 lead.

With PLU starters entering the game in the sixth, the Lutes got two runs back with a two-out rally capped by Roger Guzman's two-run single. The Saints responded with two runs of their own, and the Lutes closed out the scoring in the seventh inning on Justin Whitehall's two-out, two-run double.

Jeff Caley started the game for PLU and took the loss, giving up five earned run on three hits and two walks in three innings. The big blow against Caley was Richard O'Neill's bases-clearing double in the third inning.

Matt Wolford, who got the start in center, had a pair of singles to finish as the only PLU player with more than one hit.

Pacific Lutheran returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Puget Sound in a non-conference game starting at 3 p.m. On Saturday, the Lutes host George Fox in a noon doubleheader.

- PLU -