April 7, 2007

Lutes Hold Willamette to Five Hits in 4-1 Win over Bearcats

Line Score

Ryan Thorne - 4-for-4, three steals

Dylan Stanford - records third save

SALEM, ORE. - Brett Brunner and Dylan Stanford combined to hold Willamette to five hits and Ryan Thorne had four hits and three steals as visiting Pacific Lutheran won a Northwest Conference baseball game, 4-1, on Saturday, April 7, at John Lewis Field.

PLU, which leads the NWC standings, is now 24-6 overall and 13-2 in the NWC. The Lutes have won 14 of their past 15 games, including four consecutive NWC series sweeps. Willamette drops to 13-15 overall, 6-11 in NWC action.

Brunner, 5-2 for the season, went eight innings, giving up one earned run on five hits and three walks while striking out six. Stanford came on with no outs in the ninth inning after Brunner hit Willamette’s Grant Yamaguchi to lead off the inning. Stanford got Matt Rasmussen to ground into a double play before striking out pinch hitter Colin Young to record his third save and end the game.

Centerfielder Ryan Thorne led the Lutes offensively, going 4-for-4 and stealing three bases for the second straight game. His final stolen base of the game gave him 29 for the season, tying him for the school record set by David Sandberg in 1994. Also for Pacific Lutheran, Brandon Sales hit 2 for 4, including a solo home run in the fourth inning that gave PLU a 3-0 lead.

The Lutes scored a run in the first when Thorne singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Tyler Green. Thorne was involved in two of the next three runs. In the third inning, Roger Guzman was hit by a pitch and he moved up a base on Thorne’s single. Guzman then scored on a base hit by Jordan Post. Sales hit his third homer of the year to make it 3-0, and Willamette finally got a run back on three hits in the fifth inning. In the seventh, Thorne hit a double, advanced on a fielding error, and scored on a throwing error.

Pacific Lutheran returns to action next weekend when it hosts conference foe Whitman in a three-game series. The two teams play a Saturday doubleheader starting at noon and come back the following day for a single game, also starting at noon.

- PLU -

(Courtesy Willamette Sports Information Office)