April 15, 2007

Lutes Go 10 Innings to Secure Record-Breaking Win

Line Score

Logan Andrews - gets win in relief

Chris Bowen - takes one for the team

TACOMA, Wash. - Pacific Lutheran’s record-breaking baseball victory didn’t come without a little trepidation.

The Lutes broke the school record for wins in a season with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the Whitman Missionaries on Sunday at PLU. The victory gave PLU (27-6 overall, 16-2 NWC) a series sweep of Whitman (5-24, 3-15).

The Lutes needed some late heroics to get their historic 27th victory, however, and move closer to their first conference title since Pacific Lutheran College won consecutive Evergreen Conference crowns in 1953-54. PLU has never won a Northwest Conference title. The victory broke the record of 26 wins, set in 1994 and equaled on Saturday against Whitman.

PLU holds a three-game advantage in the loss column over George Fox, and following a Willamette victory over Linfield, a five-game lead over Linfield with six Northwest Conference games to play.

Unable to make an early 3-0 lead stand up on Sunday, PLU won it when third baseman Chris Bowen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 10th. Bowen had entered the game only a half-inning before when shortstop Logan Andrews became the Lutes’ third pitcher of the day and third baseman Jared Simon moved from third to short.

In the bottom of the 10th, the Lutes loaded the bases with three walks from relief pitcher Thomas Kost. With a 3-1 count, Kost’s fastball hit Bowen in the back, scoring Ryan Thorne with the winning run.

PLU scored three times in the first inning against Whitman starter Pete Stadmeyer on back-to-back doubles by Roger Guzman and Thorne and Tyler Green’s two-run homer, his sixth of the season. PLU managed just three hits over the next eight innings against Stadmeyer, however, and the Missionaries got back in the game. They scored twice in the seventh inning on three hits, including a two-run single by Luke Marshall, and then tied it on catcher Mike Rothwell’s RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning. Whitman would have had at least one more run, perhaps two, except for a diving stop by third baseman Simon on Micah Babbit’s ground ball.

Whitman left two runners on base in the ninth, and Simon nearly ended the game with two outs in the ninth but his long drive to left field hit the fence, resulting in a double. Stadmeyer retired Roger Guzman on a fly ball to end that threat.

After Andrews retired the Missionaries in order in the 10th, the Lutes put together the game-winning rally against Kost, whose record is 0-1 this season.

Andrews picked up the win, his third against no defeats. Pacific Lutheran managed just six hits after scratching out only five in a 4-2 win over Whitman on Saturday. The Missionaries had 12 hits, including three each by Adam Knappe and Jason Sease.

Pacific Lutheran returns to action next weekend when it plays a three-game series at Whitworth. The Lutes need three wins in their final six games to wrap up at least a share of the conference championship and with it the NWC’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament.

- PLU -