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Pacific Lutheran Univ.
Tacoma, WA 98447
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April 17, 2007

BASEBALL: No 14-Ranked Lutes Visit Whitworth For Three-Game Series

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran visits the Whitworth Pirates in a three-game series in Spokane, Wash. The teams play a doubleheader starting at noon on Saturday followed by a single game at noon on Sunday.

GOING FOR THE TITLE: Pacific Lutheran currently leads the Northwest Conference with a 16-2 record and is seeking the program's first-ever NWC title. Pacific Lutheran College won consecutive Evergreen Conference championships in 1953-54, but that was the last time that the Lutes finished atop a conference baseball race. Although the season is winding down and the Lutes have a seemingly comfortable three-game lead over second-place George Fox, there is still plenty of baseball to be played. Heading into this weekend’s series against Whitworth, the Lutes need to win three of the next six games in order to ensure at least a share of the conference championship and the NWC's automatic bid the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Lutes would get the bid over George Fox because they swept the Bruins during the regular season. If the Lutes win four of the six they will claim the conference title outright. Linfield is five games out of first place and is still mathematically in the race. Following the Whitworth series, the Lutes will greet cross-town rival and NWC foe Puget Sound in a three-game series to close out the regular season on April 28-29. The two teams have faced each other three times this season with PLU winning all three of the non-conference contests.

ABOUT WHITWORTH: The Lutes travel to Spokane to take on a Whitworth team that is 12-19 overall and 8-10 in Northwest Conference play. Whitworth is in fifth place in the conference and is coming off a four-game split against third-place Puget Sound. On offense, the Pirates are hitting .267 as a team and average around 5.5 runs per game. Senior Ryne Webb, out of Spokane CC, is hitting .314 with ten doubles and three home runs. Jon Whiteside, a junior from Yakima, Wash., and a former Eisenhower HS teammate of PLU’s Roger Guzman, Joe DiPietro and Paul DiPietro, is currently batting .305. Stephen Baranowski leads the team in earned run average at 2.76. “Whitworth is very talented and it’s a tough place to play,” PLU head coach Geoff Loomis said. “They probably have thesecond best pitching staff in the league so the games are probably going to be close and quick."

MASTER THIEF: Senior centerfielder Ryan Thorne broke the program’s single-season record for stolen bases when he swiped third base in the seventh inning of last Saturday's opener against Whitman, giving him 30 and sending him past David Sandberg, who had 29 steals in 1994. Thorne added another steal in the second game to push his Northwest Conference leading total to 31.

LUTES SECURE RECORD-BREAKING WIN, THREE-GAME SWEEP: The Lutes broke the school record for wins in a season last Sunday with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the visiting Whitman Missionaries. The victory gave PLU (27-6 overall, 16-2 NWC) a series sweep of Whitman (5-24, 3-15). The win also broke the program’s record of 26 wins, set in 1994 when the team finished 26-16. 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. Whitman put together a late rally, scoring two in the seventh on a two-run single by Luke Marshall and one more in the eighth to tie the game on catcher Mike Rothwell’s RBI double. Logan Andrews came in from shortstop to pitch the 10th inning and 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. Joe DiPietro went another nine innings for Lutes in the series opener, allowing two runs on just two hits while walking one and striking out nine. He improved his season record to 9-1 and his conference mark to 6-0. With the win, DiPietro ties Brian Farman (1999) for most wins in season. Both teams went scoreless for the first three innings until Whitman put two on the board in the fourth. The Lutes responded in the bottom half of the fourth when Jordan Post scored on a Missionary error. PLU also tacked on two in the fifth on Tyler Green’s sacrifice fly and another Whitman error. DiPietro settled down and the Lutes added an insurance run the seventh when Guzman scored on another Green sac fly. PLU broke it wide open in game two when they scored five runs in the second inning and six in the fifth. The Lutes scored on an RBI single from Justin Whitehall and a grand slam home run over the left field fence Jared Simon, giving him four dingers for the season. “He got a strike on me first, then threw three balls so I was looking for a fastball on the next pitch,” Simon said. “I knew it had a good chance once I hit it.” A wild pitch scored Thorne, a double by Justin Whitehall scored Green and Post and Andrew’s single put PLU up 9-0. PLU scored twice more in the inning on an RBI single by Brandon Sales and Thorne’s fielders choice. The Missionaries would plate four runs in the top of the seventh but that is all they would get as sophomore relief pitcher Hunter Simpson came in and kept Whitman at bay. Senior Kael Fisher earned his third victory of the season. Whitehall went 3-5 with three RBIs, Simon had four RBIs, and Andrews, Sales, and sophomore designated hitter Kris Hansen each had a pair of hits.

WHITEHALL PUTS HIS NAME IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Justin Whitehall entered the record books as the all-time career leader in runs batted in, passing Jay Chennault, who had 104 RBIs between 1997 and 2000. Whitehall has been a valuable contributor to the PLU baseball program since his first season in 2004. “There are a lot seniors here who have played all four years and I think that is really a tribute to Justin and all these senior guys when they start breaking career records because it means that when they came here they started contributing right away,” Loomis said. “It’s really a credit to Justin in what type of a player he is and I was really happy to see him get that record.” This season Whitehall is hitting .272 with four home runs, 35 RBIs and 34 hits.

- PLU -