March 1, 2008

Lutes, Wildcats Split Conference Baseball Twinbill

Game One
Game Two

Bret Handy - picks up second-game win

PARKLAND, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran got a strong pitching performance from freshman Bret Handy in the second game to split a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader with the Linfield Wildcats on Saturday at the PLU baseball field.

The games featured a match-up between the defending conference champion and No. 18-ranked Lutes and the team picked by the conference coaches to win the 2008 title, the Wildcats.

Linfield rode Brian Kerr’s three-run homer to a 6-4 victory in the first game before Handy handcuffed the Wildcats in the nightcap, 8-1. The four-game conference series concludes with a pair of seven-inning games scheduled to start at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Handy, a left-hander from Nooksack Valley High School near the Canadian border, allowed only the one earned run on seven hits while striking out two and walking three in 8 2/3 innings. He left the game only after Kerr’s pinch hit base hit drove in the Wildcats’ only run of the second game with two outs in the ninth inning. Trey Watt came in to get the final out and wrap up the PLU victory. Prior to Saturday’s game, Handy had thrown only four innings in the Lutes’ first five games.

The Lutes scored a run in the second inning on singles by Geoff Gabler and Tyler Goarck and a sacrifice fly by Matt Wolford, then broke the game open with four runs more in the third against Linfield starter and loser Garrett Dorn. Brandon Sales and Jordan Post singled to start the inning, and both scored on a double by Kris Hansen. With the bases loaded, Goarck’s ground ball was thrown away, allowing more runs to score.

PLU added two runs in the seventh inning on Carl Benton’s RBI double and Ben Shively’s run-scoring single, and then finished its scoring in the eighth when Sales walked and eventually tallied on a passed ball.

The Lutes collected 11 hits – including two each by Benton and Gabler – against a trio of Linfield pitchers. No Linfield batter had more than one hit in the second contest.

In the opener, the Wildcats scored a run in the second before posting a big five-run outburst in the third inning, with Kerr being at the heart of both rallies. He doubled and scored on Jordan Boustead’s two-out double in the second, then clubbed a three-run homer to right-centerfield an inning later. Drew Van Cleave started the third with a long homer to left before Kerr hit his two-out drive.

After three innings the Wildcats had collected six runs on 10 hits against PLU starter and loser Ian Opsal. He was relieved by Hunter Simpson, who threw six hitless innings to allow the Lutes to get back into the contest. Hansen hit a homer for the team’s first run, and they added another an inning later when Sales singled to drive in Shively. PLU cut its deficit to 6-3 in the sixth when Benton hit a leadoff double and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Matt Akridge.

The Lutes added their final run in the eighth inning courtesy of a hit batter, a single and a Linfield error, but that was all they could muster.

Brian Clark improved his record to 3-0 for Linfield, giving up three runs, all earned, on 10 hits while striking out four and walking two in six innings. Ricky Gonzalez pitched two innings and Robert Vaughn recorded the save with a scoreless ninth inning.

Linfield collected 10 hits in the game, including two each by Kerr, Boustead and David Bachofner. After starting slow, the Lutes finished with 12 hits, including a perfect 4-for-4 from Ben Shively, three hits from Sales and two more from Ryan Aratani.

- PLU -