March 11, 2008

BASEBALL: Lutes Return Home after Tough Weekend Series

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (5-6-2, 3-5 NWC) hosts Lewis & Clark (3-9, 1-7) in a doubleheader, Saturday, noon; PLU hosts Lewis & Clark in a doubleheader, Sunday, noon.

ABOUT THE PIONEERS: Lewis & Clark ranks fourth in the Northwest Conference with a .305 batting average, led by a trio of infielders: Tucker Laurence (.423), Jordan Shibata (.413) and TJ Witkowski (.406). Unfortunately for the Pioneers, pitching also plays a major role in the game of baseball. As a team, Lewis & Clark ranks last in the conference with a 9.20 earned run average, allowing 130 hits and 71 walks in only 92 innings.

ABOUT THE LUTES: The defending Northwest Conference champions have struggled a bit in the first two weeks of conference play putting all three aspects of successful baseball together – pitching, timely hitting and solid defense. After splitting their opening series with the Linfield Wildcats, the Lutes lost three of four to the Pacific Boxers last weekend in Oregon. The defense showed great improvement against Pacific after struggling against Linfield, as the Lutes committed only two errors in the four games. Unfortunately, the timely hitting and pitching betrayed them at different points in the weekend to allow the Boxers to earn the series win. The Lutes rank sixth in the conference with a .290 team batting average, and their 5.55 team earned run average is good for fourth-best in the league. After a rough start to the season, Pacific Lutheran has improved its fielding percentage to a fourth-best .960, which should only improve as the season progresses. Hunter Simpson is second in the conference with a 1.69 ERA, allowing only three earned runs in 16 innings this season. With an extremely talented team, players and coaches alike are confident that it will all come together in the near future and allow the Lutes to be far more successful in win-loss column.

LAST SEASON’S SERIES: Brandon Sales had five hits, including a home run, in eight at bats, driving in seven runs for the Lutes as they swept the three-game series, 7-1, 7-2 and 10-5. Jordan Post also drove in five runs with four hits in 15 at bats, including a home run.

SERIES REMINDERS: This season, all Northwest Conference series consist feature four games: two nine-inning games on Saturday and a couple of seven-inning games on Sunday. Also, starting this week the rest of the Lutes’ home doubleheaders will start at noon. The Lutes’ home opener against Linfield a couple of weekends ago started at 11 a.m., but with the clock change this past weekend, the start time can be pushed back an hour without the worry of darkness bringing a premature finish to games.

LISTEN LIVE ON KCCR: Pacific Lutheran plans to broadcast all baseball and softball home games this season on KCCR online student radio. Just click the link that says “LISTEN” on the Lutes’ schedule on the right side of the athletics homepage and then click the link that says Broadband (128Kbps) in the center of the KCCR homepage to tune in.

BOXERS TAKE THREE OF FOUR: In Saturday’s opener, Jeff Johnston scored two runs, including one on Nick McNeely's game-winning homer to score a 4-3 first game victory. In the nightcap, Knuth held the Lutes to just four hits in eight innings of work as the Boxers posted an 11-1 victory. Pacific came out on top of a first game that developed into a pitcher's duel between starters Sean Dickey and PLU's Hunter Simpson. Dickey lasted six innings, allowing two runs on two hits with five strikeouts, while Simpson allowed two runs on two hits with three strikeouts in five innings. Both hurlers took no decisions. Tyler Fransen earned the win for Pacific in relief of Dickey, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts in three innings of work. Paul DiPietro took the loss for PLU, allowing two runs on three hits with on strikeouts in two innings. Johnston led Pacific offensively by going 3-for-4 with two runs. Matt Akridge's two hits and two runs batted in paced the Lutes. PLU opened scoring once again in the nightcap when Aratani scored on a single by Akridge. Pacific answered back with four in the home half of the frame. Johnston opened the inning with a double and scored on Zach Gantenbein's single. McNeely then singled and Matt Hendryx cleared the bases with his third home run of the season to straight away center field. Pacific added two more with two outs in the bottom of the second on a bases loaded single by Hendryx that scored Johnston and Gantenbein. Blaine Knuth earned the victory by allowing just the one run on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts in eight innings. Bret Handy took the loss for the PLU, allowing six runs on four hits with two walks in 1 2/3 innings of work. Johnston, Gantenbein and Hendryx all had three hits for the Boxers, while Akridge finished with two hits to lead PLU. On Sunday, Robert Bleecker had a strong pitching outing to lead Pacific Lutheran to a win in the first game, but two home runs by Matt Hendryx in the second game helped Pacific earn the series win and take three of four from the Lutes. Bleecker limited Pacific to just four hits in six innings as the Lutes cruised to 10-2 victory in the seven-inning opener. Hendryx's round trippers, his fourth and fifth of the season, led to a come-from-behind 8-7 victory in seven innings. Bleecker earned the win for the Lutes, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts in six innings of work. Reed took his first loss of the season, allowing five runs, three earned, on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Akridge and Tyler Goarck each had two hits to lead the Lutes. Pacific Lutheran opened the second game by rattling Pacific starter Brandon Larson for five runs in the second inning. Hendryx’s two home runs brought the Boxers back to within one. After the Lutes scored in the top of the fifth, Boxers took the lead for good with a couple runs in the home half of the frame. Johnston added an insurance run in the sixth, scoring from second on a dropped fly ball. The run proved important as Akridge hit his second home run of the series to open the seventh, a solo shot to left field against Pacific reliever Kyle Barksdale. Barksdale retired the next three batters to earn his first save of the season. Larson picked up the victory for Pacific, allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings of work. PLU starter Brett Brunner took the loss, allowing seven runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Gantenbein and Hendryx each had two hits for Pacific, while Hansen and Akridge posted two hits each for PLU.

- PLU -