March 15, 2008

Lutes Sweep Baseball Twinbill from Lewis & Clark

Game One
Game Two

Jordan Post - back-to-back two-run jacks

Josh Takayoshi - five hits in the twinbill

PARKLAND, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran swept a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader from visiting Lewis & Clark on Saturday, winning 12-8 in the first game and 8-5 in the second contest.

The Lutes (7-6-2 overall, 5-5 NWC) and the Pioneers (3-11 overall, 1-9 NWC) will conclude their four-game conference series on Sunday with a pair of seven-inning games that are scheduled to begin at noon.

The first game was a slugfest as the two teams combined for 20 runs, 27 hits, four doubles and two home runs.

The Pioneers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ryan Kostecka hit a double and scored on a single by TJ Witkowski, but the Lutes got two back in the bottom of the inning on a Jordan Post home run. After the Pioneers tied it in the second on a RBI ground out, Post rocked his second two-run homer of the game in the third inning.

Lewis & Clark scored twice more in the fifth, the Lutes got two of their own in the inning, then scored two more in the sixth to take a comfortable 8-4 lead. The Pioneers responded with a four-run seventh inning, making the most of a key PLU error and five hits, including a pinch hit two-run single by Jordan Wlodarczyk.

Pacific Lutheran regained a 10-8 lead on Ryan Aratani’s two-run double in the bottom of the seventh, and then added insurance with two more runs in the eighth on a bases loaded walk to pinch hitter Matt Wolford and a sacrifice fly by Matt Akridge.

Post finished the game with three hits, four RBI and two runs scored, while Ben Shively added three hits and Josh Takayoski and Aratani a pair each in the Lutes’ 14-hit attack. Sam Holman, Witkowski, Roland Greene and Neal Finch all had a pair of hits for the Pioneers, who finished the game with 13 safeties.

Paul DiPietro picked up the win in relief to improve to 1-1 while Bret Handy pitched two hitless innings to earn his first save. Eric Muraoka picked up the loss in a relief role.

Lewis & Clark controlled most of the second game, building a 3-0 lead after three innings. Holman and AJ Brown hit back-to-back two-out doubles to account for a run in the first, while Jordan Shibata had an RBI single and Holman an RBI double in the third.

The Lutes finally got on the board in the fourth on Shively’s sacrifice fly, but struggled against reliever Alex St. Pierre, who allowed just three hits and a run in four innings. PLU finally broke the game open by virtue of a seven-run seventh inning against reliever Dan Meehan. PLU collected five hits and two more batters were hit by pitches, but a pair of Lewis & Clark errors accounted for six of the seven runs being unearned. Takayoshi, who led off the inning with a single, finished off the scoring with a two-run double.

The Pioneers put together one last rally in the ninth inning, making two hit batters, two walks and a single stretch into a two-run rally that finally ended on a runner interference call on a double play grounder.

Holman had three hits in the second game and finished the day with five hits in nine at-bats for the Pioneers. Shibata and Brown both had a pair of hits in the second game for the visitors, who collected 11 in the game. Takayoshi ripped three hits to lead PLU’s nine-hit offense.

Robert Bleecker improved his pitching record to 2-0, allowing three runs on 10 hits while striking out six and walking one in seven innings. Ian Opsal came into the game with one out in the ninth inning and the tying run on first base and coaxed the game-ending double play, and as a result picked up his first save this season.

- PLU -