Lutes sweep up Missionaries

PLU baseball team still has chance at second place in Northwest Conference

Tyler Scott - scotttj@plu.edu

Mast sports reporter

After dropping a couple of close games to Menlo the first weekend of April, the Lutes emphasized the importance of finishing the season on a strong note. Two weeks and back-to-back series sweeps later, the Lutes are poised for a cross-town match up with Puget Sound in a series that could give Pacific Lutheran a chance to take second place in the Northwest Conference.

Pacific Lutheran swept a floundering Whitman team last weekend in its final home series of the 2008 season, outscoring the Missionaries by a combined 38-6 score. For the second straight weekend, the Lutes combined excellent pitching, solid defense and timely hitting to blow out their opponent.

Head coach Geoff Loomis believes that the baseball team’s clutch offensive play has been the key to the eight-game winning streak.

“Our pitching and defense has been very solid, but I would say that extending our offensive innings by getting two-out hits has been the biggest difference,” Loomis said.

In Saturday’s opener, three PLU pitchers combined to give up only two runs on seven hits. Robert Bleecker pitched the first five innings, giving up the only two runs of the game, before Jeremy Ellison took the ball and gave up only one hit in three outstanding innings of work. Jeff Danforth entered in the ninth to finish the game for the Lutes.

The Lutes got on the board early, after falling behind 1-0 in the first inning. Josh Takayoshi led off the bottom of the inning with a single to the left side, stealing second base a couple of pitches later. Matt Akridge followed with a single and a stolen base, with Jordan Post walking to load the bases.

Geoff Gabler worked a bases-loaded walk to force in the tying run, and Ryan Aratani grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and brought home another run, which gave the Lutes a 2-1 lead.
In the third inning, the Lutes combined four hits with three Whitman errors to put five more runs on the board to take a 7-1 lead. Four more hits in the fourth inning led to two more runs and a 9-1 lead, with Whitman adding one more run in the fifth and the Lutes scoring their final run in the seventh.

At the end of the first game Brandon Sales had three hits, Post had two hits, two runs and one run batted in, and Gabler had two hits, scored two runs and drove two runs in.

Springtime snowfall led to a short delay before the beginning of the second game, and the wintry conditions eventually forced the umpires to suspend the game in the eighth inning.
PLU scored six runs in the first three innings, and sophomore Paul DiPietro gave up only one run in six innings as the Lutes took the second game by a score of 8-3.
Catcher Andrew Hernandez blasted a two-run home run and scored two runs for the Lutes and Sammy Davis had a bases-loaded double in the second inning to drive in three runs.

Sunday’s first game featured a complete game performance by senior Brett Brunner in his final home start. The Lutes backed up the starter with 13 runs on 15 hits. Aratani contributed three hits and three runs, while Takayoshi, Gabler and Hernandez all had two hits.

Brunner improved his record to 3-3 with the six-hit performance, striking out seven and giving up one run in the 13-1 PLU victory. Monday, Brunner focused on the importance of every member of the team in contributing to a win.

“Baseball is such a multidimensional game,” Brunner said. “There is so much going on with every pitch. The outfielders and infielders are moving to put themselves in the best position possible and the catcher is going through previous at bats against the hitter in his head.”

The Lutes finished off the four-game sweep with a 7-0 victory in the final game, headlined by sophomore Trey Watt’s complete game shutout performance. Watt allowed only three hits and no walks to the Missionaries, and his seven strikeouts gave him a Northwest Conference-leading 52 strikeouts for the season.

Once again the middle of the lineup gave the Lutes optimum production, as Post had three hits — including two doubles — scored two runs and drove in one, Gabler also scored two runs and drove in four with a pair of hits and Aratani also contributed two hits and one run batted in.

Second baseman Carl Benton had a special weekend of his own, setting a new PLU record with his 24th and 25th hit-by-pitches of the season. He passed Paul Montmeny’s 23 in 1990.

Pacific Lutheran travels to Puget Sound this weekend to face the Loggers in a season-ending showdown. With PLU two games back of George Fox for second in the NWC, and with the Bruins facing conference-leading Linfield this weekend, the Lutes could potentially overtake George Fox for second place in the conference.

“This is a very special group of seniors,” Loomis said. “The feeling this weekend was that they deserved four wins to finish out their career on our home field. Our goal will simply be to finish this season strong by continuing to play the game better than our opponents.”

Brunner is looking forward to the opportunity to pitch one final game for the Lutes, saying that “I really want to get that last win at UPS.”

“Considering that Sunday might be the last time I get to pitch in a competitive situation, I really want to go out there and perform well,” Brunner said. “I want to compete and leave everything I have out there on the field. If I can look myself in the mirror Monday morning and say that I held nothing back and have nothing to regret about my baseball career, then I will be absolutely happy no matter the outcome of the game.”

Pacific Lutheran closes out the 2008 season at Puget Sound with doubleheaders starting at noon Saturday and another Sunday.

Photo by Issac VanMachlen

Sophomore Ben Shively attempts to turn a double play as senior pitcher Brett Brunner looks on during a game this past weekend against Whitman. PLU completed their season sweep of the Missionaries with four wins Saturday and Sunday. With a cross-town series looming with UPS, the Lutes still have a chance at second place in the conference.