McMINNVILLE, Ore. - A sacrifice fly by Matt Cox (Salem,
Ore./South Salem) in the bottom of the eighth was enough to pull
the Puget Sound Loggers past the Whitman Missionaries, 9-8, in a
non-conference baseball game on Sunday afternoon at the Jim Doran
Auto Classic in McMinnville, Ore.
After Whitman was able to sneak a run across in the top of the
first inning, the Logger bats came alive in the bottom half of the
inning. Mark Rockey (Mountlake Terrace, Wash./New Mexico) got
on base following a Whitman error that also allowed Dakota Resnik
(Bellevue, Wash./Newport) to score and tie the game up at
1-1.
The Loggers got two more on the board a few batters later when
David Thirlby (Seattle, Wash./O'Dea) doubled in both Matt Cox and
Doug Cox (Kailua, Hawaii/Kalaheo). The long inning wasn't
over yet as Will Mentor (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Prep) reached on an
error that allowed Thirlby to score and then Zach Girod (Vancouver,
Wash./Fort Vancouver) scored on a double by Andrew Grady (Cave
Creek, Ariz./Phoenix Country Day) as Puget Sound held a 5-1 lead
after the first full inning.
After three more Whitman runs in the top of the second got the
Missionaries back within one run, Thirlby singled up the middle in
the bottom of the inning to score Doug Cox and Resnik and push
the UPS lead to 7-4. Whitman retook the lead following a sole
run in the top of the fourth and three more in the fifth that put
them up by a score of 8-7.
The Loggers tied the game back up in the sixth inning when
Rockey singled to left field to score Gregg Ringold (Los Altos
Hills, Calif./Harker School). Puget Sound then took the final
lead in the bottom of the eighth when Matt Cox used a one-out
sacrifice fly to score Ringold and secure the 9-8 victory.
Junior Jarvis Nohara (Honolulu, Hawaii/Iolani) collected the
win, pitching two innings of scoreless baseball to close the game
out. Blaine Mercado took the loss for Whitman, allowing nine
runs, six of them earned, on 10 hits in eight innings pitched with
a pair of strikeouts and a walk.
The Loggers open up Northwest Conference play on Saturday when
they play host to Whitworth. First pitch with the Pirates is
set for 11:00 a.m. at Logger Field in Tacoma, Wash.
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