TACOMA, Wash. - After allowing 20 hits in the opener, the Puget
Sound Loggers staff shut the Whitworth Pirates down in the
nightcap, splitting a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on
Sunday at Logger Field in Tacoma, Wash.
In the opener, the Pirates struck right away, using an RBI
single to by Kyle Krustangel to take a 1-0 lead after one frame.
Whitworth made it 4-0 in the top of the third with three runs
on four hits but the Loggers evened it up with one swing of the bat
on a two-out grand slam by Will Mentor (Seattle, Wash./Seattle
Prep).
The Pirates blew the game wide open in the top of the fifth,
scoring five runs on six hits to take a 9-4 lead and the Loggers
couldn't find a way back into the contest. Whitworth added a
single run in the top of the ninth as they rode 20 hits to the 10-4
win. Nathan Johnson collected the win for Whitworth, going
all nine innings to earn the complete game. Taylor Volz
(Portland, Ore./Grant) took the loss, allowing six runs on ten hits
in four and one-third innings pitched.
The offensive-minded Pirates struck first again in the nightcap,
scoring a single run in the top of the ninth but the Logger bats
had an answer, exploding for four runs on five hits, including a
two-RBI double by Jason Powell (Redwood City, Calif./Sacred Heart),
to give Puget Sound a 4-1 lead after one.
Whitworth added a second run in the top of the second and one
more in the top of the third as they cut the gap to 4-3 but three
more Logger runs in the bottom of the third and two more in the
bottom of the fourth put the game out of reach as the maroon and
white extended the lead to 9-3. Senior Mark Rockey (Mountlake
Terrace, Wash./Univ. of New Mexico) hit his seventh home run of the
year to lead off the fifth and the Loggers added three more in the
bottom of the seventh to push the lead to 13-3.
Jarvis Nohara (Honolulu, Hawaii/Iolani) earned the win for the
Loggers allowing three runs, just one earned, on four hits with a
trio of strikeouts in six innings pitched. Liam O'Brien took
the loss for Whitworth, allowing four runs on five hits in just two
innings pitched.
The Loggers head down to California next week for a quartet of
games against foes from the Southern California Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference.
