Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 TACOMA, Wash. – The Puget Sound baseball team fell twice on Saturday to visiting Willamette, 11-5 and 10-4. Both games provided some offensive fireworks as six total home runs were hit during the doubleheader.
Game 1 – L, 2-11
Willamette quickly went up 2-0 in the first and never looked back in an 11-5 win in the early game. Mitchell Rowan hit the first of three Willamette homers on the day in the first inning for the quick lead.
Willamette hung up one more run in the third before the Loggers were able to scratch out their first runs in the third. Matt Cox doubled to lead off the inning and Lucas Stone was hit by a pitch to put two on with no outs. Kaulana Smith's single loaded the bases with no outs. Johnny Hosmer later drew a one out walk to bring in Cox from third and Andrew Grady's groundball was misplayed at first as Stone came in to score, tightening the game to 3-2 when the inning ended.
However, Willamette got both runs back in the fifth when Rowan's groundout drove in one run and a Logger error allowed another run to cross. The Bearcats all but put the game away in the sixth with five runs, which were all scored with two outs. A Logger error extended the inning and the Bearcats took full advantage in plating five runs.
After a Dylan Summers solo homer put the Bearcats up 11-2, the Loggers scored three in the ninth. A pair of walks and a single from Cox had the bases loaded again for the Loggers with one out. Nick Cochran singled in a run and Johnny Hosmer singled in two more before the Bearcats were able to end the rally and the game.
Brandon Simon earned the win on the mound and Steve Wagar took the loss for the Loggers. The Loggers pounded out 13 hits as did Willamette but the Loggers stranded 13 runners on board to the Bearcats six.
Game 2 – L, 4-10
The late outburst transferred into game two for the Loggers but the momentum didn't last as they fell 10-4. Willamette scored in the top of the first on a Dylan Summers single but the Loggers came out of the gates hot in the bottom half.
Casey Coberlyled off the inning with a single and Connor Savage flied out. Then, Will Mentor crushed a pitch over the left field wall for an instant 2-1 Logger lead. The very next pitch, Matt Cox joined the party with a towering fly ball that disappeared into the trees beyond the right field wall for a 3-1 Logger lead.
After a scoreless second, Mitchell Rowan approached the plate with the bases loaded for the Bearcats and recaptured the lead with a grand slam over the wall in right center. Rowan had five RBI in the game and eight on the day.
Down 5-3, the Loggers were able to scratch out a run in the bottom of the fourth when Mentor's single brought in Savage from second. However, that would be all the runs the Loggers would bring home as they stranded 10 runners on base in the game. T.J. Whidbey tossed six shutout innings out of the bullpen to earn the win for the Bearcats.
Matt Robinson replaced Nate Aguiar on the mound for the Loggers after the Bearcats took a 6-4 lead in the sixth. He went through the rest of the sixth and seventh unscathed but walked in a run in the eighth and was touched up for three runs in the ninth on a flurry of singles to put the game out of reach.
The Loggers take the field for the final time in 2012 tomorrow for the series finale with Willamette at noon. Senior Day festivities will begin at about 11:45 a.m.
