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Box Score 2 NEWBERG, Ore.—The Puget Sound baseball squad ran into a tough George Fox team again Sunday, losing both games of the doubleheader against the 23rd-ranked Bruins at Morse Field in Newberg, Ore. The Loggers held both games scoreless in the first three innings, but big late-game innings by the Bruins pushed the hosts over the brink in both contests.
Game One: George Fox 9, Puget Sound 0
The Loggers led off game one with two hits, getting singles from Nickolas Alarcio and Nathan Backes. Alarcio was picked off at first base, but Lucas Stone walked to replace him on the base paths. Neither made it past third, however, and the Loggers left the pair on base heading into the bottom of the frame.
George Fox scored the day's first runs in the fourth inning. With two runners on base, Kaydyn Nannini hit one over the fences, tallying three RBIs on the homer. The Bruins' 3-0 lead held through the seventh, surviving a Loggers' three-hit inning. Backes led the frame with a single and then Backes and Bobby Hosmer ripped back-to-back base knocks to load the bases. George Fox escaped again with a double play to end the inning, stranding two Puget Sound runners on base.
The hosts added six more runs on four hits in the seventh inning for a 9-0 advantage, a score which would hold through the end of the game. Both Backes and Zerio tallied two of the Loggers' eight total hits, and starting pitcher Collin Maier went 6.0 innings while allowing three runs and striking out seven, matching a season high set March 22 at Pacific Lutheran. Jeff Walton also took the mound in game one for his first pitching appearance of the season.
Game Two: George Fox 8, Puget Sound 0
The nightcap went scoreless for the first three innings despite both teams tallying two hits and leaving at least one on in the first inning. Connor Savage led the game off with a single to second and moved third on a hit from Walton, but would get no further. In the bottom of the frame, Stone got the Bruins to leave the bases juiced, forcing Zac Israel to ground into a fielder's choice to end the frame.
George Fox opened scoring in the fourth, getting one run across on a sacrifice fly by Nannini. The Bruins added two more in the fifth inning on three hits, one of which was a two-RBI base knock by Zach Rapacz.
The Bruins pushed five runs across in the seventh, including a three-run homerun by Danny Clifford. The inning set the game score at 8-0, where it would remain. The Loggers got six hits in game two. Stone threw 6.0 innings in the start, and both David Torigoe and Kian Kurokawa threw 1.0 inning apiece as well.
Puget Sound (7-16, 5-10 NWC) returns home for a four-game homestand. The Loggers' next home game will be Wednesday, April 9 when they host Saint Martin's. First pitch for that contest will be at 4:00 p.m. on Logger Field in Tacoma, Wash.
