FOREST GROVE, Ore. — The University of Puget Sound baseball team continues its postseason run today when it faces top-seeded Pacific University at 1 p.m. in the winners' bracket of the 2025 Northwest Conference (NWC) Baseball Tournament, hosted at Chuck Bafaro Stadium.

The Loggers (1-0 in tournament play) opened their first-ever NCAA Division III-era postseason appearance with a thrilling 7-6, 11-inning victory over second-seeded Whitworth on Thursday. Puget Sound jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, capitalizing on an RBI single by Ryan Spero and a groundout RBI from Kahiau Teruya.

After Whitworth briefly tied the game with a two-run homer in the fifth, Puget Sound answered with a sixth-inning RBI single from Drew Kamihara. Starting pitcher Brett Harvey turned in six effective innings, allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Reliever Harley Eschliman bridged the middle innings before Whitworth tied the game again in the seventh.

The Loggers scored twice in the 10th — including a go-ahead hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly by Makana Murashige — but Whitworth again rallied with two runs in the bottom half. Puget Sound sealed the win in the 11th when Gavin George, pinch-running for Matt Churchill, scored the decisive run on a sacrifice fly by Cody Hirano. Closer Zach Robman retired the side in order to earn his second win of the season.

Kamihara led the Loggers with three hits and two RBIs, while Spero chipped in with two hits and an RBI. The team finished with 15 hits but stranded 13 runners, and overcame three errors with timely pitching and resilient at-bats.

Pacific (1-0) advanced with a 5-4 walk-off win against Linfield in Thursday's opener. The Boxers rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the ninth inning, with Matt Gibbs scoring the winning run on Vincent Lagatta's RBI single.

The last meeting between Puget Sound and Pacific was a tightly contested three-game series in April, in which Pacific claimed two out of three games, including a 15-14 slugfest finale where the Loggers were up in the 9th inning before the game slipped through their fingers late.

Today's winner will move directly to Saturday's championship game at noon, while the loser will play an elimination game tonight at 4 p.m.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Fans can stream the game live on the NWC Network and follow live stats on StatBroadcast.