Boxers Held To Four Hits In Non-Conference Loss To Corban
Box Score
SALEM, Ore. – Playing their second non-conference game in as many days with a limited lineup, Pacific found themselves limited to just four hits by four Corban pitchers as the Boxers took a 10-4 loss to the Warriors in baseball action at Volcanoes Stadium.
Starting the game with just four of their regular starters, the Boxers (16-11) were held hitless until the fifth inning, but managed to come out of the top of the sixth inning with the game trailing 4-3. The NAIA member Warriors (21-14), however, put the game away in the home half of the sixth with five runs, which was aided by an error with one out.
Four different Pacific players finished with a hit.
Brad Williams (Fr., Olympia, Wash.) was the only Boxer with a hit and a run batted in thanks to his solo home run in the ninth. Marc Gallegos and Jordan Johansen led Corban with both players going 3 for 5. Johansen also had three runs batted in as the Warriors out-hit the Boxers 11-4.
Pacific used a total of 20 players in the contest, including five different pitchers. Only five of the Boxers' regular position starters saw action in the game, with some players missing the contest due to class conflicts.
Corban scored their first two runs off of Pacific starter
Jason Sawyer (So., Scappoose, Ore.). Gallegos opened the frame with a double down the right field line. Steven Blum scored him when he blasted a triple to right field. Blum later scored on a sacrifice fly. The Warriors made it a 3-0 game in the fourth as Johansen singled with one out and scored on Kyle Kunkel's double down the right field line.
After
Grant Gabriel (So., Honolulu, Hawaii) walked to open the fifth, Alex Okanek (Jr., Shelton, Wash.) got Pacific's first hit when he doubled down the right field line against starter Kyle Wirkkala. That moved Gabriel to third and he scored on
Tyler Grant's (Fr., Olympia, Wash.) sacrifice fly. Okanek later scored on
Donnie Bradley's (Fr., Beaverton, Ore.) sacrifice fly.
Corban added one in the home half of the fifth when Atkinson scored on Johansen's two-out single. Pacific took the run back in the sixth when
Jared Van Hoon (Sr., Lake Oswego, Ore.) doubled and scored on Gabriel's sacrifice fly.
Colby Sokol opened Corban's five run sixth when he walked with one out against
Brett Nakasone (Jr., Wahiawa, Hawaii). The next three batters all reached back, with Sokol scoring the first run on Gregg Romero's single. Gallegos and Atkinson both scored next on wild pitched and Johansen added two with his single through the right side that scored Blum and Atkinson.
Corban added an insurance run in the seventh when Sokol stole home. Williams had the one run in the ninth on his home run, his first as a Boxer and Pacific's seventh of the season.
Sawyer (0-3) took the loss for the Boxers, allowing two runs on two hits with a talk and a strikeout while throwing the first three innings. Wirkkala took advantage of the NAIA's pitcher by committee rule to earn the four-inning win for the Warriors, allowing two runs on just one hits with four walks and six strikeouts.
Pacific will need to return to their winning ways over the weekend as they head to Spokane, Wash., this weekend for a key three-game Northwest Conference series against Whitworth. Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's single game will begin at noon both days. Pacific, ranked No. 27 in the latest ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Division III Poll, enters the series with a two-game lead in the NWC standings over the second place Pirates.
