Boxers Write Off Poets With Five-Run Eighth Stanza
Box Score
WHITTIER, Calif. – Pacific wrote the perfect ending to their four-game Southern California trip Monday, using a five-run eighth inning to punctuate an 8-3 victory over Whittier in baseball action at Memorial Field.
The Boxers, who led by a narrow 3-2 lead, scored all five of their runs with two outs. Poets' reliever Nick Garcia proceeded to load the bases with singles to
Donnie Bradley (So., Beaverton, Ore.) and
Anson Arakaki (Sr., Hilo, Hawaii) and a pair of walks. Garcia gave way to Bobby Santoyo, who promptly issued a walk to
Nick Tasaka (Sr., Hawaii Kai, Hawaii) to push across pinch runner
Fernando Careaga (Fr., Tucson, Ariz.) for the first run of the frame.
Walker Olis (Fr., Burlington, Wash.) followed with a bases clearing double deep to left field, which scored Tasaka, Arakaki and
Charlie Gaff (Fr., Stockton, Calif.).
Trux French (Sr., Kennewick, Wash.) added a single to right field, which scored Olis for the fifth run of the frame.
The eighth highlighted an afternoon that saw Pacific (7-13) pound out 11 hits and draw 10 walks against three Whittier pitchers. Bradley led the afternoon by going 3 for 4, while French and
Logan Moen (Sr., Brier, Wash.) each had two hits.
Whittier (10-13) needed one swing of the bat to take the 1-0 lead in the first when Steven Zavala hammered a home run to left field. Pacific tallied two of their own in the second when Whittier starter Thomas Hemington loaded the bases and then gave up a two-out single to Gaff that scored Moen and Bradley.
Whittier tied the contest in the fourth when Zavala converted a single into a run, scoring from second on a Pacific error. The Boxers took the lead for good in the sixth when Moen singled up the middle and then scored on a squeeze bunt laid down with two outs.
Nick Morton (Fr., Burbank, Calif.) earned the victory in his first start in a Pacific uniform, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts in seven innings. Hemington took the loss and dropped to 3-3 on the year for the Poets, allowing two runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts in three innings.
Pacific returns to the Northwest for three more games this week. The Boxers will play at Corban on Wednesday before hosting Willamette for a three-game series on Friday and Saturday.
