Pacific University Athletics

Baseball Weekly Notebook

4/8/2013 2:09:00 PM

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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC BASEBALL
WHITWORTH AT PACIFIC (DOUBLEHEADER)
Games No. 28 & 29/Home Games No. 8 & 9
Sat., Apr. 13, Noon, Chuck Bafaro Stadium, Forest Grove
Live Stats: GoBoxers.com/livestats
Live Video: GoBoxers.com/webcasts

WHITWORTH AT PACIFIC
Game No. 30/Home Game No. 10
Sun., Apr. 7, Noon, Chuck Bafaro Stadium, Forest Grove
Live Stats: GoBoxers.com/livestats

BOXERS PREPARE FOR SHOWDOWN WITH FELLOW DEFENDING CO-CHAMPS
The Pacific baseball team returns to the Willamette Valley and Chuck Bafaro Stadium for their matchup with their fellow defending co-Northwest Conference champion.  The Boxers will host Whitworth for their three-game NWC series on Saturday and Sunday as the Boxers look to move up from fifth place in the NWC standings.

BOXER BYTES
• Pacific found themselves stunned by Whitman in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader as the Missionaries came back to tie the game in the eighth and scored the winner in extra innings for the 6-5, 11-inning win.  Michael Arakaki led the Boxers by going 2 for 5 with two RBIs.

• Whitman pitchers Spencer Hobson and Tyler Grisdale combined to limit Pacific to just four hits in the nightcap as the Missionaries rolled to a 10-0 victory.  Michael Arakaki repeated his first game hitting performance with two of the team's four hits.

• Pacific's offense made the most of eight extra base hits on Sunday, including two home runs by Walker Olis and a solo shot by Charlie Gaff as the Boxers finished the series with an 11-1 victory over Whitman.  Michael Arakaki had two doubles and finished the series by going 3 for 5 and three runs.

• Michael Arakaki led the way for the Boxers at the plate in the three-game series, batting .583 while going 7 for 12 in the series with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs.  He raised his season batting average to .289, second best for the Boxers.

• Walker Olis more than doubled his season home run total as he hit his third, fourth and fifth home runs of the season in the Whitman series.  He blasted two solo home runs in Sunday's 11-1 victory.  Olis continues to lead the team and rank among the NWC's top-10 in batting with a .388 average.

• Matt Delegato earned his fifth straight win in Sunday's game against Whitman, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out five in seven innings.  He lowered his earned run average to a team best 1.84, which ranks seventh in the NWC.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
WHITWORTH
The co-defending NWC champions have struggled much like Pacific, entering the week in a tie for eighth place with Lewis & Clark at 5-10.  The Pirates are 10-17-1 overall.  Whitworth dropped two of three home games over the weekend to Lewis & Clark.  They opened the series on Saturday by outlasting the Pioneers in a highly-charged offensive game, 15-12. Whitworth did all of its scoring in the first, second and fifth innings and received a 4 for 6 effort from Jeremy Druffel, which included three runs, three RBIs and two doubles.  Lewis & Clark took the nightcap by a 12-4 score as the Pioneers scored nine runs in the final three innings.  Tyler Pfeffer went 4 for 4 for the Pirates, which included two doubles, while Gerhard Muelheims added three hits.  Whitworth saw Sunday's game slip away behind a four-run Lewis & Clark sixth inning as the Pioneers won 4-2.  Pfeffer closed out the weekend by going 2 for 3 with a RBI.  Pfeffer leads the Whitworth offense with a .407 batting average, including 44 hits, 19 runs, 11 doubles and 29 RBIs.  Druffel is hitting .342 with 40 hiuts, 10 doubles and two home runs.  Nick Scourey leads Whitworth's starting pitching staff with a 4.00 earned run average, allowing 33 runs, 20 earned, on 55 hits in 45 innings.  Both Dan Scheibe and Carson Blumenthal own 3-3 records.  As a team, Whitworth owns a .284 batting average and 5.31 earned run average and a .305 opponent's batting average.  Dan Ramsay, a former Whitworth baseball player, is in his fourth season as Pirates' head coach.

AGAINST BRADLEY: Whitworth leads 31-23
LAST MEETING: Whitworth won 3-1 in Spokane, Wash., on Apr. 15, 2012

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
ARAKAKI FINDS THE SWEET SPOT: Michael Arakaki (Sr., Mililani, Hawaii) put together his best offensive series of the season against Whitman and perhaps the best offensive series for the Boxers this season.  Arakaki batted .583 in the Whitman series, going 7 for 12 with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs.  He opened the weekend with a pair of two-hit performances in Saturday's doubleheader, going 2 for 5 with two RBIs in the opener and 2 for 2 in the nightcap.  On Sunday, Arakaki went 3 for 5 with two doubles and three runs to help the Boxers to the 11-1 victory.  The weekend effort allowed Arakaki to raise his batting average to .289, second best on the team.  In 23 games, Arakaki has 24 hits, five doubles and five RBIs.

FINIDNG THE LONGBALL GROOVE: In a season where balls hit over the fence have been few and far in between, the Boxers managed to find their home run swing in the thinner air of eastern Washington.  Pacific left the yard four times, three of which came off the bat of Walker Olis (Fr., Burlington, Wash.).  The freshman hit a three-run homer to give Pacific the lead in their 6-5, 11-inning loss to Whitman in the opener on Saturday.  He then added a pair of solo home runs in the first and third innings in the Boxers' 11-1 win over Whitman on Sunday.  Charlie Gaff (Fr., Stockton, Calif.) had the Boxers' other home run in the series, a solo shot on Sunday.  The three long balls raised Olis' total for the season to five, the most by any Pacific player since 2010.  Olis enters the weekend leading the Boxers and ranking sixth in the NWC with a .388 batting average.  He is second in the NWC with his .671 slugging percentage and fifth with a .495 on-base percentage.  He also is tied for second in the NWC with his five home runs and tied for fourth with two triples.  His 12 extra bases ties Olis for eighth in the NWC.

CONTINUED DOMINANCE: Another week and another win on the mound for Matt Delegato (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.).  The senior won his fifth game in a row on Sunday, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out five in the Boxers' 11-1 victory over Whitman.  He did not allow a Whitman runner past second base.  Delegato has been nothing but impressive for the Boxers during the NWC season.  He enters the week having won five straight games and leads Pacific with a 5-1 record and a 1.84 earned run average.  In 49 innings, Delegato has allowed just 13 runs, 10 earned, with 30 strikeouts and owns a .257 opponent's batting average.  Delegato is tied for fifth in the NWC with his five wins and two complete games and he ranks seventh with his 1.84 earned run average.

SHOWING A LITTLE POWER: Charlie Gaff joined teammate Walker Olis in providing some power for Pacific's hitting parade at Whitman.  Gaff had one of the Boxers' three solo home runs in the Boxers' 11-1 victory over the Missionaries on Sunday, going deep with two outs in the second inning.  That homer jump-started a three-run rally in the frame that put the Boxers ahead 4-1.  Gaff finished the game going 2 for 5 and finished the three-game series going 3 for 12.  Gaff has started 23 of the Boxers' 27 games in center field this season and enters the week with a .241 batting average.

EXTRA BASE STRENGTH: While Pacific's overall hitting has not been off the charts, they are mkaing the most of their extra base opportunities.  The Boxers are ranked second in the NWC with 49 extra base hits, which includes 38 doubles, four doubles and seven home runs.  The Boxers rank eighth in the NWC doubles, but are fourth in home runs and sixth in triples.  Walker Olis is Pacific's leader in extra base hits with 12, which ties him for eighth in the NWC.

TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM: Part of the longtime modus operandi for Head Coach Greg Bradley, Pacific is again among the national leaders in sacrifices.  The Boxers the week ranked second in the NWC with both 32 sacrifice bunts and six sacrifice flies.  In the Apr. 2 NCAA Division III statistics report (for games through Mar. 31), the Boxers were eighth in the nation with 30 sacrifice hits.  Individually, junior transfer catcher Dan Jaffe (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) has distinguished himself as one of the national leaders in sacrifice hits, ranking second among Division III players with nine sacrifice bunts.  He was tied for first in the category in last week's statistics report.

ADD PACIFIC IN DIVISION III RANKINGS: In the latest NCAA Division III statistical report of Apr. 2 (for games played through Mar. 31), Pacific ranked 30th in batters hit by pitch (32), 32nd in walks allowed per nine innings (2.65), 66th in walks (80), 79th in earned run average (3.48) and 91st in both hits (287) and double played turned (15).

Individually, Anson Arakaki (Sr., Hilo, Hawaii) is ranked 68th with four sacrifice bunts.  Michael Arakaki is ranked 98th with five times hit by pitch.  Matt Delegato was 51st with four wins and 70th with his two complete games.  Rob Dittrick (Sr., Mililani, Hawaii) is 52nd with 0.98 walks allowed per nine innings.  Walker Olis is ranked 85th with two triples and Nick Tasaka (Sr., Hawaii Kai, Hawaii) was 47th with seven times hit by pitch.  The NCAA Division III statistical rankings are released weekly on Tuesdays and can be found at http://bit.ly/hl0JH7.

GREG BRADLEY GETS WIN NO. 300: Pacific Head Coach Greg Bradley reached a milestone on Sat., Mar. 16, becoming just the second coach in program history to amass 300 wins.  The Boxers gave their skipper No. 300 in explosive style, beating Lewis & Clark in that day's opener 19-3.  The winningest active coach in Northwest Conference baseball enters the week with a 305-347-2 record.  Bradley is in his 18th season as Pacific head coach, taking over for the 1996 season.  He began at Pacific in 1993 as an assistant coach under the winningest coach in program history, Pacific Hall of Famer Chuck Bafaro.  In his tenure, Bradley has led the Boxers to 20-win seasons six times, topped by the 2012 NWC championship squad.  In addition to his head coaching duties, Bradley also works as Pacific's athletic facilities manager.

OLIS EARNS NWC WEEKLY HONORS: Walker Olis' offensive performance in the Mar. 16-17 Lewis & Clark earned the freshman selection as the Northwest Conference's Baseball Student-Athlete of the Week.  Olis led Pacific offensively in the series, going 6 for 10 with a pair of doubles, a home run, three runs scored six RBIs. Olis opened the series by going 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs in the Saturday 19-3 rout of the Pioneers.  He had one hit in the rain-interrupted second game of the series and then punctuated his week by going 3 for 5 with four RBIs and a three-run homer in Sunday's 5-1 victory.

CONCORDIA GAME RESCHEDULED: One of the two games against Concordia (Ore.) that were wiped off the schedule have now been rescheduled.  The two teams will play in a night game at Chuck Bafaro Stadium on Wed., Apr. 17, 6 p.m.  It is a makeup of one of two games from earlier this season that were postponed.  A game on Feb. 22 game in the NWC-Cascade Challenge was rained out and a game scheduled for last Tuesday was moved to allow for another rain make-up between Concordia and George Fox.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Chuck Bafaro Stadium continues to be kind to the Boxers.  Pacific finished the weekend with as 27-11 record on their home field since 2010.  Chuck Bafaro Stadium were indeed friendly confines for the Boxers in their 2012 championship season as they went 15-3 at home.  It helped that Pacific played all of their March games at home, which included five games moved to Forest Grove due to unplayable field conditions.  The home schedule will be much less fruitful for the Boxers in 2013 with just 13 games slated for Chuck Bafaro Stadium, of of which will come in conference series.

SELECT SCHEDULE OF WEB STREAMED GAMES ON TAP: For the first time, Pacific will provide a live video web stream 11 of the team's 13 home games.  The video feed will provide a view of the field from the press box without audio commentary.  Games could be added or removed from the schedule depending on weather cancellations or relocations.  To view the live video webcasts, please visit goboxers.com/webcasts.

SEASON PREVIEW: The complete 2013 Pacific baseball season preview can be found at bit.ly/WItPD6.

PACIFIC PICKED FIFTH IN PRESEASON POLL: Just as they were before their 2012, Pacific is picked to finish fifth according to a poll of the league's coaches conducted in January.  Pacific received 40 of a possible 80 votes, landing one point behind George Fox and 11 points behind Linfield.  Whitworth, to co-NWC champion that also won the NCAA Division III West Region, was chosen to repeat with a total of 68 points, including six first place votes,  Pacific Lutheran was picked second with 59 points, including three first place votes.  Puget Sound and Willamette tied for sixth with 25 points while Lewis & Clark and Whitman were picked to tie for eighth with 12 points apiece.