Lutes Use Timely Hitting To Secure Series Sweep Over Boxers
Box ScorePARKLAND, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran took advantage of well-time power hitting and Pacific miscues to complete a series sweep of the Boxers Sunday, winning 8-2 in both team's Northwest Conference baseball season finale at the PLU Field.
The Lutes used an error to extend their second inning, which resulted in a three-run, two-out rally. After adding a single run in the fourth, PLU put up two-run frames in the seventh and eighth. Pacific did not score their runs until the top of the ninth inning.
Donnie Bradley (Jr., Beaverton, Ore.) led Pacific with two hits and scored one of the Boxers' two runs. Alec Beal and Shawn Abe each had three hits for the Lutes, with Abe scoring three runs.
With the victory, PLU finishes the regular season at 25-14, 16-8 NWC, and finished second in the conference. They will wait to see if they earn an at-large selection to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Pacific drops to 11-24 and finishes the NWC season tied for eighth place at 4-20. They will finish the season at home next weekend with a three-game non-conference series against Puget Sound.
Abe opened the PLU second with a one-out single through the left. He advanced to second on Ben Welch's infield single and went to third on a fielder's choice where everyone was safe to an error. Curtis Wildung opened scoring when his sacrifice fly scored Abe.
After Kory Vanderstaay drew a walk to load the bases again, Beal delivered a teo-run single to left field for the 3-0 Lutes' lead.
PLU added one in the fourth when Wildung walked with two outs and scored on Beal's single to right center field. Vanderstaay then added two runs on his infield single in the seventh and Wildung added a pair in the eighth on his home run to right field.
Bradley led off the two-run Pacific ninth with a single to center field.
Walker Olis (So., Burlington, Wash.) drew a one-out walk and both runners advanced 90 feet on a ground out.
Matt Hopp (Jr., Portland, Ore.) scored both runs with his single to right field. Reliever Derrick Mahlum replaced the starter Nelson afterwards and proceeded to strikeout
Danny Yazzolino (So., Portland, Ore.) to end the game.
Kyle Treadway (Jr., Phoenix, Ore.) took the loss on the mound for Pacific, dropping to 2-8 on the season. He allowed six runs, five earned, on eight hits with five walks and a strikeout in 5.1 innings of work. Mahlum improved to 7-3 with the win, allowing two runs on six hits with four walks and eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings.
