Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

FOREST GROVE – Puget Sound continued its impressive roll through the early part of the Northwest Conference baseball season Saturday, using a heavy offensive attack and big innings to take both ends of their doubleheader from Pacific at Chuck Bafaro Stadium.
 
The Loggers rattled out 21 hits in the opener, putting together a four-run third inning and a five-run ninth inning en route to a 15-2 victory.  Things played out close in the second game before Puget Sound exploded for an eight-run eighth, putting the punctuation point on a 12-3 win.
 
Ben Duerr (Jr., Lebanon, Ore.) and Cole Kanazawa (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) led Pacific offensively, each finishing with three hits in the two games.  Kanazawa had two hits in the opener while Duerr was one of four Pacific players with two hits in the nightcap.  Connor Savage led Puget Sound by going 6 for 11 in the two games with five runs.
 
With the wins, Puget Sound improved to 8-7, 6-2 NWC.  Pacific dropped to 2-10, 1-7 NWC.  The games were the first for Brian Billings, who spent the previous 12 years as the head coach at Puget Sound, against his former team. The two teams will conclude their series with a single game on Sunday afternoon beginning at noon.
 
GAME 1: PUGET SOUND 15, PACIFIC 2
Pacific saw a first inning opportunity to steal momentum come up short.  Duerr led off the frame with a single to right and advanced to second when Donnie Bradley (Sr., Beaverton, Ore.) reached in an error, but went no further as a double play ended the inning.  The Boxers worked out of a similar jam as Nathan Backes and Layne Croney singled to start the second before Kyle Treadway (Sr., Phoenix, Ore.) retired the next three in order to end the threat.
 
The Loggers broke the game open with a four-run third inning.  Savage started it off with a one-out single, moved to second when Alarcio was hit by a pitch and scored on a Pacific error.  Alarcio scored on Backes' sacrifice fly, Chris Zerio singled and scored on Nick Funyak's base hit and Croney scored on a single by John Hosmer.
 
Cal Maurmaru and Savage both singled to lead off the Puget Sound fourth.  Muramaru scored on Alarcio's single to center field and Savage scored his second run of the game on Croney's bunt single.  Pacific picked up their lone run in the bottom of the fourth when Walker Olis (Jr., Burlington, Wash.) singled with one out and scored when Tanner Mansell (Jr., Tualatin, Ore.) reached on an error.
 
The Loggers added one in the fifth when Hosmer singled and scored on a wild pitch, and two in the sixth when Funyak doubled to score Zerio and Croney.  Logan Day added one in the eighth when he singled and scored on a base hit by Funyak.  Puget Sound went on to add four more runs in the top of the ninth on four hits and two Pacific errors.  The Boxers added a run in the bottom of the ninth as Matt Hopp (Sr., Portland, Ore.) reached on an error and scored on a passed ball.
 
Collin Maier picked up the win, improving to 3-1 on the season by allowing one unearned run on six hits with a walk and five strikeouts in eight innings.  Treadway dropped to 1-3 with the loss, allowing nine runs, seven earned, on 14 hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 5.1 innings.  Savage, Alarcio, Croney, Funyak and Hosmer all had three hits for Puget Sound, with Funyak added three RBIs.  Kanazawa went 2 for 4 to lead the Boxers.
 
GAME 2: PUGET SOUND 12, PACIFIC 3
Puget Sound once again brought the offense, but the Boxers kept pace in game two with the two teams combining for 31 hits.  The Loggers opened scoring in the first when Alarcio reached on an error and scored on a single to left center field by Backes.  The Boxers took the run back in the home half of the first as Duerr was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by JT Francies (Jr., Greeley, Colo.).
 
The Loggers put two more on the board on the second on a pair of RBI singles by James DeJesus and Zerio.  Pacific tied it thanks to single runs in the fourth and fifth.  Nathan Suyematsu (Jr., Tualatin, Ore.) singled to lead off the fourth and scored on a Duerr single.  Olis the led off with a double to left center in the fifth and tied the game on a single to left by Tyler Brown (Fr., Tucson, Ariz.).
 
Puget Sound plated what would be the winning run in the top of the sixth.  Kaulana Smith singled with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by Savage.
 
The Loggers ensured that there would be no Pacific comeback with an eight-run eighth inning that included six hits and saw 13 Puget Sound batters come to the plate.  Troy Kakugawa opened scoring when he came home on a wild pitch.  Nickolas Alarcio followed by singling home Smith before Chris Zerio ripped a bases-clearing triple to right field.  Bakes followed with a single to score Zerio and two batters later Bobby Hosmer knocked a single into left field that scored Backes and Croney.
 
Steve Wager improved to 2-0 with the win in the mound.  He allowed three runs on 11 hits with a walk and three strikeouts in five innings of work.  Reliever David Torigoe earned the save, allowing one hits and striking out five over four innings.  Colin McCusker (Sr., Olympia, Wash.) took the loss for Pacific, allowing three runs, two earned, on nine hits in 3.1 innings of work.  Zerio led the Puget Sound hit parade, going 3 for 5 with four RBIs and a run.  Duerr, Brown, Bradley and Suyematsu each had two hits for the Boxers.