SPOKANE, Wash. — Conference-leading Whitworth scored seven runs in the fifth inning and then held off a late Pacific charge to defeat the Boxers 11-9 to win the rubber match of the Northwest Conference series on Sunday afternoon at Merkel Field.
The No. 10 nationally ranked Pirates improved to 23-7 on the season with the win and are now 15-6 in the NWC. Pacific is now 20-13 overall and 12-9 in league action, three games behind the conference leaders.
After splitting Saturday's doubleheader, the Boxers jumped out to a 5-2 lead in Sunday's clash. They scored all five of those runs in the third, all with two outs. A Pirate error prolonged the inning and the visitors took advantage with base hits by
Walker Olis,
Kurtis Kloke (RBI) and
Dylan Wright (RBI).
Joey Galeno then followed with a three-run blast to give the Boxers the early advantage.
But Whitworth finally figured out Boxer starting pitcher
Kyler Knieriem in the bottom of the fifth, who to that point had only allowed four hits and two runs. The Pirates exploded for seven runs and six hits, chasing Knieriem from the game.
Whitworth added two more runs in the seventh inning to take a 11-5 lead. But Pacific gamely battled back, with a run in the eighth when Kloke singled and Galeno brought him home with a double. Then in the ninth, they made things really interesting.
Down by six with two outs, Kloke kept things alive with an RBI single and
Dylan Wright followed shortly thereafter with a two-run bomb. But with a runner on base, Whitworth's Kelly Fitzpatrick got the final Boxer out via a strikeout.
Knieriem picked up his first loss of the season (4-1). But there were plenty of offensive stars for the Boxers on the day, including Galeno who had four RBI, a double and home run. Kloke had four hits in five trips to the plate, had two RBI and scored three times. Wright had two hits and three RBI, while
Eli Wisdom added a pair of hits in his first start of the season in center field.
The Boxers will host Lewis & Clark on Tuesday in a non-conference game at Chuck Bafaro Stadium (7 p.m.), and then will wrap up the regular season next weekend at home with a three-game series against Whitman.
