FOREST GROVE, Ore. — One day after seeing their 10-game win streak come to an end, the Pacific baseball team got back on the winning track with a 12-10 win over Willamette in Northwest Conference baseball action at Chuck Bafaro Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The crucial victory moves Pacific's overall record to 18-11 on the season, and they are now 11-7 in NWC games, no worse than tied for second place. Including yesterday's doubleheader sweep for the Bearcats, they are now 16-15 on the season and 10-11 in conference action.
The Boxers scored in every inning except the first and the third in compiling a 19-hit attack. After Willamette scored an unearned run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, Pacific struck for three runs in the second stanza, thanks to RBI singles by
Charlie Dietrich,
Kane Ulrich and
Walker Olis.
They would never trail again.
Pacific would push that lead to 7-1 in the fourth on
Dylan Wright's run-scoring double and sacrifice flies by
Kurtis Kloke and
Joey Galeno.
Willamette would have 14 hits of their own, but five of those came in the ninth inning, along with five of their runs. The Bearcats did make things very interesting in the top half of the ninth, sending 10 batters to the plate, including five pinch hitters before freshman
Brandon Henderson got the final out on a strikeout to record his first collegiate save.
Kyler Knieriem went the first five innings on the mound to earn the win for the Boxers, improving to 4-0 on the season. He gave up two earned runs, seven hits and struck out two.
Olis and Wright led Pacific's 19-hit attack. Both had four hits, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs. Wright added a pair of doubles.
Ben Duerr, Dietrich and Ulrich added two base knocks apiece, with Dietrich and Ulrich adding a run batted in each.
The Boxers head to Spokane next weekend for a critical conference battle with first-place Whitworth, April 9-10. The Pirates are ranked 8th/5th in the two NCAA Division III national polls. The three-game series begins on Saturday with a noon doubleheader.
