The Pacific University baseball team swept a doubleheader – winning game one, 4-2 and taking the nightcap, 6-1 – from Whitman College on Sunday in Hillsboro.
The sweep by the Boxers improves Pacific to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the Northwest Conference, the Blues fall to 4-4 and 1-2 in conference play. The 7-2 start for Pacific is its best start to the season since 2003. It is the third-straight year that the Boxers have taken the series against Whitman. The doubleheader and series was moved to Ron Tonkin Field, home of the single A affiliate Arizona Diamondbacks – the Hillsboro Hops.
The Boxers plated a run each in the first three innings en route to a 4-2 win over Whitman in game one. Catcher
Luke Peevyhouse (Phoenix, Ariz.) and second baseman
Dustin Meyer (Silverton, Ore.) each had two hits and a RBI to lead a six-hit attack. Starting pitcher
Brady O'Keefe (Tacoma, Wash.) went five innings, scattering three hits and striking out two in the win to improve to 1-0. Senior
Spencer Backstrom (Bellingham, Wash.) pitched the final two innings for his fourth save of the season.
In the nightcap, Pacific pitchers
Aiden Prentice (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and
Drew Fagerness (Centralia, Wash.) combined on the six-inning, no-hitter in the 6-1 non-conference win over the Blues. Pacific third baseman
Shane Suyama had a career-best three hits to go along with two RBI.
Game 1
The two teams each plated a run in the first before Pacific went ahead in the second inning on a RBI single by Peevyhouse. Earlier in the inning, with one out,
Austin Amundson (Bothell, Wash.) reached on a fielder's choice. Then, Amundson came around to score on a single to the gap in right-center field by Peevyhouse to put the Boxers ahead 2-1.
Pacific added to its lead with a run in the third when Meyer tripled just in front of a diving Blues' right fielder; then he alertly scored on the play as the Blues misplayed the ball. The Boxers made it a 4-1 game in the fifth when Meyer brought in
Jacob Vice, who reached on a strike out, wild pitch to start the inning. Vice stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Charlie Dietrich (Aberdeen, Wash.). Whitman picked up a late inning run in the ninth for the final margin.
Game 2
Pacific pitchers
Aiden Prentice (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and
Drew Fagerness (Centralia, Wash.) combined on the six-inning, no-hitter in the 6-1 non-conference win over the Blues.
Pacific third baseman
Shane Suyama (Beaverton, Ore.) went 3-for-3 with two RBI to lead an eight-hit attack.
Dylan Wright (Gilbert, Ariz.) added two hits and two RBI in the win.
The Boxers scored twice in the first inning and added to its lead with three run third inning for a 5-0 lead. The final run came across on the second RBI single of the day by Suyama.
In three innings of work, Prentice – who got the start – walked two and struck out three before giving way to Fagerness in the top of the 4
th. Fagerness picked up where Prentice left off, striking out three more to close the game. After surrendering an unearned run in the top of the sixth, the coaching staff of both teams and the umpires agreed to end the contest.
Next, Pacific will travel to Willamette for a three-game road series in Salem. The action gets underway with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 11 a.m.
