The Pacific University baseball team split a doubleheader with Willamette on Saturday, dropping game one, 2-1 in 10 innings and winning the nightcap, 4-3.
The doubleheader split keeps the Boxers a game out of first place in the Northwest Conference standings behind George Fox, who is 4-0 with a doubleheader to play on Sunday against Linfield.
The Boxers are 8-5 on the season and 4-1 in the Northwest Conference. Also, the doubleheader split saw a seven-game winning streak end in the opening game. Five of the eight wins for Pacific have come at the friendly confines of the renovated Chuck Bafaro Stadium.
Game one saw an old-fashioned pitchers' dual settled in the 10th inning. The Bearcats scored a run on four hits off Pacific reliever
Cole Kanazawa for the win – it was the first earned run given up on the season by the senior from Honolulu.
With two out, in the 10th, Brendan Natuzzi doubled to left field; then the Boxers elected to intentionally walk Jack Brett to set up a force out at third and face Tyler Janitz. The Bearcats' third baseman singled to right field, scoring Natuzzi from second for what proved to be the winning run.
Willamette starter Matt Steindorf raised his record to 3-1 after a nine inning stint, allowing just two hits to the Boxers. Brandon Murillo pitched a scoreless 10th for his third save.
In relief of Pacific starter
Paul Wolfram (Las Vegas, Nev.), the Boxers'
Casey Brown (Peoria, Ariz.) allowed just five hits and struck out three over the next 6.2 innings before handing the ball off to Kanazawa with two out in the eighth.
The Boxers sent the game into extra innings, scoring its only run in the ninth. In the inning,
Derek Legeza (pictured) (Peoria, Ariz.) hit a triple just inside the right-field line to start the inning. Then, with one out, a hard hit ball on the new FieldTurf by
Drew Fagerness (Centralia, Wash.) scored Legeza from third to tie the game.
In the nightcap, Legeza and Fagerness each had three hits to lead a nine-hit attack in a 4-3 win. Fagerness tied a career-high with three RBI to go along with his career-high three hits in the win. Legeza had two runs scored to go with his three hits.
Sam Lawrence (Sammamish, Wash.) raised his record to 3-0, allowing eight hits, three runs (three earned) and struck out one over five innings of work. Then, the Boxers called on Kanazawa to seal the win, who over the next four innings en route to his fourth save allowed just one hit and struck out two.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the third, the Boxers' started its comeback with a
Dustin Meyer walk. Then, he moved to third when Legeza hit a double to the gap in left-center field. With runners on second and third,
Dylan Wright cut the deficit to one on a RBI ground out. Next, Fagerness picked up his second of three RBI on a single to tie the game at 3.
Willamette stranded runners on base in the fourth and fifth inning.
The Boxers picked up what proved to be the game-winning run in its half of the fifth. With one out, Legeza reached on an infield single. Then, with two out, an errant pick off sent the speedy Legeza around the bases. Next, with a full count, Fagerness brought in Legeza for the second time on the night and his third RBI with a single.
As Kanazawa entered the game in the sixth, he escaped the threat with a 6-4-3 double play to end the Bearcats' threat. Then, he managed to retire the next nine straight to complete the save and end the game.
The two teams will settle the weekend series on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. Note, the game time change as the two coaches agreed to move the game time from noon to 5 p.m.
