TACOMA, Wash. – The Pacific University baseball team dropped the series opener on a cold afternoon at Logger Baseball Field, as Puget Sound struck late to grab the 10-6 victory.
It was a back-and-forth contest in the first game of the series, with three ties and six lead changes. The Boxers (6-5, 1-3 NWC) jumped out to an early lead, but the hosts would quickly respond, knocking starting pitcher
Will Clark (Junior/Boise, ID) out of the game. Pacific rallied to take the lead in the seventh but Puget Sound swung the bat very well in the final three frames to earn the win.
Davis Koester (Sophomore/Trout Lake, WA) started as the designated hitter but also pitched two innings in relief. The sophomore enjoyed a 3-for-5 day at the plate with two RBI.
Tyler Quinn (Junior/Mililani, HI) and
Isaac Lovings (Senior/Beaverton, OR) recorded two hits in opening game of the series.
How It Happened
The Boxers strung three hits together in the top of the first inning to take an early lead. Quinn led things off with a sharp single through the left side before Lovings roped a base hit up the middle to bring him home for the first run of the game.
Puget Sound answered with a solo shot from Dylan Joyce in the bottom half of the inning to even the score at 1-1.
With his second knock of the day, Quinn would give Pacific the lead in the following inning, plating
Damon Tanner (Sophomore/El Dorado Hills, CA) who led off with a walk. In the home half, the Loggers used two hits and a walk to take the lead, 3-2.
The Boxers would even things up in the third, but missed a huge scoring opportunity by leaving the bases loaded in the top of the fourth. UPS would capitalize and regain their one-run advantage in the bottom half and tacked on another in the fifth frame to make the score 5-3.
Clark handed the ball over to Koester after 4.2 innings pitched. The left-hander allowed five earned runs on seven hits in his outing.
Pacific's bats started to heat up in the seventh when they rallied for five straight hits. Koester would help himself out with a two-RBI single to make it a tie ballgame and the Boxers would eventually restore their lead when Tanner brought Lovings home with a sacrifice fly. This put Pacific up by one run before it was time to stretch.
The Loggers replied by scoring five unanswered runs, pushing two runs across in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 7-6 in favor of the hosts. UPS then scored three insurance runs in the eighth and took the series opener 10-6.
Up Next
Pacific falls to 1-3 in NWC play and they will hope to regroup when they conclude the series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.
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