FOREST GROVE, Ore.- The Pacific Boxer baseball team continued its hot streak in Spokane with a three-game sweep of Whitworth University. The Boxers, who lead the conference in both batting average and earned run average, have now won 11 straight Northwest Conference games dating back to the opening series of conference play. Taking advantage of strong starts by pitchers and late offensive productivity, the Boxers beat Whitworth 11-5, 7-6, and 5-1 in the three-game series.

"We saw a little bit of everything this weekend," Head Coach Brian Billings said. "I was proud with how well we pitched considering the conditions were very hitter friendly, and they really set the stage for some late inning heroics."

Game 1
In a game that saw scoring by one of the teams in every inning, it was Ty Yukumoto's 8^th inning solo home run that gave the Boxers a 6-5 lead followed by a five-run ninth inning to close out game one for the 11-5 win. CJ Colyer led the offense with four hits, and along with Yukumoto, Tyler Quinn, and Dawson Tokishi hold the top four spots in NWC batting average, all above .400 in conference play.

Senior Will Clark threw six solid innings in the offensively favorable conditions, and Cayden Okada threw one-hit ball over the final three innings to pick up his third win of the season. Clark and Okada are both holding conference opponents to under a .200 batting average on the season.

Game 2
In the second game of the Saturday doubleheader, the Boxers again put up numbers in the late innings to beat the Pirates in extra innings. It was the long ball that carried the offense as Catcher Isaac Lovings' 10^th inning solo homerun, his second home run of the day, gave the Boxers the 7-6 lead and Joey Harmon pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up his first win of the season. Drew Thomas added his 7^th home run of the season – a three RBI shot in the seventh inning.

Game 3
Sunday's getaway game saw the Boxers again use quality pitching and late inning production to finish the sweep 5-1. Hunter Edwards, Aiden Kearns, Davis Koester, Tyler Agnew, Shane Melrose, David Allen, and Okada combined to hold the Pirates to one run and 9 hits. Allen picked up his first win of the season while Okada closed out the game to pick up his second save of the season.

The offense struggled to get going early, but Colyer broke the scoring open with his ninth home run of the season in the 8^th to tie the game at 1-1. The Boxers followed up with four runs in the ninth inning on RBI singles by Tokishi and Yukumoto along with a sacrifice fly by Drew Thomas to close out the 5-1 victory.

Up Next
The Boxers play Corban in a single game on Wednesday, March 22^nd before hosting Whitman College this weekend.

For the latest information on Pacific Athletics, make sure to check out GoBoxers.com. You can also find the Boxers on social media at @GoBoxers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 
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