Pacific started the Northwest Conference championship game with fireworks.
After senior Matt Gibbs drove in two runs with a double to left field in the bottom of the first inning, senior Davis Koester hit a two-run homer in the second to give the Boxers an early lead.
But Pacific did not score for 14 straight innings as Whitworth defeated the Boxers twice Saturday, 8-5 in game one and 7-1 in a winner-take-all game two, to capture the 2025 NWC Baseball Tournament championship.
Coming out of the winner's bracket, Pacific jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one. But the Pirates answered with four runs in the top of the fifth to tie the contest at 5-5.
Pacific senior
Chance Wallace held Whitworth to just one run through the first four innings, but ran into control problems in the fifth, walking three straight batters to load the bases.
Whitworth junior Caleb Gray then made him pay, clearing the bases with a double to center field.
The Pirates took the lead, 7-5, with two runs in the sixth and added an insurance run in the ninth.
Pacific freshman
Javin Hamura was 3-for-4 and scored two runs.
The Boxers left 12 runners on base in the loss.
Game 2
With two outs in the top of the first, Gray hit a solo home run to right field and Whitworth never looked back.
The Pirates added a run in the second inning and two more in the fifth to defeat Pacific for the NWC tournament trophy.
Hunter Nishina broke the drought, scoring on a Koester RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
The Boxers had just four hits in the loss.
Koester made his 97th career relief pitching appearance in the ninth inning, breaking the NCAA Division III record set in 1987.
After winning the tournament in 2021 and 2022, Pacific has lost in the championship game twice (2023 and 2025) in the last three seasons.
The championship was Whitworth's first since winning the inaugural tournament in 2015. The Pirates lost to Willamette in the finals last season.
As the 2025 tournament champions, Whitworth earns an automatic bid in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
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