Baseball: George Fox 4-21, Whitman 1-2

Bruins Regain NWC Lead with Sweep of Missionaries.

Salem-News.com Sports

NEWBERG, Ore. - Keeping themselves in the thick of things in the tight Northwest Conference race, the George Fox University Bruins collected 34 hits en route to 4-1 and 21-2 win over the visiting Whitman College Missionaries in a baseball doubleheader Friday afternoon here at Morse Field and regained the league lead when the two other top contenders lost three out of four.

George Fox improved to 22-7 overall and 17-3 in the conference, while Whitman fell to 3-20 overall and 2-15 in the NWC. The twin wins enabled the Bruins to move ahead of former leader Linfield College (23-7, NWC 17-5), which was stunned twice 12-5 and 9-6 at Lewis & Clark College. Third-place Pacific Lutheran University (19-8, NWC 15-5) slipped two games off the Bruins’ pace with a home split against Whitworth University, winning 23-3 before falling 8-7 in 10 innings.

The Bruins banged out 13 hits in the opener, but were never able to mount any major rallies against Whitman righty Blaine Mercado (1-8), who survived by walking no one and getting three double-play grounders behind him. He struck out three and allowed only three earned runs.

George Fox ace Nick Bratney (4-2) surrendered a home run to Erik Korsmo, his second of the season, on the first pitch of the game, then shut out the Missionaries through eight innings of work. He scattered five hits, fanned six, and walked three. Chad Jones pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his fifth save, one short of the Bruin single-season record of six by Glenn Boss in 2001 and Nick Hedgecock in 2005.

The Bruins tied the game in the 1st as Matt Wyckoff singled, stole second, went to third on a single to center by Bo Thunell, and scored on Pat Bailey’s sacrifice fly to center. Kyle Kuenzi broke the 1-1 tie with his second home run of the season over the right-field fence. Bailey scored an unearned run in the 6th and Wyckoff’s sacrifice fly to left scored Taylor Hunter in the 7th for some insurance runs.

Kuenzi, Wyckoff, Thunell, Seth Anderson, and Hunter all had two hits each for the Bruins. Jason Sease and Patrick Stauffer had two hits apiece out of the Missionaries’ total of five.

Thunell and Todd Siler each homered and drove in six runs as the Bruins hammered out 20 hits in cruising to the second-game win. Thunell, who was 4-for-4, doubled to score Kuenzi, who had walked and swiped two bases, for a run in the 1st, broke a 1-1 tie with a double to score Wyckoff in a four-run 3rd, slugged a three-run homer in the 4th, his sixth of the season, and lined an RBI single to left in an eight-run 5th. Siler, in his first start since March 21 due to a hamstring injury, had a two-run triple to cap the 3rd, an RBI ground out in the 5th, and a three-run shot in the 6th, his first round tripper of the season.

Wyckoff, Anderson, Michael Woo, Eric Gantenbein, and Hunter also had two hits each for the Bruins. Wyckoff scored three runs and drove in two, Woo scored three times and Hunter twice, and Gantenbein knocked in two runs.

Lefty Calvin Davis (0-2), in his first start of the year, took the loss as he allowed 11 hits and 11 runs, seven earned, in four-plus innings. Shane Dalgleish (6-0) picked up the win, allowing six hits and two runs in five innings while striking out five and walking one. Three Bruin relievers covered the last four innings, allowing only one hit while fanning two and walking none.

Korsmo had two hits for the Missionaries, and Davis hit a solo home run in the 5th, his second of the season.

George Fox and Whitman will complete their four-game series Saturday afternoon with a pair of seven-inning ballgames starting at 12:00 noon.

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