College Baseball: George Fox 12, Pomona-Pitzer 6

Bruins Pluck No. 1 Sagehens to Stay Alive in West.

Matt Wyckoff Photo courtesy: George Fox University

McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Matt Wyckoff went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, Pat Bailey slugged a grand slam, and Chad Jones set a new George Fox University single-season record with his seventh save as the No. 16 Bruins stunned the No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens 12-6 in the NCAA Division III Baseball West Regional Friday afternoon here at Linfield College’s Roy Helser Field/Jim Wright Stadium.

With the win, George Fox avoided elimination from the tournament after losing a 2-1 heartbreaker Thursday night to California Lutheran University. The victory also snapped a six-game post-season losing streak for the Bruins. It was the first loss of the tournament for Pomona-Pitzer, which defeated Hendrix College 8-3 in its first game Thursday.

George Fox struck first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the 3rd. Taylor Hunter drew a one-out walk and was safe at second when Pomona hurler James Brunswick threw Kyle Kuenzi’s bunt into center field. With both runners going, Wyckoff lined a two-run triple just inside the first-base bag. After Bo Thunell reached on a fielder’s choice grounder to third with Wyckoff holding, Brunswick escaped further damage when Bailey popped into a first-to-third double play on a suicide squeeze attempt.

The Sagehens responded with the tying runs in the 4th. Bruin ace Nick Bratney, who was perfect through the first three innings, surrendered consecutive singles to Brandon Huerta, James Kang, and national RBI leader Drew Hedman for one run. Kang scored the tying run when Zach Mandelblatt bounced out to first.

Bratney escaped a gargantuan jam in the 5th after the Sagehens loaded the bases on two-out singles by James Campbell and Kang around a walk to Huerta, bringing up Hedman and his .500-23-79 numbers. The Bruins’ right-hander induced Hedman to ground out to Thunell at second on a down-and-in sinker.

Taking advantage of the big moment, George Fox regained the lead in the home half of the 5th. Eric Gantenbein led off with a single, Hunter sacrificed him to second, and Kuenzi walked before Wyckoff delivered again, sending a ringing double off the fence in deep center to score both runners.

Thunell saved a run when he ranged far behind second base to rob Teddy Bingham of a hit with Mandelblatt on third and two out in the top of the 6th, his off-balance throw to first scooped nicely by Seth Anderson. Jason Brown then gave the Bruins a three-run lead with a solo home run, his third of the season, off the scoreboard in right in the bottom of the frame. Later in the inning, Hunter was hit by a pitch with two outs and Kuenzi plated him with a triple to right-center, making it 6-2 and finishing Brunswick.

Huerta drilled his fifth home run onto the railroad tracks beyond the left-field fence after a one-out Campbell single in the 7th, cutting the Bruin lead to 6-4. After Kang walked, Chad Jones replaced Bratney and got Hedman to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

The Bruins added an insurance run against Leo Rosetti in the 7th as Thunell walked and came around on singles by Dan Winterstein and Anderson. That run loomed large when Mike Silva took Jones deep to center after a walk to Nicholas Frederick in the 8th, his ninth home run, cutting the Bruins’ lead to 7-6.

The Bruins finally put some distance between themselves and the Sagehens with five runs in the last of the 8th. Hunter and Kuenzi were hit by pitches and Wyckoff walked, filling the bases with one out for Thunell, who singled to left for the first run. Bailey then cranked his 10th home run of season to left for a grand-slam, all but sealing the win.

Jones pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the saves record, topping the six by Glenn Boss in 2001. Bratney picked up the win to improve to 6-3, while Brunswick suffered his first loss, falling to 5-1.

The Bruins had 12 hits in the game, with every starter collecting at least one hit except Hunter, who was 0-for-0 with a walk, two hit by pitches, and scored three runs.

Wyckoff’s big game gives him 80 hits and 70 RBIs for the season. He is two hits away from the Bruins’ record of 82 hits by David Peterson in 2004, and six RBIs from Nate Barnett’s record of 76 in 1999.

George Fox (34-10) will play Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the University of Texas-Tyler (39-11), which survived an elimination game with Hendrix College (22-23) in Friday’s first game by scoring five times in the 8th for a come-from-behind 5-3 win. The first game Saturday at 12:00 noon will be an elimination game between Pomona-Pitzer (36-6) and the loser of the Friday night game between California Lutheran University (32-9) and Chapman University (27-14). The third game Saturday will pit the winner of the Cal Lutheran-Chapman game against the survivor of the Saturday noon game.

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