NEWBERG, Ore. – A seven-run fourth inning provided enough insurance for Linfield to withstand a late rally from George Fox, and the Wildcats completed the series sweep of the rival Bruins with an 11-9 victory Game 3 Sunday at the Morse Athletic Field.
 
David Brosius picked up the pitching victory and Cal Neely notched his second save of the weekend in a game that featured five different Wildcat pitchers. Taking the mound in a dangerous situation – two runners in scoring position with one out in the ninth – Neely coxed the next two Bruins into a flyout and strikeout to preserve the narrow victory.
 
Ben Andrews went 4-for-5 at the plate and Alex Hendra-Brown drove in three runs to pace the visitors offensively.
 
George Fox third baseman Kyle Esquerra supplied three hits, and Matt Voelzke pushed across a pair of runs in the sixth and ninth frames for the Bruins, who briefly held a 2-1 advantage early and scored six times over the final four innings in a comeback bid.
 
Down 2-1 after two, Linfield knotted the score on Hendra-Brown's sacrifice fly in the third, and gained serious distance in the fourth. A couple of walks, two errors and a hit batter led to two runs, and Ryan Pladson scored two more on a single to left center, making it a 6-2 game. Hendra-Brown and Colton Robinson also supplied RBI hits during the inning to help the Wildcats expand their advantage to 9-2.
 
Bruin reliever Mikah Takashige limited Linfield to two runs in 4.2 innings and registered a 1-2-3 seventh to help his team stay within striking distance.
 
Voelzke followed up Dillon Blankenship's RBI double with another scoring hit in the sixth, and Sam Swenson drove in one of GFU's two runs in the seventh as the hosts inched closer to tying the game. But despite having two runners in scoring position and two outs to work with in the bottom of the ninth, the Bruins could get no closer than two runs against the Wildcats.
 
AHEAD: Linfield returns home for a four-game set against Pacific Lutheran, with the fourth contest counting as a nonleague tilt, a makeup from the opening weekend. Action begins Saturday at noon.