WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Roll 'Cats. In high-stakes baseball Saturday afternoon at Borleske Stadium, Linfield took care of business against host Whitman, downing the Blues 7-2 and 4-1 to capture the Northwest Conference regular-season title outright and take the first step in a return to playoff baseball.
 
Running their conference win streak to 13 games, the Wildcats improved their overall record to 24-10, including a league-best 19-5 mark against NWC opponents. Linfield earned the right to host the four-team NWC Tournament, opening against Whitworth in Game 1 Friday afternoon. The winner of the double-elimination tournament receives the league's automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs, a place the 'Cats have not been in three years.
 
Linfield also sent off head coach Scott Carnahan, retiring at the end of the season, with his 12th Northwest Conference championship, and the program's first since the 2014 season.
 
GAME 1: Linfield 7, Whitman 2
Ben Andrews and Ryan Pladson combined for seven of the Wildcats' 13 hits and Linfield led from start to finish to secure the series and clinch at least a share of the conference title.
 
After scoring one run each in the second, third and fifth frames the Wildcats exploded for three runs in the sixth, turning what was a 3-2 game into a runaway victory. A leadoff single, hit batter and another base hit loaded the bases for Scott Hilpert, who scored Cameron Fox with a groundout to second. Andrews followed up with a two-out single to left, plating two and pushing the score to 6-2.

Fox helped the 'Cats tack on a final run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly that plated Pladson, who had led off the inning with a single, one of four hits for the starting first baseman.
 
Cason Cunningham struck out six in a seven-inning start, improving to 5-1 on the year. Connor Scott pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
 
GAME 2: Linfield 4, Whitman 1
Riley Newman spun a four-hit complete-game, limiting the Blues to just four hits in a near shutout performance on the mound.
 
Linfield only managed four runs off 12 hits, but it was more than enough to complete the sweep, the team's fourth of the year.
 
Brady Rediger, Pladson and Ryan Ross all had a pair of hits to pace the offense, and every Wildcat in the starting lineup registered a hit.
 
The visitors jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when Ross followed up Pladson's leadoff double with an RBI single to right center. Starting off the third with a bang, Rediger smacked a triple before coming around to score on Hilpert's single to right.
 
Three hits contributed to a third Linfield run in the fifth before Whitman finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on Thrun's RBI double.
 
A second Wildcat triple, this one from Alex Hendra-Brown, led to the Wildcats' fourth and final run of the game in the ninth.
 
Newman, who pitched just four days earlier in a makeup game at Puget Sound, tallied seven strikeouts against just one walk and four hits.   

In losing all three games of the series, Whitman fell out of fourth place in the league standings, missing out on a tournament berth. The Blues end the year with a 17-20 overall record, including a 11-3 mark in Northwest Conference play. 
 
NEXT: As the top seed in the NWC Tournament, Linfield plays host to fourth-seeded Whitworth Friday afternoon in McMinnville. Game time to be confirmed Monday.