FOREST GROVE, Ore. – Linfield's Cal Neely and Matt Strang pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing the Wildcats to build a big lead en route to a 7-2 victory that secured a season sweep of Pacific Sunday afternoon at Chuck Bufaro Stadium.

Winners of nine of their past 11 games, the Wildcats improved to 17-9 overall, including 12-5 in Northwest Conference standings.
 
Linfield needed just two innings to come up with enough offense to defeat the Boxers (12-15, 7-14 NWC). Three errors and a two-RBI single from Ryan Pladson helped the 'Cats jump to a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
 
Jared Evans and Joey Cassano contributed crucial hits as Linfield expanded its advantage to 4-0 in the fourth. Scott Hilpert and Ben Andrews supplied back-to-back doubles to drive in three more runs and push the scoring gap to seven.
 
Pacific finally broke through in the ninth. Consecutive hits from Wilkins and Bradd gave the Boxers a pair of baserunners, and Jackson brought both home with a two-out single to right field.
 
Neely went seven innings, his longest appearance of the season, and earned the win. He struck out seven while yielding three walks and five hits. Strang, who earned a pitching victory in relief the previous afternoon, threw the final two innings.
 
The Boxers matched the 'Cats hit-for-hit, with Bradd supplying three of the eight, but could not manufacture enough runs to steal a game from the three-game series.
 
NEXT: Linfield hosts Whitworth in another Northwest Conference series beginning Saturday at noon in McMinnville. The clubs also hope the weather allows for a fourth game, a nonleague makeup from opening weekend.