FOREST GROVE, Ore. – A nonleague doubleheader yielded mixed results for the Northwest Conference regular-season and tournament champions. Linfield edged past Pacific 3-2 in 11 innings before suffering a late-inning collapse in an 8-5 loss to Pacific Lutheran, both games held Saturday at Chuck Bufaro Stadium.
 
Cameron Fox supplied two triples among four hits and drove in a team-best three runs to pace the offense. Linfield improved to 29-12 on the season.
 
Linfield 3, Pacific 2 – 11 innings
Fox and Ben Andrews combined for six of the Wildcats' seven hits, and Matt Strang yielded just two hits over the final 3.1 innings to lead the Wildcats to their fourth victory over the Boxers this season.
 
A Fox triple – his career second – and RBI single from Ryan Pladson contributed to the team's first run in the first inning. But the 'Cats did not score again until the seventh, knotting the score at 2-2 after the Boxers put together their only scoring inning of the game.
 
Back-to-back doubles from Galeno and Kloke put Neely and the Linfield defense in trouble. With two runners aboard, Keithly sent a two-out single to center field, but the Wildcats limited the damage to just a second run and converted a routine groundout to get out of the inning, trailing by just one run.
 
Brady Rediger, the tying run, capitalized on a fielding error and a wild pitch to advance to third before scoring on Andrews' RBI single through the left side.
 
Neither team was able to score the go-ahead run in regulation. Linfield loaded the bases in the top of the 10th, but all were left stranded when the Boxers registered two straight outs to end the inning.
 
Fox, who has played the hero earlier this season, delivered again in the 11th, sending a two-out double down the left-field line to score Jake Gellos, who had drawn a walk and advanced on a Joey Cassano sacrifice.
 
Pitching with a slim 3-2 advantage, Strang got into some trouble in the 11th. Wright led off with a single and advanced to third on consecutive groundouts. A third ended the threat, however, giving Strang his fifth victory of the season. Cal Neely went 7.2 innings in the start, striking out five.
 
Pacific's Spencer Backstrom rang up 10 hitters on the day.
 
Pacific Lutheran 8, Linfield 5
Avenging a NWC Tournament elimination-game loss and making a case for an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs, Pacific Lutheran staged a ninth-inning rally to knock off the regular-season and tournament champions in a non-league tilt.
 
Capitalizing on four hits, two walks, a pair of Linfield errors and a passed ball, the Lutes scored four times in the final frame, turning a one-run deficit into a three-run triumph. Cantu scored the game-winning run on a passed ball.
 
Linfield enjoyed its offensive success early. Ryan Ross plated the first run of the game with an RBI single through the left side, and a groundout from Jared Evans put the 'Cats ahead 2-0 in the first. Fox's second-inning triple doubled Linfield's advantage to 4-0.
 
Pacific Lutheran made it a one-run game with back-to-back scoring innings. Gosline nearly did it himself in the fifth, scoring a teammate with a double to right center and advancing two bases – including home – on wild pitches, bringing the deficit to 4-3.
 
Gosline also set up the tying run in the seventh, on a sacrifice fly.
 
Linfield tacked on what seemed to be the insurance run in the eighth, when Ross scored on a Pladson RBI single.
 
But the defensive wheels came off for the Wildcats in the ninth, and despite getting a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the ninth, they were unable to pull out the win.
 
NEXT: Linfield returns to McMinnville for Senior Day festivities Sunday, when the team takes on George Fox in a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon.