PORTLAND, Ore. – The Linfield baseball team scored in five straight innings and Andrew Del Biaggio struck out 12 as the Wildcats took the opener over Lewis & Clark, 6-2, Saturday afternoon at the Huston Sports Complex.
 
Branden Pasion singled to center field to drive in Mike LaVigne and Daniel Kahn to open the scoring for the Wildcats in the fourth inning. Lewis & Clark responded in the next half inning with a Jack Thomson home run to right-center. Thomson also homered in the sixth, finishing the game 2 for 3 with a walk.
 
Wyatt Smith homered to left-center in the fifth and Noah Pawlowski scored on a Pasion RBI double in the sixth to extend the Wildcats' lead to three. The 'Cats cashed in more insurance in the seventh when Tanner Jacques got stuck in a rundown long enough for Garrett Moen to score. An eighth-inning sacrifice fly by Nathan Kassler ended the scoring.
 
Pasion went 2 for 4 with three RBI while Jacques went 2 for 5. Del Biaggio improved to 1-1 on the season, tossing six strong innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. His 12 strikeouts set a new career high and is the most K's by a Wildcat since Cason Cunningham's 15 against Puget Sound in 2017. Jackson Koons and Skyler Manelski each pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning while Colton Meyer went the rest of the way, fanning four Pioneers.
 
The Pioneers' Brett Pierson fell to 1-3 with the loss, allowing four earned runs on four hits with four walks and six strikeouts in six innings of work.
 
The second game of the twinbill was postponed due to weather and will be rescheduled for later in the season.
 
NEXT
The 'Cats (4-6, 2-2 NWC) got back to .500 in Northwest Conference play with the win. They will return home on Mar. 5-6 to host Whitworth. Both games will begin at noon at Roy Helser Field.
  Read Full Article