PORTLAND, Ore. – In the conclusion of a Northwest Conference series begun on February 26 the Linfield baseball team split a doubleheader with the Lewis and Clark Pioneers Tuesday afternoon, winning game one 11-9 in 10 innings and dropping game two 11-5, but taking the Northwest Conference series two games to one.
When the series began in February the Wildcats took the opening game 6-2 before games two and three were postponed due to inclement weather four innings into game two. The 'Cats and the Pios resumed the series in the top of the fifth of the suspended game with the score sitting at an 8-4 Lewis and Clark lead.
GAME ONE
Just before the game was suspended on February 26 the Pioneers pushed four runs across in the bottom of the fourth inning.
It turned out that the stoppage in play may have been what the Wildcats needed to come back.
Linfield immediately trimmed the deficit in half in the top of the fifth inning when
Wyatt Smith, pinch hitting and playing left field for
Ryan Kamp, who had started the game initially in February, laced a two RBI base hit up the middle off of Lewis and Clark starter Luke Ritter to drive in
Jackson Horner and
Jacob Campos.
Both runs went unearned against Ritter due to Horner reaching first base on a passed ball on strike three with two outs.
Grant Knox began the resumed game for Linfield, having been in the game as Linfield's second reliever to record the final out of the fourth inning in February, and would pitch through the fifth without allowing a run.
Linfield tied the game in the top of the sixth, first trimming the deficit to one run with
Mike LaVigne scoring on an error by Pioneers' right fielder Dylan Moore put into play by
Branden Pasion, who reached first safely.
Lewis and Clark regained the lead in the top of the seventh when Justin Cavagnaro scored from second driven in on a base hit by Brennen Davis off reliever
Nick Alder. It was the Pios' only run of the game following the resumption of play.
Leading off the top of the eighth Horner hit a double off Pios reliever Tyler Shimabukuro.
The double led to Shimabukuro being pulled from the game for Anthony Clerici, who was able to get the first out of the inning on a ground-out by
Daniel Kahn but allowed Horner to advance to third.
Horner then scored the following at-bat when
Garrett Moen bunted for an RBI base hit, tying the score at nine runs apiece.
The bottom of the eighth began with a base hit from Pios shortstop Riley Guieb, leading to Alder being replaced by
Colton Meyer.
Meyer immediately began his outing on a strong note by picking off Guieb at first before recording the next two outs. He would pitch the remainder of the game for Linfield, allowing no runs and no hits while striking out four and walking two.
He was awarded the win for his efforts, improving his season record to 3-0 and earning the win in now back-to-back appearances.
The senior lefty has so far flourished in the back end of the bullpen this season, recording 24 strikeouts over 18.2 innings pitched in nine appearances with a 1.20 WHIP and 2.41 ERA.
With neither side able to score in the ninth the game headed to extra innings, and the 10
th began with a leadoff base hit from Smith. He then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Cage Hardy before being driven home by fellow fifth-year senior
Tanner Jacques on an RBI base hit off of Lewis and Clark's Brenden Nomura.
Nomura would be handed the loss, his first decision of the season.
After stealing second, his fifth stolen bag in as many attempts this year, Jacques was driven in by
Noah Pawlowski to set the score at its eventual final, 11-9.
Meyer opened the bottom of the 10
th by striking out Moore and then walked Guieb, bringing Jack Thomson to the plate as the tying run.
But Meyer calmly got Thomson to roll over into a Jacques-Lavigne-Pasion 6-4-3 double-play to win the game for the Wildcats.
Linfield racked up a season-high 24 hits, the most by any Northwest Conference team in a game this season, tied for the seventh-most in a game in program history, and the most in a game by Linfield since a 21-3 drubbing at Whitman on March 17, 2012.
Nine different Wildcats finished the game with multiple hits, with seven driving in runs.
GAME TWO
The final game of the series began as a pitcher's duel between Linfield's
Andrew Del Biaggio, who retired the first six batters he faced before giving up a run in the third inning, and Lewis and Clark's Brett Pierson and Noah Ferrugia, who held a combined two-hit shutout against the Wildcats through 7.1 innings.
Del Biaggio gave up another run in the fourth off a Jakob Ghammachi RBI double to score Thomson, but it was the fifth inning where the Pioneers got to Del Biaggio, scoring three runs, two coming from a two-RBI double from Jack Savant.
Gage Mack came in for Del Biaggio with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, and worked out of the jam by getting Ghammachi to fly out.
Del Biaggio would eventually be tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 2-3 in seven starts. He allowed five runs, four earned, off seven hits and one walk while striking out three over four-and-two-thirds innings.
Ferrugia eventually earned the win, improving to 1-1 while holding Linfield scoreless off one hit and one walk over 5.2 innings and striking out three.
Already with a strong 5-0 lead, it was the seventh inning where the Pios' offense exploded for the first time in the series, scoring six runs in the inning, highlighted by a two-RBI homer from Mason Lee.
Four runs went against Mack while two went against
Gavin Ludlow, who came in with one out and two runners on, and eventually gave up the homer to Lee.
The Wildcats finally got on the board in the top of the eighth, when
Tanner Jacques hit a solo homer to center field, his first of the season, as the first batter faced by Kris Weulfing, coming in for Ferrugia.
Linfield was able to hang a crooked number in the final frame with a four-run ninth inning, with Smith driving in Horner and Kahn on a base hit, Hardy driving in Cam Skinner on a sacrifice fly, and Smith scoring when Jacques reached on a fielder's choice.
But the late rally ended when Lavigne flew out to center to end the game, Lewis and Clark winning 11-5.
The results of the series moved Linfield to 10-10 overall by 7-5 in NWC action, while the Pioneers moved to 13-11 and 7-8 in conference play.
NEXT
Linfield now turns their attention to a big series this weekend against defending NWC champs Pacific University (14-8, 9-6) in McMinnville, with a double-header on Saturday and the series cap on Sunday, starting at noon both days. They'll then play a one-off non-NWC game at George Fox (12-12, 6-6) on Tuesday, March 29 at 3:30 before visiting Willamette (12-8, 9-6) in Salem on April 2 and 3.
