TACOMA, Wash. – Linfield put up 12 hits, but an eight-run eighth inning for Puget Sound blew the game open as the Wildcats fell 16-7 in the series opener Sunday at Logger Field.
Game 2 was suspended after seven innings due to darkness. The Wildcats and Loggers were tied at 6-6 and will resume play at 11 a.m. Monday. The series finale will start shortly after the completion of Game 2.
GAME 1: Puget Sound 16, Linfield 7
Linfield trailed 5-0 heading into the fourth inning.
Tyler Marr put the Wildcats on the board with a two-run double that scored
Branden Pasion and
Cameron Skinner. Marr led the 'Cats with three RBI, also driving in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh.
The road team picked up two more runs in the fifth inning on RBI singles from
Nick Holm and Skinner to make it a three-run deficit. Holm went 3 for 4 with a run and two RBI. Pasion was a perfect 3 for 3 with a walk and scored three times, while
Bodey Smith and Skinner had two hits apiece.
While the Wildcats got the bats going, they were overshadowed by Dylan Joyce's three-homer, eight-RBI performance. The first baseman went 4 for 6 on his way to becoming Puget Sound's all-time home run king.
The Loggers' Davis Franklin improved to 3-1 on the mound, tossing six innings and allowing four runs on nine hits while striking out five.
Jackson Koons took the loss for the 'Cats after being chased out of the game after two innings.
GAME 2: Linfield 6, Puget Sound 6 (Suspended in the 8th inning)
Down 4-2, Linfield put up a four-spot in the fifth inning to turn a two-run deficit into a two-run lead. The Loggers clapped back with two runs in the seventh to send the two teams into Monday's affair with a clean slate.
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Linfield (4-6, 2-2 NWC) needs a win to even the series when Game 2 resumes. Puget Sound took two of three games last year to take the series in McMinnville.
