TACOMA, Wash. – Linfield left Tacoma without a win as Puget Sound notched the winning run in the resumed Game 2 before edging out the Wildcats by a score of 3-2 in the finale Monday at Logger Field.
Game 2 of the series picked up in the top of the eighth inning. The Loggers scored the eventual game-winning run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by Cooper Allen.
The Wildcats (4-8, 2-4 NWC) fell in the Northwest Conference standings but have a lot of time to make up ground with six series left in league play.
GAME 2: Puget Sound 7, Linfield 6
Down 4-2 early, Linfield put up a four-spot in the fifth inning to turn a two-run deficit into a two-run lead. Puget Sound clapped back with a pair of runs in the seventh to send the two teams into Monday with the scored tied at 6-apiece.
Dylan Joyce went 0 for 4 at the plate but threw two scoreless innings to earn his first win of the season for Puget Sound.
Gavin Ludlow took the loss for the Wildcats after giving up the deciding hit to Allen.
Linfield scored two runs in the second inning on a solo home run by
Nick Holm and an RBI single by
Jackson Horner. The bats came alive in the fifth inning.
Jake Hoskins scored the first of four runs on an RBI double by
Branden Pasion.
Cameron Skinner drove Pasion and
Bodey Smith in later in the inning with an RBI single. Horner cashed in Skinner on a sacrifice fly to center field to give the 'Cats some insurance.
Horner and Smith each collected two hits. Horner's two RBI were tied for the game high.
The Loggers tied it up in the seventh when Makana Murashige ripped a solo shot over the fence, giving UPS some momentum heading into Monday.
GAME 3: Puget Sound 3, Linfield 2
Puget Sound drew first blood in the second inning with back-to-back RBI singles by Kahiau Teruya and Cody Hirano.
Linfield evened the score in the fifth on the wings of an RBI single by Pasion and a sac fly by Holm, but the 'Cats walked in the go-ahead run with the bases loaded the next half inning to give the Loggers the sweep on their home field.
Hoskins went 3 for 5 in the loss. The transfer shortstop has recorded a hit in 11 of Linfield's 12 games. Eight of those games were multi-hit outings.
Casey Struckmeier went four innings on the mound for the 'Cats, allowing two runs on four hits.
Gavin Ludlow and
Steve Kovac combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief.
NEXT
Linfield is back at Roy Helser Field for four more games to end a long week. The 'Cats will host Corban at 2 p.m. Wednesday in a non-conference makeup game from Feb. 22. They will host Whitworth over the weekend in their return to NWC action.
