McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Linfield closed out its Northwest Conference home series against Willamette on Sunday afternoon with a 7-4 win over the Bearcats at Roy Helser Field, ending the series at 2-1 in favor of the Wildcats. Linfield's offense proved to be the difference maker as the Wildcats outhit Willamette 10-9.
Through the first two innings both defenses were putting on a clinic, allowing zero runs and the only hit coming at the hands of
Hunter Klingelhoffer in a single to left centerfield. Willamette eventually broke the deadlock in the third with Preston Lau nailed a home run in the first at-bat of the inning.
Linfield made the tying effort just a few minutes after the Bearcats homer when
Elijah Maris hit a perfectly placed ball over the shortstop's head for a single, scoring
Tyler Eisenhut and tying the score at one apiece.
The Wildcats and Bearcats battled back and forth for a couple of innings before
Luke Porter found a break in the seal.
Nick Holm and
Trent Wainfeld were walked to start the inning when Porter took the plate and delivered his third home run in as many games to propel Linfield ahead 4-1 to close out the sixth inning.
Similar to the first game of yesterday's doubleheader, Willamette refused to go quietly. To open the seventh inning, Drew Baskin followed up a Luke Piazza single with a homer of his own, bringing the score to within one and threatened to score again, getting two on base before
Jake Swenson took care of business and got the Wildcats out of the inning.
Willamette added another run in the eighth, but Linfield poured it on in the bottom half when
Josh Mansur launched a home run to deep center field, scoring
Marco Santulli in the process, securing the game and series for the Wildcats.
Swenson got the start on the mound and put up an impressive line in eight innings with eight hits allowed, four runs and six strikeouts, improving to 2-2 on the season. Colton Oulette closed out the game in the final frame, allowing just one hit. Porter finished his impressive weekend with a 1-for-3 performance with three RBI and a home run, his fifth of the season.
Matthew Lewis played well for Linfield yet again with two hits and a run while Eisenhut went 2-for-4 with one run.
NEXT
Linfield takes a spring break trip to California where it will play a game against Cal Lutheran before a three-game series against Occidental.
