PORTLAND, Ore. - The Willamette Bearcats completed a three game sweep of the Lewis & Clark baseball team on Sunday afternoon at the Huston Sports Complex in Northwest Conference action. The Bearcats earned a 7-3 victory after taking the first two games of the series on Saturday.
The loss drops the Pioneers to 1-10 on the season and 0-6 in conference play. The Bearcats improve to 8-3 overall and 3-0 in conference.
Chris Torgerson picked up the win for Pacific, while Alex St. Pierre suffered the loss for the Pioneers.
Senior Tucker Laurence finished 2-of-3 from the plate for the Pios, scoring a run and knocking in an RBI. Classmate Sam Holman was 1-of-3 for Lewis & Clark scoring another Pio run.
Willamette scored the first run of the game in the top of the fourth, before going up 2-0 in the sixth inning. The Bearcats added two more runs in the top of the seventh. Brandon Chinn led off the inning with a hard hit shot to third base and eventually came around to score on a T.C. Lee single. Lee's single brought in Chinn and Doug Bloom, who reached base earlier in the inning on a walk.
The Pioneers earned the two runs back in the bottom half of the inning, starting with an RBI single from sophomore Eliot Smith. Smith found a gap in right center that allowed Laurence to come around and score from third. Holman came around to score moments later on a Parker Dane sacrifice fly to cut the Willamette lead to 4-2.
Three runs on four hits in the top of the eighth inning capped off the Bearcat scoring. A double to right center from Dylan Summers brought in Sky Kelley from second. The final two Bearcat runs came around to score on an RBI single to right from Chinn. Both Summers and Tosh Semlacher came around to score for Willamette.
Lewis & Clark tried to come from behind in the bottom half of the inning, making good contact with the ball, but were unable to get more than one run. Sophomore Gianluca Giarrizzo led off the inning for the Pioneers with a single to the Bearcat shortstop, who was unable to come up with the ball despite a diving attempt. Giarrizzo slowly made his way around the bases, eventually coming in to score on a Laurence single.
Lewis & Clark returns to action on Saturday, March 12 at 11 a.m. when they take on the Whitman Missionaries in Walla Walla, Wash.
