WALLA WALLA, Wash.—Whitman College scored six runs in the first two innings and Lewis & Clark College baseball's late-game comeback fell short, in an 8-4 Whitman victory on Saturday afternoon at Borleske Stadium.
 
THE BASICS
Whitman 8, Lewis & Clark 4
(Lewis & Clark 11-5, Northwest Conference 3-4) 
(Whitman 10-4, Northwest Conference 3-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
In what was supposed to be the start of their second home NWC series of the spring, Lewis & Clark found themselves as the "home" team on a diamond almost four hours away from Portland. The Blues, who will hit first in all three games this weekend, didn't provide a warm welcome for the Pioneers, as they scored the first six runs of the contest. 
 
Senior Jack Savant (2-5) led the Pioneers offense with two of the team's four hits. Fellow senior Jack Thomson worked a pair of walks and added an RBI single and junior Luke Bass hit a solo home run and walked once. 
 
On the mound, senior Brayden Nomura pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed two hits, three walks and struck out two. Junior Brett Pierson took the loss after allowing nine hits and eight runs (six earned) over the opening 5.1 innings. 
 
The early cushion was more than enough offense for Whitman ace Julien Hernandez. The First Team All-Conference honoree went seven innings and scattered two hits, one run and two walks, while striking out 11. 
 
After scratching across one run in the first, Whitman added five more in the second on four hits, one error and two walks. 
 
Bass broke up Hernandez's shutout bid to start the fourth inning, when the junior crushed his 14^th career home run.
 
That would be the final hit Hernandez would allow, as the Pioneers only other scoring chance against the Whitman ace came in the first. Savant led off the inning with a single and Thomson walked to put two runners on. Hernandez induced a fly out and then back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam. 
 
Lewis & Clark rallied for three runs in the eighth when the Blues went to their bullpen. Law-school student Jacob Serafini walked and Savant singled to put two on with no outs. Thomson cut the deficit to 8-2 with an RBI single. The Pios loaded the bases up with a one-out walk to Bass and sophomore Will Heron drove in a run with a hit by pitch. After a pitching change, sophomore Brennen Davis scampered home on a wild pitch. Reliever Ryan Burgisay retired the next two batters and then worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to close out the win. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Savant extended his hitting streak to five-straight on Saturday. He has posted three multi-hit games during the stretch and is now hitting .286 on the season with a .394 on-base percentage (10 walks). 
• Nomura's 3.2 innings of scoreless relief was his best outing since his first of the season. He had allowed five earned runs in three-straight appearances coming into Saturday. 
• Saturday's game was the Pioneers 16^th-straight road game to start the season. 
• The Pioneers 12 strikeouts was a season-high in conference play. 
• Last season, Hernandez led the Blues to a game-one 19-5 victory, before Lewis & Clark came back to win the series (9-4, 20-2) in Walla Walla.  

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will wrap up the series on Sunday, when they play the Blues in a doubleheader at Noon and 3 p.m.