PORTLAND, Ore. – Eleven seniors were honored before Lewis & Clark College baseball notched a 5-2 win over George Fox University to earn the number two seed in the Northwest Conference tournament and secure their best conference finish since 1992.
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 5, George Fox 2
(Lewis & Clark 26-11, 15-9 NWC)
(George Fox 15-21, 9-16 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Senior
Mason Lee hit his first home run of the season, and the sixth of his career, over the right field fence in the second inning to put the Pioneers up 2-0. Junior
Luke Bass added another run in the fourth inning with his ninth homer of the year off the scoreboard in center field.
Kris Wuelfing pitched six scoreless innings with five hits to earn his fifth win of the season. The senior right-hander faced 22 batters, walking only one, and threw 54 pitches before an hour and fifteen-minute rain delay ending his outing.
Lewis & Clark returned from the rain delay in the bottom of the sixth and added two more runs. Senior
Jack Thomson was the first batter in the inning and was walked for a program record 134
th time to claim his sixth solo program career record. Senior
Dylan Moore singled up the middle on the next at-bat to put two runners on. Two batters later sophomore
Will Heron hit a single through the right side to score Thomson from second and more Moore to third. Lee earned his third RBI of the day with a one-out sacrifice fly to right field to score Moore and extend the lead to 5-0.
Senior
Noah Ferruggia replaced Wuelfing on the mound in the seventh and threw a one-hit scoreless inning in his last regular season game. Senior
Kevin Kane threw six pitches in the eighth inning, allowing one hit to continue the dominant Pioneer pitching.
Junior closer
Anthony Clerici entered the ninth inning after a bases loaded hit by pitch scored the Bruins' first run of the day. He recorded the game's final two outs against three batters and secured his seventh save of the season and first in back-to-back games this season.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The Pioneers are on a six-game winning streak for the first time since at least the turn of the century.
- Wuelfing has a 0.90 ERA over the last 10 innings.
- Lewis & Clark has won five games in a row against George Fox, the longest win streak against the Bruins since at least 2007.
- Lee finished 1-1 with a run scored, a walk, and three RBI.
WHO'S NEXT
The Pioneers have earned the #2 seed in this week's NWC tournament and will play #3 Willamette in Forest Grove.