TACOMA, Wash.—Host Pacific Lutheran University used a pair of late rallies to sweep Lewis & Clark College baseball by identical 10-7 scores on Sunday afternoon at PLU Field.
THE BASICS
Game One: Pacific Lutheran 10, Lewis & Clark 7
Game Two: Pacific Lutheran 10, Lewis & Clark 7
(Lewis & Clark 5-4, Northwest Conference 1-2)
(Pacific Lutheran 4-4, NWC 2-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior
Joaquin Sandoval hit a two-run home run in game one and sophomore
Dylan Lee drove in four runs in game two.
First year
Justin Frohn made his first collegiate start/appearance in game two and went 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit and two walks.
GAME ONE RECAP
Lewis & Clark erased an early 6-4 deficit but the Lutes countered with two, two-run homers in the final three innings to claim the NWC series victory.
Sandoval finished 1-3 with two run scored, two RBI, two walks and a homer to lead the Pioneers offensively. Senior
Will Heron (one run) and
Justin Cavagnaro (double) each added two hits and an RBI in five at-bats. Junior
Brandon Gonzaga tacked on one hit, two runs, an RBI and a walk.
Senior
Luke Ritter bounced back from a rough start to get through five innings of work. He scattered eight hits, three walks and six runs. Ritter tacked on four strikeouts and posted back-to-back scoreless innings to close out his outing.
Sophomore
Shane Buchbinder (one inning), first year
Matt Stanislavsky (0.2 innings) and junior
Nate Kerr (1.1 innings) combined to pitch the final three innings. All three relievers were charged with at least one earned run.
Lewis & Clark jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to three walks, two hits, two errors and a hit by pitch. Gonzaga started the game with a hit by pitch, stole second and moved to third on a fly out. After a Sandoval walk, Gonzaga raced home on a failed pickoff throw. Heron made it 2-0 with an RBI single and first year
Will Michelman pushed the score to 3-0 with a bases-loaded walk.
The Pioneers stretched their lead to 4-2 in the top of the second. Lewis & Clark loaded the bases after Gonzaga and Sandoval walked and Heron singled. Cavagnaro drove in Gonzaga with a sacrifice fly to left.
Pacific Lutheran took the lead in the third inning with four runs on four hits.
The Pioneers responded with three-straight runs to grab a 7-6 lead. In the fourth inning, senior
Brennen Davis led off with a hit by pitch and Sandoval crushed a home run to tie the game at 6-6. Lewis & Clark grabbed the lead in the fifth. Sophomore
Michael Aikawa opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a Michelman sac bunt. Gonzaga made it 7-6 with an RBI single to left field.
Carson Burke gave Pacific Lutheran the lead with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. The Lutes added two insurance runs in the eighth, when Aaron Barber hit a two-run home run.
GAME TWO RECAP
Lewis & Clark scored the opening seven runs of the contest but Pacific Lutheran stormed back to score 10 runs in the final five innings to earn the Sunday sweep.
Lee made his first collegiate start and put together the best game of his collegiate career. He went 2-5 with a run scored, four RBI and a pair of doubles.
First year
Jacob Shannon-Wilkerson went 1-4 with a run scored, two RBI and a double in his second collegiate start. His double and two RBI were the first of his collegiate career.
Sophomores
Evyn Lewis (double and a run) and
Eli Steinhaus (triple) each chipped in two hits apiece.
Frohn made his collegiate debut on the mound. He set the Lutes down in order in the first two innings and limited the hosts to two walks and a single in 3.1 innings. Frohn added two strikeouts.
First years
Logan Stevenson and
Sam Burchi each made their collegiate debuts in relief. Stevenson allowed three runs (one earned) in 1.1 innings. Burchi scattered three hits and two runs in one inning.
Lewis & Clark scored seven runs in the opening 4.5 innings.
Gonzaga kept up his strong play with a game-opening double and the Pioneers loaded the bases with Aikawa and
Bret Potter hit by pitches. Lee opened the scoring with an RBI groundout.
The Pioneers extended their lead to 5-0 in the third. Aikawa, Sandoval and Potter all walked to load the bases with no outs. Lee followed with a bases-clearing double down the left-field line to make it 4-0. Shannon-Wilkerson drove in Lee with an RBI groundout.
Lewis & Clark scored their final two final runs in the fifth. Lewis started the rally with a one-out double and easily scored on Shannon-Wilkerson's first career hit – an RBI double down the left-field line. Shannon Wilkerson came in to score on a
Connor Broschard RBI groundout.
Pacific Lutheran began their comeback in the bottom half of the inning with three runs to cut the deficit to 7-3. They tied the game in the sixth with four more runs, including a two-run, two-out single from Ethan Keintz.
The Lutes took the lead with two more runs in the seventh and tacked on one final run in the eight to account for the 10-7 score.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Steinhaus finished Sunday's doubleheader 3-7 with a double, a triple and a walk.
- Broschard and Frohn each made their first start of the season in Sunday's game two.
- The Pioneers went 5-6 on the basepaths on Sunday. Lewis & Clark has now stolen 19 bases in nine games.
- Sophomore Toby Strawser registered his first collegiate hit in game two with a pinch-hit single.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will be off next week, before hosting Whitworth University on March 15-16 in the Pioneers' Northwest Conference home-opening series.
