PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College baseball rallied for a 7-4 win in game one, but visiting University of Puget Sound earned the split with a tight 2-1 win in the nightcap on Saturday afternoon at Jerry Gatto Field. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 7, Puget Sound 4
Puget Sound 2, Lewis & Clark 1
(Lewis & Clark 9-9, Northwest Conference 4-7) 
(Puget Sound 12-8, NWC 5-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Senior Luke Ritter and junior Nate Kerr held Puget Sound scoreless over the final seven innings of game one to help the Pioneers post their third-straight win and second by way of a comeback victory. Outside of a four-run second inning, Ritter and Kerr held the Loggers to just four hits and one walk, while striking out nine Loggers batters. 
 
Sophomore Michael Aikawa led the Pioneers offensively with four hits in seven at-bats, two runs, two RBI, a double, a home run and a walk. Senior Will Heron added a pair of solo home runs on the day. 
 
GAME ONE RECAP 
 
After falling behind 4-0 early, Ritter and Kerr combined to hold the Loggers bats in check and Lewis & Clark scored seven runs across the middle innings to earn their third win of the week. 
 
Ritter put together his second-consecutive strong start. The senior allowed four hits, two walks and four runs over six innings. He added a season-high seven strikeouts. After giving up all four runs in the second inning, he allowed just two baserunners over his final four innings of work. 
 
Kerr came on for the final three innings and earned his second-straight, three-inning save. Kerr scattered three hits and struck out two to earn his second save of the week. 
 
Aikawa paced the Pioneers offensively by going 3-4 with two runs, two RBI, a double and a homer. Junior Brandon Gonzaga added two hits and a run scored out of the leadoff spot. 
 
Heron hit a solo home run and scored twice and senior Brennen Davis added a go-ahead, two-run double. 
 
Linfield struck for four, two-out runs in the second. With the bases loaded, the umpire called Ritter for a balk to bring in the opening run. Preston Crockett proceeded to clear the bases with a two-run single and he came in to score on a Drew Kamihara double. 
 
After managing just two baserunners the first time through against Brett Harvey, Lewis & Clark began to get to the Loggers ace in the fourth. Aikawa opened the inning with a first-pitch home run over the left field fence. Two pitches later, Heron crushed a home run well over the left-center field fence to make it 4-2. 
 
The Pioneers grabbed the lead in the fifth. Junior Joaquin Sandoval worked a one-out walk to end Harvey's day. Aikawa greeted relief pitcher Ethan Rattie with a double off the wall in center to put two runners in scoring position. Senior Justin Cavagnaro followed with a sac fly to center to shave the deficit to 4-3. After a Heron walk put runners at first and second, Davis hit a moonshot to left field, that just eluded the Puget Sound left fielder at the fence for a two-run double. 
 
Lewis & Clark added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth. With one out, sophomore Eli Steinhaus and Gonzaga posted back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Sandoval provided a sac fly to make it 6-4 and Aikawa chipped in a two-out RBI double to push the lead to 7-4. 
 
The visitors brought the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings. In the eighth, Kerr induced a soft grounder to short and struck out pinch hitter Jim O'Brien to get out of the jam. He retired the final batter in the ninth with a soft grounder to third to leave runners at first and second.  
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
Sophomore Caden Hodina and Loggers pitcher Charlie Decker engaged in a pitcher's duel for most of the contest, before Puget Sound scratched across a run in the top of the eight to earn the split. 
 
Hodina, first year Justin Frohn and sophomore Shane Buchbinder combined to allow just five hits (one double). Hodina struggled with wildness early on but finished with a line of three hits, three walks, one run and three strikeouts over five innings. Frohn took his first collegiate loss after allowing one hit, two runs and one walk over 2.2 innings. The first year struck out four. Buchbinder threw the final 1.1 innings and allowed one hit, one walk and struck out one. 
 
Decker had an excellent outing as he scattered five hits, one walk and one run over six innings. Relievers Harley Eschliman and Zach Robman combined to retire all nine batters they faced. 
 
Heron provided the Pioneers lone run with a solo home run. Aikawa was the only Pioneer to reach multiple times as he had a single and a walk. 
 
Puget Sound grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Kamihara led off with a walk, took second on a ground out, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly. 
 
The Pioneers tied the game on Heron's second home run of the day, a blast to straight-away center field to lead off the bottom of the second. 
 
Puget Sound threatened to retake the lead in the fourth. The Loggers put two runners in scoring position with one out. Hodina struck out O'Brien and recorded a fly out to center to keep the game 1-1. 
 
Decker retired 11-straight batters between the second and the fifth innings. The Pioneers created an excellent scoring chance against the southpaw in the sixth. Gonzaga led off with an infield single but was thrown out trying to steal second. With two down, Aikawa singled through the left side and raced towards third on a Justin Cavagnaro single, but Aikawa was called out on a bang-bang play at third base. That would be Lewis & Clark's final baserunner of the game. 
 
The Loggers managed to earn the sweep with a single run in the eighth. Ryan Spero sent a ground ball just inside the third-base bag for a leadoff double. He moved to third on a sac bunt and easily scored on pinch-hitter Matt Churchill's sac fly. The Loggers would load the bases with a hit by pitch and two walks. Buchbinder allowed a walk to load the bases but then induced a soft grounder to first to end the jam. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Ritter earned his first career game one start of a conference series this season. He had been starting game three in the Pioneers previous three series this season and started game two in NWC Series in his first three seasons. 
• With his two home runs on Saturday, Heron is sitting on 99 career RBI heading into Sunday's doubleheader. He set a new career-high for home runs in a single-season (six) on Saturday. 
• Ritter's seven strikeouts in game one are tied for the fifth-most of his career. The last time he struck out seven or more batters in a game was on March 18, 2023, when he struck out eight at Bushnell University. He moved into fifth place in program history for career strikeouts (164) on Saturday after passing Bryan D'Alessio (1993-95) who finished his career with 162.
• Frohn has pitched extremely well in a multi-inning role to start his career. The first-year lefty has allowed three runs (two earned) over 9.1 innings in three appearances. 
• The Pioneers three-game winning streak was their second-longest of the season. Lewis & Clark posted four-straight wins from February 16-22 with doubleheader sweeps of Whittier College and Willamette University. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark and Puget Sound will play two more games on Sunday. The Noon contest will be the third and final game of the NWC series and determine who wins the series. The teams will play a seven-inning game directly after the first contest. The fourth game of the series will be a non-conference contest.