NEWBERG, Ore. – Whitman College starter Robert Maislin pitched a gem of a game Sunday at Morse Athletic Field, limiting host George Fox University to just three hits over eight innings but the Bruins rallied against Maislin in the bottom of the ninth to steal a 6-5 win from the Missionaries in Northwest Conference baseball action.

Whitman's record slips to 2-11 overall and 1-6 within the league while Fox evens is overall mark at 9-9 and improves to 6-4 in the conference.

The day seemed to be Maislin's as he worked through one tough inning, the bottom of the first, before rolling through the next seven with hardly any threats.

The Missionaries handed Maislin a two-lead before he stepped foot on the mound. Adrian Vela led off the game with a single into right-center field then advanced a bag on Anthony Lim's sacrifice bunt. Vela came around to score on Paul Heywood's single into center where a mishandled ball allowed Heywood to chug all the way to third. Peter Carmichael's RBI-ground out brought in Heywood for the second run.

Maislin retired the first batter he faced in the bottom of the inning but a one-out walk started a string in which four consecutive runners reached base. A fielder's choice during which one base runner was eliminated at home plate helped but it still took an inning-ending strikeout from Maislin to escape a second bases loaded jam without a run.

Nick Johnson helped spark another crooked-stick inning for Whitman as they put up two more in the top of the second.,Johnson's lead-off single into right-center was followed by a single up the middle by Braden Hussey. Moved up a bag by a Jonny Chow sacrifice bunt the pair eventually came in to score on a Vela single through the right side.

The Whits added another run in the sixth -- to go up 5-0 -- with an RBI-single from Hussey, but the frame may also have been the one that hurt the most as the Missionaries pushed five batters onto the base paths but were able to come away with just the one run.

Still, Maislin was sailing along. He retired the Bruins in order in both the sixth and seventh and the only blemish in the eighth was a hit batter that proved to be harmless.

Meanwhile, Fox's pitching was living on the edge, getting out of potential trouble with inning-ending double plays in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings.

The five-run lead disappeared quickly in Fox's half of the ninth. A lead-off double seemed harmless, especially when it was followed by a fly out to center. But two consecutive singles off Maislin scored the lead-off batter, a hit batsmen loaded the bases, another single scored the Bruins' second run and kept the bases loaded for Zach Rapacz.
  

A walk-off grand-slam home run by Rapacz put a sudden and heartbreaking end to what had really been a masterful outing from Maislin.

Vela, Heywood, Johnson and Hussey each finished the day with a multi-hit game for Whitman. Each player also scored one of the Missionaries' runs in the loss. Joseph Zimmer singled and scored the lone run for Whitman in its sixth inning.

Maislin (1-2) suffered the loss, ending the afternoon by allowing six runs on eight hits and three walks against six strikeouts. Michael Hirko (3-0), who came on in relief of starter Ian Buckles at the beginning of the eighth, was the beneficiary of Rapacz's dramatic game-winner in earning Sunday's win.

The Missionaries and Bruins are back at Morse Field Monday afternoon for a twinbill that starts at noon.