WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitman College fell one come-from-behind run short of possibly sweeping visiting Pacific Lutheran University in a Northwest Conference doubleheader on a sunny afternoon Saturday at Borleske Stadium. The Missionaries took the opener from the Lutes, 4-1, then rallied from a five-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth of Game 2 before giving in with the bases loaded in a 6-5 loss to the Lutes.
The split leaves Whitman at 4-13 overall an 3-8 within the conference while Pacific Lutheran moves to 16-7 and 9-5, respectively.
Adrian Vela's double down the left-field line in the bottom of the third inning pushed the first run of the game across the plate in Game 1, and Vela came in to score what proved to be the game-winning run, after moving to third on a wild pitch, on
Anthony Lim's sacrifice fly to center field.
The Missionaries added a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to give starting pitcher
Robert Maislin an even greater cushion but he hardly needed the help. Maislin scattered five hits with two walks while fanning six over eight strong innings of work for Whitman. One of the few blemishes on his outing was a lead-off home run to PLU's Connor Cantu in the top of the sixth but only one other base runner advanced past second base during his stint on the mound, and both Maislin and reliever
Henry Lin were the beneficiaries of some slick fielding behind them as the M's pulled off a pair of double plays to hasten the end of a pair of innings.
Vela,
Paul Heywood and
Joseph Zimmer each rapped out two hits apiece in the Game 1 win, with Vela, Lim,
Peter Carmichael and Zimmer registering one RBI apiece.
Maislin earned the victory to even his season mark at 2-2 and Lin pitched the ninth surrendering only a harmless two-out single before inducing a game-ending ground out to earn the save, his third of the season.
The nightcap was low on runs through the early innings but not without drama.
After Whitman starting pitcher
Nick Johnson sailed through a clean top half of the first inning Vela opened the bottom of the frame with a double down the right-field line. Lim's sacrifice bunt moved Vela to third from where he would easily score on a Heywood single through the left side.
Heywood was erased on the base paths trying to steal second but
Peter Carmichael walked and
Joseph Zimmer reached on a fielding error to put two more runners on before,
Pacific Lutheran starter Garrett Brown escaped further damage with a two-out strikeout.
Johnson worked out of a jam in the top of the second and left a runner in scoring position in the top of the third. Brown left a pair of Whitman base runners stranded at second and third in the Missionaries' third then lived on the edge in the fourth with a lot of contact from the Whitman bats but no damage to show for it.Brown, in fact, heated up after the fourth, sitting the Missionaries down in order over the next two innings then surrendering only one single in both the seventh and eighth.
The Lutes tied the game in the top of the fifth then pushed ahead with one more in the sixth.
Whitman's problem inning proved to be the top of the eighth where PLU got to reliever
Steven Ainsworth for four runs off three singles, one walk and one intentional walk.
Garrett Atkinson came on for Ainsworth and extinguished the flames but the damage had been done.
Nonetheless the Missionaries battled back in the bottom of the frame.
Tristan Cates opened the inning with a single to left-center off PLU reliever Ty Donahou. Pinch-hitter
Braden Hussey worked Donahou for a walk and, following a wild pitch to move Cates and Hussey up to third and second base, pinch-hitter
Alec Rainsford poked a single through the left side to push Cates home. That would be all for Donahou as PLU summoned AJ Konopaski in relief.
Another pinch-hitter,
Jackson DeStefano, singled through almost the same spot on the left side to score Hussey and the come-back kept growing legs.
Vela blooped a single over a leaping second baseman to reach safely and load the bases for Whitman, and Lim followed with a soft single that bounced in front of the center fielder to score Rainsford, cutting the deficit to just two.
After a flyout to short center field Konopaski walked pinch-hitter
John Lyon which pushed all three base runners up a base, including DeStefano who trotted home for Whitman's fourth run of the inning and drawing the home team back from the dead.
To his credit, Konopaski induced a short fly-out to center and a strikeout, with the bases jammed, to finally put a stake in the Whitman come-back's heart.
Johnson (0-1) took the loss for Whitman despite only surrendering two runs on seven hits and a walk over 5.2 innings of work. Brown (3-0) took the win for PLU with Konopaski earning his seventh save.
The same two teams head back to Borleske Sunday afternoon at noon for the closing contest in the three-game set.
