SPOKANE, Wash. - It was a rough day on the diamond for Whitman College baseball, who took on Whitworth University in a double-header Saturday afternoon. The Pirates took both Northwest Conference games from the Missionaries, winning the first game 10-4 and the second 18-1. While the scores look lopsided, neither game was a blowout until late.
Adrian Vela finished the day 2-for-7 with a homerun and two RBIs, both coming in game one.
Joseph Zimmer was 3-for-6 at the plate and scored two runs for Whitman (3-11, 2-3 NWC), while
Milo Mincin and
Braden Hussey both delivered RBIs in the day's first game.
Whitman opened up a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a solo homerun by Vela. Whitworth (10-0, 2-0) would later respond in the bottom of the second with four runs, but the Missionaries did not shy away from the challenge, collecting two more runs in the fourth and cutting the Pirate lead to one. In the top of the fifth, Vela scored Zimmer on a ground ball and tied the game 4-4.
In the bottom half of the inning Whitworth regained the lead 5-4 and later used a four run seventh giving the host Pirates a five-run cushion. In the bottom of the eighth, Whitworth added their last run pushing the lead to 10-4. The six unanswered runs proved to be the difference, but the fourth and seventh innings hurt Whitman the most. Had the Pirates not erupted in those two innings the Missionaries may have found themselves in a different scenario heading into the late afternoon game.
In game two of Saturday's double-header, Whitworth paced themselves to a lead before exploding in the seventh and eighth innings. The Pirates scored two runs in each of the first and second innings and then added one more in the fourth. While Whitman trailed by a manageable five runs heading into the seventh, when Missionary
Jasper Crusberg singled into center field, scoring Zimmer and cutting the deficit to four.
The lone run in the seventh gave Whitman life and kept the Missionaries within striking distance. In order to put the game away Whitworth was going to need a solid inning. The Pirates delivered. In the bottom of the seventh Whitworth scored five runs and extended its lead to nine and then in the eighth, the Pirates polished things off, scoring eight runs and putting the game well out of reach for the Missionaries.
While Whitman walks away from day one winless, the team has plenty going their way heading into the final game of the series tomorrow. Outside of four innings, Whitman was only outscored 9-5 by the Pirates. Tomorrow's game will begin at 12 p.m. at Merkel Field in Spokane.
