HILLSBORO, Ore. - Whitman College opened up its season Saturday afternoon against Willamette University and Lewis and Clark College in back-to-back games. The Missionaries dropped the pair 8-3 and 7-0 respectively.

In an 11 a.m. start against Willamette (1-0), Whitman (0-1) hung tight through five innings before a four run sixth broke things open for the Wildcats. Whitman trailed 5-0 entering the eighth, but cut into the Willamette lead, scoring two runs in the top half of the inning. The Wildcats added three security runs in the bottom half of the eighth as the five-run deficit proved to be too much to overcome on Opening Day.

Catcher, Jasper Crusberg was the only Missionary to collect multiple hits against Willamette, going 2-for-4 and also scored on an Anthony Lim double in the eighth. Lim and right-fielder, Lucas Thrun, who hit one and two in the lineup, both collected RBIs in the contest. Whitman collected eight hits in the day's first game, but stranded five runners throughout. Pitcher, Robert Maislin (0-1) threw five innings, giving up five hits and walking just three. Maislin looked strong in his season debut recording six strikeouts, while giving up just one earned run.

In the day's second game, Whitman (0-2) squared off against Lewis and Clark (1-0) in a contest that the Missionaries could not get their bats going. Alex Behrman collected two of the four Whitman hits in the game with Braden Hussey and Tyler Lewis connecting on the other two. Lewis and Clark jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning and added two more in the seventh to seal the win. Henry Lin (0-1) pitched four innings for the Missionaries, surrendering just two earned runs and six hits.

Whitman will look to collect its first win of the year tomorrow as the team takes the field against George Fox University and Linfield College for games at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.