PARKLAND, Wash. - Whitman College used a strong afternoon at the plate and relied on the arm of
Henry Lin, to even up the series with Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday. After dropping the first game 17-2, the Missionaries fought back to take game two, 4-3. Instead of hanging their heads, the Whits battled to even the series, giving themselves a chance to take the three-game series in tomorrow's rubber match.
Lin pitched six strong innings for Whitman (9-16, 4-7 NWC), giving up just two runs and six hits in 27 batters faced.
Garrett Atkinson, relieved Lin in the seventh inning and picked up right where Lin left off. Atkinson gave up just two hits and one run in 2-2/3rds innings before
Braden Hussey came in to collect the last out of the game.
The Missionary offense, led by
Joseph Zimmer and
Nick Johnson, combined for 10 hits and four runs, with all four runs coming in the first two innings. Zimmer and Johnson both hit 3-for-4 in the game and each scored one run.
An
Anthony Lim double scored
Jake Wishart in the top of the first and senior,
Paul Heywood drove Zimmer in on the following at-bat to put the Missionaries up 2-0 early. Johnson's first at-bat was a big one, as the designated hitter sent a home run out of left center field pushing the Whitman lead to 3-0. Hussey drove in the final run for the Missionaries in the top of the second after a single to left field scored
Jasper Crusberg.
PLU (11-12, 7-7 NWC) made things interesting in the final inning of play, after cutting the Whit lead to one, the host Lutes had the tying run on third with two outs. Hussey took control of the mound and registered a strikeout for the final out of the game. Halting the Pacific Lutheran comeback and sealing the 4-3 win.
In the opening game of the series, Whitman was unable to contain the Lutes. One of the positives the Missionaries could draw away from the contest was the bat of Wishart, who went 3-for-4 at the plate and also scored the first run of the game for the Whits. In the bottom of the ninth inning, though the game was out of hand,
John Lyon crushed a pinch-hit solo home run off PLU's Kory VanderStaay.
Robert Maislin got the start for Whitman and threw the game's first 2-2/3rds innings before being relieved by
Steven Ainsworth, who surrendered just two runs in 2.1 innings on the mound. When all was said and done, Missionary pitchers struggled in the first game, but Lin was able to turn that around in the late afternoon game.
Whitman and PLU square off for a winner-take-all game tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11:00 a.m. at PLU field.
**
Sunday's game was originally scheduled for a noon start, but was bumped up an hour due to weather and will now start at 11 a.m. PST**
