SEATTLE Whitman baseball is fortunate to call Borleske Stadium – one of the best college stadiums in the Northwest Conference -- in Walla Walla its home. Saturday was just a whole different level of 'fortunate' as the host Blues squared off Centre (Ky.) College in a doubleheader at Safeco Field, the home of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners, in the revival of the Bud Kight Memorial Series.
Video board graphics and in-game replays. A persnickety field crew out grooming the dirt during the seventh inning stretch. And just plain standing in the home team dugout with Seattle Mariners splashed across the top of it. These were all pinch-me, giddy perks of being the home team against the cross-country Colonels.
Major League Baseball would be proud of how the teams played on their hallowed grounds -- quick, efficient, mostly error-free baseball in two games that lasted less than three hours apiece.
Centre took the opener, 4-2, despite the Blues out-hitting the Colonels (12-8). The nightcap was more about pitching and defense than the echoing pinging of the bats across the Safeco expanse, and Whitman was able to even the series with a 3-1 victory.
Travis Craven started for Whitman in Game 2 and worked his way through several difficult innings to keep Centre off the scoreboard. The Colonels put a pair of base runners on board in the first, third and fifth innings before each threat would be extinguished.
Fielding gems would end a couple of Centre's opportunities.
Jake Wishart flagged down a sinking liner into center field in the third to prevent two base runners from scoring on the two-out shot. And in the fourth
Brett Williams snared a one-out liner then doubled off a runner at first to put an end to that frame.
It was in the bottom of the fourth when Whitman was able to strike first, plating two against Centre starter Drew Schacht.
Consecutive singles from the first two batters,
Anthony Lim and
Joseph Zimmer, got the home dugout's attention. Lim added a steal of third to put runners on the corners, then trotted home for the first run of the game on
Lucas Thrun's single through the left side of the infield.
Zimmer had moved to second on the hit and raced home two batters later when pinch-hitter
Alex Behrman punched a single into the short gap in right-center.
Wishart led off the bottom of the fifth and became the third Whitman run after a stolen base, sacrifice bunt, and finally a sac fly from Zimmer with one out.
Craven gave way to
Steven Ainsworth to start the seventh, and he in turn handed the ball to
Jimmy Smiley with one out in the eighth. One of the base runners Ainsworth allowed eventually scored but Smiley doused the flames getting each of the five batters he face out to earn the save.
Game 1 waited until the six inning for any fireworks, though more like firecrackers.
Centre scored twice in the top of the six but gave back a run in the bottom half on
Jasper Crusberg's RBI single.
Whitman pulled even in the seventh with an unearned run but the Colonels regained the lead in the top of the eighth before adding an insurance run in the ninth..
Nick Johnson started and pitched seven strong innings for Whitman, allowing two runs on six hits and only one walk, while fanning 10.
Garrett Atkinson (0-1) relieved Johnson to start the eighth and ended up taking the loss.
In between the games the W Club hosted Whitman's largest -- likely -- off-campus alumni gathering, welcoming nearly 500 to Safeco's "The Pen" picnic area beyond the left-center field fence.
Borleske's a special place, for certain. But this weekend -- the same teams go at it again Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. -- is already on its way to being an unforgettable one for Whitman baseball.
