LAKEWOOD, Wash.  Whitman on Saturday posted its best round since October in finishing off Day 1 of the two-day 2018 Northwest Conference Men's Golf Championship in sixth place with a score of 311, just five shots behind a pair of teams tied for fourth place.

The Blues were led by Eric Wasserman and Mario Santos-Davidson who both carded opening round 76s over the par-71, 6,532-yard layout at Oakbrook Golf Club.

The Whitman duo will tee off Sunday morning in a tie for 13th place on the individual leaderboard.

In the spring portion of the schedule, the Blues' lowest posting had been a 320 at their own Sunshine Invitational in mid-March. In the fall-schedule segment Whitman had put up a pair of 309s at the NWC Fall Classic, so the players are catching fire at the right time.

Both Wasserman and Santos-Davidson easily beat their season scoring averages with Wasserman besting his by four strokes and Santos-Davidson cutting three off his season average.

Two strokes under his season average was Jimmy Jacobson, whose 7-over par 78 Saturday at Oakbrook landed him in a three-way tie for 25th place.

The battle for Whitman's final team-counting score on Saturday was between Will Selman and Luc Birchfield.

Selman slashed six strokes off his season average to card an 82, but Birchfield finished one stroke ahead with an 81 to finish the day tied for 33rd. Selman starts Sunday's concluding round in 35th place.

Pacific Lutheran University is atop the team leaderboard with a 3-over 287, six strokes ahead of second-place Willamette University (293).

Whitman's 311 is nipping at the heels of Linfield College and George Fox University which are tied at 306.

Willamette's Samuel Hinton posted the only sub-par round on Saturday, a 2-under 69, to grab the individual lead. Two teammates from PLU, Austin Darnell and Jordan Brajcich, sit tied for second after even par 71s.

Sunday's closing round of the NWC Championship begins with an 8 a.m. shotgun start.