McMinnville, Ore. The Blues entered Sunday looking to break out the broomsticks in their opening Northwest Conference baseball series, but it was the Wildcats that brought their own sticks out to the yard, knocking out 12 on 12 hits en route to a 12-1 victory.
Whitman (5-6, 2-1) had their chances to try and take advantage early of Linfield freshman southpaw Colton Meyer, as Lucas Thrun drew a two-out walk, and was followed by a Kyle Reisman single through the left side and Kevin Nakamura drew a walk of his own to load the bases. But David Johnson was unable to come through with the knock needed to put the Blues up early, grounding out to end the frame.
Linfield (3-6) started with the bats early and simply never relented, putting up crooked numbers in five of the first six innings of the game. They took an early 2-0 lead over the Blues after a pair of sacrifice flies from the 'Cats Brian Cromwell and Cameron Fox to score Ben Whit and Alec Cook, respectively. They then added 2 in the third, 1 in the fourth, 3 in the fifth, and four in the sixth. The big blow in the game came from Ben Wager, who hit a bases loaded double to clear the bags, giving the Linfield at the time an 8-0 lead.
The Blues sole run of the game came in the top of the seventh inning, as Jake Wishart drew a lead-off walk, but was forced out on a fielder's choice by Jerick Nomura. He was followed by Lucas Thrun, who roped a double of his own, scoring the speedy Nomura from first base to provide the final tally in the contest.
Reisman was the only man of the game to tally more than one hit in the contest, as Whitman managed only 5 hits in the duration of the contest, and simply could not figure out the freshman starter Meyer. Meyer ended up going six shutout innings against the Blues, giving up 4 hits and walking two while tallying a career high seven strikeouts.
Whitman now waits to see if the weather will comply to allow for their home opener, which is currently scheduled to take place next Saturday against the Whitworth Pirates. Snow in the Walla Walla Valley and expected snow showers over the coming days may adjust the date or locations of those games.
