WALLA WALLA, Wash. - The Whitman College baseball team squared off with Pacific Lutheran, splitting a Northwest Conference doubleheader Saturday at Borleske Stadium. PLU won the opener 3-0 before the Blues responded with an 8-7 win in the nightcap.
 
Game 1
The opener saw the Blues unable to plate a run in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Lutes. Justin Armbruester (4-1) had his way with the Whitman lineup, striking out 10 Blues in eight scoreless innings. He allowed just five Whitman hitters to reach base as the Blues were unable to give Travis Craven any run support in what was a solid outing of his own.
 
Craven (2-5) had a rocky start to the game, allowing a first-inning homerun to Jacob Bockelie (2 H, 2 R, 1 RBI) before a pair of RBI hits in the third inning put the Lutes up 3-0. Cravens would settle in, working seven and two-thirds innings for a final line of three runs on nine hits with six strikeouts.
 
Despite struggling at the plate all game, the Blues had an excellent opportunity to square matters in the ninth inning. Matthew Sox drew a leadoff walk from Alex Gregory who had come on for Armbruester. Kyle Reisman later singled then Jake Wishart pulled a pitch to left field and the bases were loaded with two outs for Kevin Nakamura. Nakamura would work Gregory deep into the count, but got caught looking for a game-ending strikeout.
 
Gregory earned the save with his scoreless ninth with Colin Anderson, in his relief appearance for the Blues, tossing a scoreless inning and a third. Reisman went 3-4 to lead Whitman's quiet offensive game.
 
Game 2
The nightcap provided some fireworks for the Borleske Stadium faithful, closing with two innings of quality relief work from Milo Mincin to earned his fifth save.
 
Lucas Thrun had a big game with three hits and an RBI and Wishart added two hits, two runs and an RBI including a solo homer in the fourth inning to give the Blues their first lead. Alex Behrman and Matthew Sox both added two hits, one run and one RBI.
 
The Lutes jumped out in front early when Schmitz belted a three run homer in the third inning off of Whitman starter Eric Ma. The Blues manufactured a pair runs in the bottom of the third before Sox doubled home Behrman for the game-tying run.
 
PLU fell behind one inning later after Wishart's solo shot, but regained the lead with RBI hits from Cummings and Doten in the sixth. The Blues matched witts and put two on the board in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead right back.
 
The play of the game was made in PLU's half of the eighth. Mincin, pitching with a two-run lead, gave up a bases loaded single to centerfield. Carlson scored from third but Jimenez-Cruz, inserted earlier as a pinchrunner, attempted to score from second but was gunned down with a perfect throw home from Wishart to preserve the lead.
 
Tristan Kalnins (2-1) would get the win in a relief appearance with PLU reliever Curran (3-2) tagged with the loss.
 
The two teams conclude their series on Sunday with a single game set for 11:00 a.m.