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| Pacific Lutheran senior Joel Condreay opened the season with two straight hits before surrendering an out in the 6th inning. Pacific Lutheran athletics photo |
La Verne took the lead in the second inning, Lukas Granado hit a grand slam in the third, and the Leopards rolled on their way to an 18-3 win over the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior Universidad Zorros in a season-opening exhibition Friday afternoon at Ben Hines Field. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth and the base loaded, Granado smoked a pitch to left to put La Verne up 13-0 capping off an eight run inning. Granado finished the game with three hits. Mauricio Guadarrama had a big day, finishing a perfect 5-5 at the plate with three RBI and four runs scored.
Matthew Young allowed just one run in 6.1 innings and six Pirates drove in runs as Whitworth opened its season with a 6-1 victory over the East Texas Baptist Tigers. Joel Condreay went 3-5 with a home run to lead the Pirates offensively. Taylor Poffenroth also finished with a multi-hit game, going 2-4 with a double in his Whitworth debut.
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NWC rivals, Linfield and Whitman made the trip to sunny Southern California with different results. Linfield dropped No. 2 Cal Lutheran 8-7 while Whitman fell 5-1 to Whittier. Brandon Mulrooney led the Poets in the victory with a 3-for-4, 3 RBI day. Five runs in the final two innings for Cal Lutheran evened the game with Linfield but the Wildcats scored an unearned run in the tenth inning for the winning margin.
Sewanee used an eight-run eighth inning thanks to eight walks as the Tigers defeated the Panthers of No. 10 LaGrange, 13-5, to start the 2018 season. La Grange had the game under contol until the bullpen took over for Richie Post (6.0 IP, 3H, 0 BB, 8 K). Panther relievers gave up five straight walks with two outs, forcing in four runs, before a two-run single finished up the scoring for the Tigers.
William Peace opened their season 6-1 win against Southern Virginia. Winning pitcher, Derek Jackson pitched 7 innings for the Pacers, tallying Five strikeouts and allowing no runs. Noah Carter and Jayce Stephenson would finish out the last two innings on the mound, with Stephenson striking out the last batter to close out the game.
George Fox rebounded from a loss on Thursday, rallying late to take down Schreiner, 7-5. Needing a late rally, Houston Thom and Turner Glenn came up big. Thom was able to reach on a throwing error while driving in Kyler Brudwick, and Glenn's single to left brought home Thom and AJ Valencia. Glenn proved to be a tough out on Friday, going 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs. Thom picked an RBI for the second straight game while Brudwick crossed home plate three times.