WALLA WALLA, Wash. - The Whitman College baseball team closed the season on a high note against Puget Sound, dropping game one to the Loggers 3-1 but responding with an 11-6 win to close the series on Sunday afternoon at Borleske Stadium. The win also saw head coach Brian Kitamura notch his 100th career victory for the Blues.
Game 1
A pair of late runs proved to be the difference in UPS's game one win. Julien Hernandez tossed a solid game but did not factor in the decision after working five scoreless innings. Elliott Puttkammer-Saxen (1-1) was the pitcher of record for the Blues after giving up a pair of runs in relief work.
Ben Parker was stellar in the loss, batting 4-4 with a run scored. Kevin Nakamura had a hit and an RBI and drew a pair of walks.
Peter Fagan (3-1) worked two and one-third innings of scoreless relief for the win.
Whitman opened the scoring with a run in the third inning. Following back-to-back two-out base hits from Parker and Brett Williams, Nakamura drove home Parker from second and put the Blues up.
UPS evened the score in the sixth with Benjamin Seashore-Hobson on to pitch for Hernandez. Kyle Strash earned a base on balls to start the inning and later advanced to third with two outs. Clayton Waltz (2 H, 1 R, 1 RBI) then delivered a run-scoring hit to score Strash and tie the game.
UPS took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. Back-to-back RBI singles from Makana Murashige (2 H, 1 RBI) and AJ Morioka (1 H, 1 RBI) in a pinch hitting role put the Loggers up 3-1. The scoreline stood as Whitman was unable to score in the final two innings.
Game 2
Nearly three seasons into a career where he has become one of Whitman's premier players, Leo Rivera, an everyday infielder, took the mound for the first time and pitched the Blues to a regular season finale win. Rivera (1-0) tossed 120 pitches, allowing six runs on nine hits in his seven complete innings.
Morioka had two hits, two runs and an RBI for the Loggers with Murashige adding one run and two hits. Wes Harkins allowed three runs on two hits in relief and was the pitcher of record for UPS.
Whitman opened the scoring when Parker kept it rolling, belting a solo homerun in the first inning to put the Blues up early. UPS quickly responded with a trio of runs one-half inning later. Jack Golbranson provided the big hit of the inning. He smacked a Rivera pitch down the right field line, tripling and scoring Murashige and Morioka to put UPS up 3-1.
The Blues had a response of their own when David Johnson ripped a pitch through the infield to score both Nakamura and Williams and tie the game. UPS again regained the lead one half-inning later but Seashore-Hobson, starting at first base, tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the third with a two-run single.
The Blues added two more runs in the third and a pair of runs each in the fourth and fifth innings to win going away.
Whitman now looks ahead to next week's Northwest Conference Tournament. Dates, times and match ups are TBA.