SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth split a pair of one-run nailbiters with first place Willamette in a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Merkel Field. The visiting Bearcats won the opener 12-11 before the Pirates claimed the nightcap 7-6.
Whitworth is now 16-10 overall and 7-7 in the NWC while Willamette is 9-12, 7-4. The teams will complete the series with a single game on Sunday at noon.
Game 1 – Willamette 12, Whitworth 11
Tassos Foster homered and doubled as the Bearcats overcame Kyle Memarian's cycle and four Pirate home runs.
Austin Paul and Caleb Gray hit solo home runs in the first inning. Later in the first Spencer Shipman had an RBI single in his first game back in uniform in over a month. The Pirates made it 4-0 in the second when Kevin Corder scored on Aidan Morrison's ground out.
Willamette got one run back in the third and then scored four in the fourth. The first in the fourth came on a solo home run by Liam O'Connor. Foster followed with a three-run shot that gave the Bearcats a 5-4 lead.
Memarian's RBI double tied the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Willamette scored three more in the fifth, including a two-run double by Foster, and a single run in the sixth on an RBI single by Nate Hamburger to go ahead 9-5.
Whitworth loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, but only got one run out of it when Gray scored on Shipman's double play to third base.
Willamette appeared to put the game away when Preston Lau hit a three-run shot in the seventh for a 12-5 margin. The Pirates responded to make the game interesting in the bottom half. Carson Coffield hit a grand slam and Memarian followed with a solo home run to get the Pirates within a single run.
Bearcat reliever Dylan Turner shut Whitworth down in the eighth and ninth innings to pick up the save. Starting pitcher Steven Verespy got the win after allowing five runs on 11 hits and three walks in 5.0 innings. He left the game with an 8-5 lead.
AJ Woodward started for Whitworth and gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk in four innings. Rylan Blair gave up the lead in the sixth inning and suffered the loss to fall to 1-1. He allowed four runs on four hits and a walk. Dillon McCardle (3 runs), Mason Greene and Seth Mahler followed in relief.
Memarian finished the game 4-6 at the plate. He had a triple in the first and a single in the third. His home run in the seventh completed the cycle.
Foster finished 3-6 with five RBIs for Willamette, while Luke Piazza finished 4-5 with one run and one RBI.
Game 2 – Whitworth 7, Willamette 6
The Pirates won a back-and-forth contest by scoring two in the bottom of the seventh inning to break a three-game losing skid.
Aidan Morrison gave Whitworth a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the first. Drew Baskin answered with a solo shot in the top of the second. Rocco Granucci's RBI double gave the Bearcats the lead in the third.
The Pirates scored two in the fourth for a 3-2 lead. Memarian had a sacrifice fly and Shipman added an RBI double.
After Willamette scored an unearned run to tie the game 3-3 in the fifth, Whitworth got two more in the bottom half. Austin Paul drove in the first run with a ground out to second base and Morrison followed with an RBI single.
The seventh inning was big. Willamette scored three to take the 6-5 lead. The Bearcats loaded the bases and got RBI singles by Piazza, Trevor Sostman and O'Connor. Whitworth retook the lead in the bottom half when Ty Komoda scored on Gray's ground out and Coffield added an RBI single.
Luke Stutesman (1-1) got the pitching victory in relief of Dylan Hunstman and Connor Ashworth. He allowed no runs on two hits in 2.2 innings. Seth Mahler got the final out for his first save. Huntsman went six solid innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits and was in line to get a win until Willamette rallied in the seventh.
Reliever Matthew Mason (2-1) took the loss after giving up the two runs in the seventh. Starter Nate Schikore allowed five runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings.
Morrison finished the game 3-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Sostman went 4-5 for Willamette.