WHITTIER, Calif. – After scoring seven or more runs and pounding out 10 or more hits in each of their first seven games, both streaks ground to a halt for the George Fox University Bruins Sunday afternoon here at Memorial Field as they ended their southern California trip with a 6-3 setback to the Whittier College Poets in a non-conference baseball game.
Southpaw Nick Garcia (1-0) effectively shut down the high-powered Bruin offense, scattering eight hits over 7.1 innings and allowing only three runs, two earned, with six strikeouts and no walks. Bobby Santoyo earned his first save with 1.2 innings of one-hit shutout relief, fanning two with no walks.
George Fox starter Eric Kittelson (1-1) deserved a better fate as he spaced six hits over 5.0 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. He gave up all of the Poets' runs, but only one was earned as the Bruin defense committed five errors that turned into five unearned scores.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as Derek Dixon singled and Zach Miller hit an RBI double, but the Poets tied it in the third. Alex Mitchell singled, was sacrificed to second, took third on a ground out, and scored on Corey Jensen's single.
Whittier took the lead for good with three in the fourth. Jonathon Whipple walked and scored the tying run when Cody Martinez's single to right field got away for an error. An error at short on Mitchell's grounder scored Martinez, and Jensen singled in Martinez after a stolen base.
The Poets scored their final two runs in the fifth, both unearned. Stephen Zavala reached on an error at third, advance to third on Julian Barzilli's single, and scored on Whipple's grounder to short which was booted. Barzilli later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Mitchell.
The Bruins got one run in the seventh as Josh Rapacz singled, Derek Dixon was safe on an error at short, Miller singled to loaded the bases, and another shortstop error on Zach Hegelmeyer's grounder allowed Rapacz to score. In the eighth, Rapacz tripled in Matthew Zeller, who had reached on a force out following a Jared Chase single.
Rapacz and Miller had two hits each out of the Bruins' nine, while Zavala had two of the Poets' seven hits.
NEXT: George Fox (5-3) opens its home season Thursday with a 2:00 p.m. game at Morse Field against Corban University as part of the Cascade/Northwest Conference Challenge baseball tournament. Selected teams from the NWC and the Cascade Collegiate Conference will compete against each other at various sites over the length of the four-day tournament. … Whittier (5-3) hosts the University of British Columbia Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.