TACOMA, Wash. – Completing a rain-delayed three-game sweep of the University of Puget Sound Loggers, the George Fox University Bruins won a suspended second game 5-4 in 10 innings, then exploded for a 16-6 win in the series finale and moved into a tie atop the Northwest Conference baseball standings Monday afternoon here at Logger Field.
George Fox, ranked 14th in the ABCA / Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III national poll and 17th in the D3baseball.com poll, is now 22-8 overall and 15-3 in the conference, tied in league play with Linfield College. Puget Sound slid to 11-18 overall and 6-9 in the NWC
Game 1 - George Fox 5, Puget Sound 4 (10 innings)
Action got under way Monday with the completion of a game that was called by darkness on Saturday with the score tied 4-4 after nine innings. The Bruins had taken the first game on Saturday 8-4.
The Bruins wasted no time breaking the tie in the top of the 10th against Lucas Stone (3-2). Matthew Zeller led off with an infield single, was sacrificed to second by Zach Hegelmeyer, and scored on Zac Israel's single to right-center. In the bottom half of the inning, Sean Eberhardt (3-0) nailed down the win, giving up a one-out single but retiring the last two Loggers on flies to center, the last one a fine running catch in the gap by center fielder Jared Chase.
Setting up Monday's conclusion, the Loggers had scored four runs off George Fox southpaw Connor Harris in the first 1.1 innings on Saturday. Bobby Hosmer doubled in two and Jeff Walton had an RBI single in a three-run 1st, and Stone singled in a run in the 2nd before Eric Kittelson relieved and shut out the Loggers over the next 6.1 innings, scattering seven hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
The Bruins started their comeback against the Loggers' Steve Wagar in the 4th. Zach Miller led off with a triple and scored on a single by Josh Rapacz for the Bruins' first run, and after Danny Clifford was hit by a pitch, Kadyn Nannini singled up the middle to score Rapacz.
In the 7th, Hegelmeyer singled to lead off, went to second when Israel's sacrifice was mishandled at third for an error, and both runners moved up on a sacrifice by Chase. Miller's sacrifice fly to left made it 4-3. The Bruins tied it in the 8th when Rapacz led off with a double, was sacrificed to third by Clifford, and scored on Timothy Williams' single through the left side.
The Loggers made a bid to win it in the 9th against Eberhardt when Christian Carter led off with a single and pinch-runner Eric Lund was sacrificed to second by Kaulana Smith. After Nathan Backes flied to center, Hosmer singled sharply to right, but Williams, with one of the strongest arms in the league, nailed Lund easily at the plate to extend play. Rainy weather on Sunday pushed everything to Monday.
Game 2 - George Fox 16, Puget Sound 6
The Bruins backed Tom Zarosinski (2-4) and four relievers with 16 hits in the finale, scoring 11 runs combined in the 4th and 5th innings and batting around in both to blow the game wide open.
Derek Dixon's sacrifice fly in the 1st off Nathan Aguiar (1-3) scored Miller to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead, and they added two unearned runs in the 2nd. Puget Sound got one back in the 3rd on a ground out by Smith that scored Connor Savage.
Chase ignited the Bruins' five-run 4th with a lead-off home run, his fourth of the season. Clifford singled in a second run, and Dixon followed with a two-run double. Israel's ground out scored Dixon with the final run of the frame.
The Bruins upped the score to 14-1 with six in the 5th, first loading the bases on walks to Zeller, Miller, and Rapacz, and Clifford lined a two-run single to left-center. Dixon drove in Rapacz with a force out, Israel delivered a two-run double, and Hegelmeyer singled in Israel with the final run of the rally. The Bruins closed their scoring with two in the 8th on the third home run of the season by Rapacz, scoring Miller ahead of him.
Miller paced the Bruin attack with three hits and four runs scored, while Rapacz, Clifford, Hegelmeyer and Chase added two hits apiece. Rapacz, who is now hitting an even .500 on the season, scored three times and drove in two, Dixon collected four RBIs, and Clifford knocked in three.
Zarosinski went six innings, scattering eight hits while allowing three runs, two earned. He fanned five, including the side in the 1st inning, and walked one. Relievers Alex Keenan and Spencer Eager worked 1-2-3 innings in the 8th and 9th respectively to close out the win.
Puget Sound had 12 hits, with Hosmer and Walton getting two each. Walton had a double and drove in three. Aguiar was touched for nine hits and eight runs, five earned, in 3.1 innings, and Jarrod Beiser, the Loggers' first reliever, allowed five runs but only one hit, four walks contributing to his demise.
NEXT: George Fox hosts Pacific Lutheran University in yet another critical conference series this coming weekend, with a twinbill on Saturday and a single on Sunday, starting at 12:00 noon both days ... Puget Sound visits Lewis & Clark for an NWC trio, with two on Saturday and one on Sunday, also at noon ... Linfield, meanwhile, goes to southern California for four non-conference games Friday-Sunday, playing three at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and one at the University of La Verne.