NEWBERG, Ore. – For a team that has often built its reputation on the power and prowess of its hitters, perhaps it is about time that the George Fox University mound staff began to get its due.
"The pitchers certainly saved out bacon today," admitted relieved head coach Marty Hunter after his Bruins had pulled out a pair of pitching duels with the visiting Pacific University Boxers, 2-1 and 1-0 in 11 innings, in a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field.
The games had been postponed from Saturday because of rain and were the first two at home for the Bruins this season. The finale of the three-game league set between the Bruins (14-2, NWC 4-1) and the Boxers (3-7, NWC 0-5) will be Monday at 3:00 p.m. at Morse Field. Live stats will be provided for fans to follow the game at http://athletics.georgefox.edu/livestats/index.
Game 1 - at George Fox 2, Pacific 1
George Fox ace Clay Gartner ran his record to 5-0 with a complete-game five-hitter, his second straight route-going effort, in besting Pacific southpaw Tyler Kotchik (1-2) in the opener. The senior right-hander ran his string of consecutive scoreless inning to 26 in a row, the second-longest such streak in George Fox history, before Kyle Treadway ended it with a tremendous solo blast over the scoreboard in right-center leading off the 7th, the first round-tripper of the year for the Boxers.
Gartner settled downed after that, finishing with a career-high 14 strikeouts and no walks. He now has 35 strikeouts and only four walks in 39 innings, with an earned run average (which actually went up) of 0.69.
Kotchik worked six innings, scattering six hits with four strikeouts and three walks, before Topher Mood finished with two innings of one-hit relief. The Bruins got an unearned run in the 1st on a two-out infield single off Kotchik's glove by Josh Rapacz, who went to second on an overthrow and scored on Derek Dixon's looping double to right. They added what proved to be the winning run in the 4th as Zach Rapacz doubled to right-center, advanced on a sacrifice by Clay Mott, and scored on Zac Israel's single to right.
The Bruins had only seven hits, the first and only time this season they have been held to single digits in hits. Dixon had three of the safeties and Israel two.
Game 2 - at George Fox 1, Pacific 0 (11 innings)
The second game saw George Fox right-hander Ian Buckles match zeroes with Pacific lefty Colin McCusker, neither of whom figured in the decision. McCusker frustrated the Bruins with nine innings of nine-hit pitching, striking out three and walking three and leaving 11 runners stranded. Buckles was brilliant for the Bruins, throwing five perfect innings to start the game and 5 2/3 innings before allowing a hit. He finished with two hits surrendered and no walks with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
Sean Eberhardt threw 1-2-3 8th and 9th innings for the Bruins before giving way to lefty Connor Harris to start the 10th. After giving up a single but picking off the runner and recording a strikeout, Harris surrendered back-to-back hits and was replaced by Christian Jarnigan. The freshman righty walked Matt Hopp to load the bases, but got out of the jam by getting Ben Duerr swinging. He allowed a single and a walk in the 11th, but escaped again with a pop out, and got his first win when the Bruins finally broke through in the last of the 11th against reliever Nathan Suyematsu (0-1).
With one out, Israel singled through the left side and Jarnigan, in his first plate appearance in college, laid down a sacrifice bunt up the first-base line to put the runner in scoring position. Matthew Zeller sent a two-out grounder sharply to short, but the throw bounced and first baseman Treadway could not come up with it as Israel scored on a close play at the plate to end the game.
Suyematsu had two of the Boxers' six hits in the game, while Mott, Israel, and Zeller had two hits each out of the Bruins' total of 10.
"Every one of our pitchers was on today; Gartner was his usual self, Buckles was outstanding, Eberhardt, Jarnigan, even Harris threw well," noted Hunter. "I thought their pitchers did a fine job on our hitters, and sometimes you're just going to have offensive days like that, which is why pitching like we got today is so critical. Our hitters will get it figured out again - they're too good to be held down long - but our pitching should keep us in ballgames until they do."
By allowing only one earned run in 20 innings all day, the Bruins lowered their team ERA to 2.08, well ahead of their record pace of 2.96 set in 2000, which was the first year George Fox made the NCAA National Tournament. The Bruins are obviously hopeful that this year's staff could lead them to a similar reward in 2014.