SALEM, Ore. – Brandon Chinn's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning scored Shae Harrison with an unearned run, giving the Willamette University Bearcats a 3-2 win over the George Fox University Bruins and a sweep of their three-game Northwest Conference baseball series Sunday afternoon here at John Lewis Field.
There were plenty of runs scored in Saturday's first two games of the series, the Bearcats taking both 8-2 and 11-9, but Sunday's contest turned into a pitchers' duel between right-handers Tom Zarosinksi of George Fox and Peter Hoffman of Willamette. Zarosinski threw seven shutout innings and 7.2 innings in all, surrendering two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts, three walks, and three runners picked off. Hoffman went eight frames, allowing six hits and a run with five strikeouts and no walks.
The Bruins got the lead-off batter on in both the 1st and 3rd innings, only to hit into double plays each time, but finally broke through against Hoffman in the 6th. Derek Dixon beat out a high chop to third for an infield single and advanced to third on Danny Clifford's hit to right. After a wild pitch sent Clifford to second, Dixon scored on Zach Rapacz's slow ground out to short for a 1-0 Bruin lead.
The Bearcats loaded the bases in the 7th, but Zarosinski induced Rolenn Himura to ground into a well-turned 4-6-3 double play to get out of the jam. He was not as fortunate in the 8th, however. Chinn stroked a two-out single up the middle, moved up on a walk to Tiras Koons, and scored on Ty Wyatt's single through the left side. Christian Jarnigan then replaced Zarosinski and, after walking Tosh Semlacher to fill the sacks, threw a wild pitch as pinch-runner Bryan Afzali scored the go-ahead run.
Jackson Watt (3-0) relieved Hoffman in the 9th and immediately hit Clifford leading off. Pinch-runner Gabe Louthan stole second with one out and scored the tying run on Zac Israel's double to the gap in right-center that just eluded diving right fielder Andrew Wilson.
The Bruins had a chance in the top of the 10th when Derek Blankenship and Dixon hit back-to-back singles with two out, but Watt got Zach Hegelmeyer to fly out, and the Bearcats capitalized on two Bruin errors in the 11th for the win. Harrison reached on a misplayed grounder at short, was sacrificed to second, and moved third on a dropped fly deep in center. Tommy Kawamura was intentionally passed to load the bases, but Chinn's fly to right was caught by Rapacz too deep for a play at the plate.
Watt got the win with three innings of work, allowing four hits and a run while fanning two. Southpaw Connor Harris (0-1) took the hard-luck loss, working 2.2 innings while allowing only one hit with a strikeout and two walks.
Blankenship had three hits and Dixon two for the Bruins, who had 10 hits in all. Wyatt had two hits out of Willamette's total of eight.
George Fox, ranked 17th in the D3baseball.com poll, fell to 15-5 overall and 5-4 in the conference, while Willamette improved to 10-8 overall and 4-4 in the league.
NEXT: George Fox hosts Whitman College in a conference series next weekend, with a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game Sunday, starting at 12:00 noon both days … Willamette hosts Concordia University-Portland in a single game Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.