McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Pacific Lutheran bounced back from a 3-0 defeat in the opener to pick up a milestone 5-2 win in the second game as the Lutes split a Northwest Conference doubleheader against fourth-ranked Linfield Saturday afternoon at Roy Helser Field.
The Lutes claimed a pair of career milestones in the afternoon victory. PLU head coach Geoff Loomis earned the 300th win of his coaching career, as he now owns a 300-186-2 record in 13 seasons at the helm of the PLU program. He is 17 victories away from tying former coach Larry Marshall's program record of 317 coaching wins.
As for program records, 2014 All-American AJ Konopaski earned his second save of the season and the 22nd of his PLU career to break a tie with Aaron Roetcisoender (2002-05) atop the career saves leaderboard. Konopaski set the single-season record with an NCAA Div. III-leading 13 saves last season and is now 2-for-2 in save opportunities in 2015.
Konopaski pitched a scoreless ninth with one strikeout to close out the 5-2 win for the Lutes. Kort Skoda started and threw two innings, with Cory Nelson coming in to throw four shutout frames to pick up his third win of the year. Ty Donahou and Garrett Brown combined to throw the seventh and eighth innings, protecting the Lutes' three-run lead.
Linfield struck first with a run in the bottom of the first. Skoda hit Eric Lawson with a pitch, and Ben Andrews drove a two-out double to left to bring him home for a 1-0 lead. Landon Packard tied it up with a home run to lead off the top of the third inning, and the Lutes added two more in the frame to take the lead. With two outs Connor Cantubattled back from an 0-2 count to work a walk and Jacob Clements hit the Lutes' second homer of the inning to make it 3-1.
The Wildcats got one back in the bottom of the inning, as Corey VanDomelen led off with a walk and scored on Lawson's double down the right field line. PLU added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the fifth. Cantu led off with a single and advanced to second on Clements' sacrifice bunt. He scored on a double down the right field line by Tyler Thompson, and Thompson advanced to third on a single by Jacob Bockelie before Brett Johnson brought him home for the 5-2 lead.
Packard finished with two hits, including his home run, while Clements finished the game with a pair of runs batted in. PLU and Linfield each tallied nine hits and two walks in the game, while the Lutes committed the lone error of the contest. Aaron Thomassen took the loss for Linfield, allowing five earned runs on six hits in 4.1 innings before Justin Davis came in to shut out the Lutes over the final 4.2 innings.
Linfield won the first game with a run in the second and two more in the fifth. Chris Haddeland picked up the complete-game shutout victory for the Wildcats, striking out eight while allowing seven hits on 119 pitches Chris Bishop took the loss for PLU, allowing three earned runs on six hits in 4.1 innings. Brown and Donahou combined for 3.2 innings of one-hit relief.
The Lutes and Wildcats put up matching hit totals with seven apiece, but PLU couldn't quite get to Haddeland in the loss. Clements tallied a pair of hits, as did Thompson, and both teams finished the game with nine runners left on base.
PLU wrapped up the day with a 7-3 overall record and a 1-1 Northwest Conference mark, while Linfield moved to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The teams will play the rubber game of the three-game series Sunday, with first pitch set for 12 p.m.