PORTLAND, Ore. – Jared Chase went 3-for-4 with a key three-run double and Bobby Orozco went five sterling innings in relief as the George Fox University Bruins completed a three-game Northwest Conference baseball series sweep of the Whitman College Missionaries with a 12-5 victory Sunday afternoon here at Concordia University's Hilken Community Stadium.
Whitman jumped on George Fox starter Tom Zarosinski for a pair of runs in the 1st as Johnny Chow drew a lead-off walk, stole second, and scored on Cameron Young's double to deep right-center, then Aaron Cohen doubled to left to drive in Young. The Bruins got one of those back in the home half against Whitman southpaw Jake Nelson (1-5) when Taylor Hunter reached on an error at short and scored on Danny Clifford's triple to right-center.
A walk to MacLean Harned, a wild pitch, and back-to-back singles by Chris Andrews and Chow in the 2nd made it 3-1 Whitman, but the Bruins erupted in the bottom of the frame. Derek Dixon was hit by a pitch, Derek Blankenship doubled, and Nick Benish walked to fill the bases for Chase, who cleared them with a liner down the left-field line to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead. David Greenstein's single up the middle scored Chase, and Greenstein later scored on an errant throw on Clifford's grounder to third.
With the Bruins now in front, Orozco (2-0) replaced Zarosinksi to start the 3rd and stifled the Missionaries over the next five innings. The right-hander allowed no runs and only three hits, striking out four without a walk to earn the win.
The Bruin offense, meanwhile, added single runs in the 3rd, 5th and 6th innings. In the 3rd, Dixon doubled to knock Nelson from the game and scored on Benish's single off reliever Dakota Matherly. In the 5th, Benish walked, was sacrificed to second, went to third when Cohen, now pitching, threw wildly to that base on Greenstein's tapper back to the mound, and scored on Josh Rapacz's ground single to left. In the 6th, Timothy Williams walked, advanced on a wild pitch and a bad throw to first on Dixon's grounder to the mound, and scored as Blankenship rapped into a 1-6-3 double play.
The Missionaries got their final two runs in the 8th off Bruin reliever Carl Mason. Young singled, Moyes doubled him in, Jimmy Madden singled Moyes to third, and Chris Konolige hit a sacrifice fly to left off reliever Eric Kittelson.
George Fox closed out the scoring with three in the last of the 8th. Zach Miller and Emmett Ackerlund walked and John Mountz singled to right to fill the sacks. Zac Israel's sacrifice fly to center scored Miller, and two more runs scored on Kyle Kirwan's double down the right-field line.
Each team used five pitchers, the Bruin hurlers surrendering 10 hits and the Missionaries 12. In addition to Chase's three hits, Clifford had two safeties for the Bruins. Young and Cohen collected two hits each for the Missionaries.
The entire series was played at Concordia's brand-new artificial-turf soccer and baseball complex due to unplayable wet conditions in the outfield at the Bruins' Morse Field.
NEXT: George Fox (12-12, NWC 8-4) steps outside the conference to play Corban University Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in a single game at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore. The game is the makeup of a rainout that was postponed from Mar. 21 at Corban ... Whitman (2-22, NWC 2-10) hosts Lewis & Clark College in a conference series next weekend, starting with a pair at 12:00 noon on Saturday.