PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College baseball's pitchers gave up only two runs on five hits, and the offense produced a huge four-run sixth inning to beat Northwest Conference regular season champion Pacific University 7-2 and earned their 23^rd win of the season, the most by the program since 1992 on Tuesday afternoon.   

THE BASICS

Lewis & Clark 7, Pacific 2 

(Lewis & Clark 23-11, 12-9 NWC)

(Pacific 21-10, 18-6 NWC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Senior Kris Wuelfing retired the first five batters he faced, and 13 of the 16 total he faced in four innings of pitching. The only run he surrendered was a solo home run to left field by the Boxers' Isaac Lovings in the second inning.

Pioneer senior Jack Thomson led off the fourth inning and tied the game with a solo shot over the center field fence.

Sophomore Brennen Davis hit an RBI single to right-center field in the sixth to put the Pioneers up 2-1. Four batters later, junior Jakob Ghammachi stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Ghammachi hit a three RBI triple to right field to extend Lewis & Clark's lead to five runs.

In the seventh inning, Thomson hit his program record 46^th double to score freshman shortstop Brandon Gonzaga. After Thomson stole third and Davis was walked, junior Luke Bass grounded into a 3-6 double play that sent Thomson home. As the out a second was not a force out, Thomson's run counted, and the Pioneers went up 7-1 to end the inning.   

Junior closer Anthony Clerici struck out the first two batters in the Boxer's last at-bat before Lovings hit his second homer to center field. Pacific's Andrew Thomas then grounded out to Gonzaga to secure Lewis & Clark's 12^th conference win, the most by the Pioneers since 2008.

Junior pitcher Tyler Shimabukuro earned the win on the mound giving up one run in three innings of pitching and striking out two. Senior Luke Ritter pitched one inning of relief for the Pioneers with no hits and one strikeout.

Lewis & Clark currently sits in third place in the NWC standings. They hold a two-game lead over fourth place University of Puget Sound. The top four teams will play in the NWC tournament at Pacific. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Reigning NWC Player of the Week, Ghammachi has recorded eight RBI in the last three games.
• The Pioneers' 23 wins are the sixth most wins in a season in program history.
• Thomson's program record double is now the fifth career record he has earned this season. He needs one more walk to secure that record.
• Lewis & Clark's 12 NWC wins are the most conference wins for head coach Matt Kosderka in his six seasons leading the team.
• The Pioneers beat Pacific at home for the first time since a 7-0 win on April 3, 2018.

WHO'S NEXT

Lewis & Clark hosts George Fox University for the final three regular season and home games this weekend. The first game is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Saturday at the Huston Sports Complex.