Bruins Bash T-Birds for Best-Ever 6-0 Start

Dan Wentzell drove in three runs for George Fox.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

NEWBERG - Banging out 17 hits in a game that was halted by darkness after five-and-a-half innings, the George Fox University Bruins improved to 6-0, their best start ever, with a 14-2 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the Yamhill County Spring Baseball Classic on a rain-delayed Friday afternoon at Morse Field.

The Bruins' start eclipses the 5-0 opening by the 1996 team, which came in head coach Pat Bailey's first season at George Fox.

The Bruins jumped on T-Birds' right-hander Scott Webster (0-2) for a pair in the 1st inning as Bo Thunell singled in a run and Daniel Downs delivered another with a sacrifice fly.

In the 2nd, the Bruins sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs on nine his, with Downs and Dan Wentzell getting two hits apiece in the rally.

Wentzell knocked in two more with a single in a three-run 4th.

Wentzell and Bryan Donohue collected three hits apiece, Wentzell driving in three runs and Donohue scoring three times.

Thunell, Downs, Drew Johnson, and Pat Bailey (the player, not the coach) had two hits each, with Thunell knocking in four runs and Bailey scoring three runs.

The assault was more than enough for Bruin lefty Chris Albrecht (2-0), who scattered nine harmless singles over five innings, striking out eight and walking no one.

He surrendered two runs in the 4th on an RBI ground out by Tyler Willson and a run-producing hit by Nick Harper, but otherwise was in complete command of the game.

Kyle Johnson finished up with a 1-2-3 6th before twilight descended to prevent further play.

Sammie Starr and Brett Murray had two hits apiece for UBC, which came into the tournament with a pre-season No. 5 ranking in the NAIA.

However, the Thunderbirds, who lost 13 seniors from last year's 49-14 team that finished 4th in the NAIA National Tournament, fell to 1-5 overall after losing to Pacific Lutheran 18-16 earlier in the day and then to George Fox.

The PLU-UBC game was delayed from its scheduled 10:00 AM start by almost an hour due to heavy early-morning rains, then took over three-and-a-hours to play, which pushed the GFU-UBC back.

The Lutes and Thunderbirds combined for 34 hits and scored 22 runs in the first three innings alone, with UBC building a 14-8 lead at that juncture.

PLU rallied with a run in the 5th and a six-run outburst in the 7th, taking a 15-14 lead.

The T-Birds went ahead with single runs in the 7th and 8th, only to have the Lutes scored three in the top of the 9th and hang on for the win.

The hitting star was Tyler Green of Pacific Lutheran, who slugged a team-record three home runs and drove in seven.

Teammates Brandon Sales and Jaerd Simon had foru hits each, Simon driving in four runs.

British Columbia was led by Nic Lendvoy and Brendan Kornberger with three hits and three RBI apiece, while Mike Styrna drove in four runs.

The T-Birds also hit three home runs, one each by Brett Murray, Styrna, and Jon Syrnyk.

Dylan Stanford (1-0) got the win in relief for the Lutes, with Justin Whitehall pitching the bottom of the 9th for his first save.

Murray (0-1), trying to close out the game in the 9th for the T-Birds, instead took the loss.

In Spring Classic action later Friday at Linfield College, a co-host of the tournament along with George Fox, Pacific Lutheran ran its record to 2-0 in the tournament and 6-3 overall by beating Concordia University-Portland 11-1.

Linfield and Corban College met in the evening's final game.

Saturday's tournament schedule, weather permitting, has Corban vs. Pacific Lutheran at noon at Linfield, Concordia at George Fox at 1:00 PM, and British Columbia at Linfield at 4:00 PM.

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