NWC Baseball: Lutes Drop Two Bombs on Bruins for NWC Lead

The teams conclude their three-game series Sunday at noon.

Photo: George Fox Athletics

TACOMA, Wash. - Rolling along on the strength of the best start in team history, the George Fox University Bruins found their express to another Northwest Conference baseball title brought to a sudden halt by the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes, who bounced the Bruins twice, 9-1 and 8-3, Saturday afternoon at the PLU Field.

The double dips dropped the Bruins, who are 19-3 overall and ranked 5th in the ABCA / NCAA Division III national poll, into second place in the conference at 11-3.

The Lutes, 20-6 overall, took over the top spot in the league by half a game at 9-2.

The teams conclude their three-game series Sunday at noon.

In the opener, right-hander Joe DiPietro (7-1), the 2006 NWC Pitcher of the Year, threw a complete-game three-hitter, striking out five and walking three.

The three he walked all came in the 4th, but he induced a double-play grounder to get out of trouble.

He did not allow a hit until Drew Johnson singled up the middle with one out in the 6th, and the only run he allowed came on Dan Wentzell’s sixth home run of the season to right leading off the 7th. Bryan Donohue got the other hit in the 9th.

The Lutes gave DiPietro all the runs he would need in the 1st on Jordan Post’s third home run of the season, a two-run blast over the right field fence against George Fox starter Nick Bratney (5-1).

They added a run in the 2nd when Logan Andrew led off with a single and scored on a double by Bryce Depew.

In the 3rd, Post doubled and came in on a single by Tyler Green, then Justin Whitehall and Andrews following with base hits to score Green.

PLU tallied an unearned run in the 4th when Thorne, who reached on a two-out error, came around to score on two walks and a hit batter, finishing Bratney.

PLU scored two more unearned runs in the 6th to take an 8-0 lead, and got their final run in the 7th when Depew tripled to left-center field and scored on Jared Simon’s single.

Thorne, Post, Whitehall, Andrews and Depew each had a pair of hits, and eight of the nine players in the lineup contributed at least one hit to the Lutes’ 13-hit attack. Post and Whitehall both had a pair of runs batted in during the game.

Hunter Simpson (3-1) went eight innings to earn the win in the second game, allowing only six hits, and Dylan Stanford closed out the game by allowing one hit in the final frame.

George Fox took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd on a sacrifice fly by Donohue, but that advantage was short-lived as the Lutes scored five times in the bottom of the inning.

Bruin southpaw Chris Albrecht (6-2) ran into a streak of wildness, walking six batters, five of which scored, before departing the game with two outs in the inning.

The Lutes combined those six walks with three hits to score the five runs, the final two of which came courtesy of a two-run, bad-hop single by Matt Akridge against relief pitcher Nick Hedgecock.

The Bruins scored a run in the 5th when Ryan Fobert led off with a double and eventually scored on a balk, and added another in the 6th when Downs lined out to center to drive in Donohue, who led off the inning with a walk.

With their lead cut to 5-3, the Lutes got some insurance in the bottom of the 6th inning on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Sales and a two-run homer over the left field fence by Simon, his third of the season.

Akridge had a pair of hits to lead PLU’s eight-hit attack, while Pat Bailey stroked a pair of opposite-field doubles for the Bruins.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports