This story contains corrections
The men’s basketball team weren’t the only Pirates looting the Tacoma area this weekend. Whitworth’s baseball team was also visiting to play four games against the University of Puget Sound Loggers.
Still suffering from the lack of a clear field to practice on, the Bucs picked up two losses, bounced back for a win the next day and the fourth game was rained out.
“We don’t want to use this as an excuse anymore because our team knows when we don’t play well. It might have been applicable in the Arizona tournament but now it’s getting old,” said senior outfielder Mitch Nelson*.
In the first game the Loggers put up one run in the first inning followed by another six in the second. Junior outfielder Dan Belet put up two runs for the Pirates in the top of the third with a long ball down the left field line scoring himself and sophomore outfielder Kevin Valerio.
UPS answered with another six runs before the third inning was over. The Loggers added four more runs with a solo shot from Devin Black and a three-run homer from Gregg Ringold.
The Pirates battled back with three more runs in the ninth but failed to make up the deficit and ended the game with a final score of 18-5 Loggers.
Senior pitcher Peter Birdwell took the loss for Whitworth, allowing seven runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks in two innings pitched. Freshman pitcher Tommy Banta finished out the game in bottom of the eighth, striking out one and walking three, yet didn’t allow any runs.
The Bucs returned to the field later that day in their red alternate jerseys but failed to turn the table on UPS.
“After losing the first game we didn’t make the adjustment we needed to in order to play better during the second,” Nelson said.
Whitworth put up numbers in the first when senior pitcher Chad Flett singled through the right side to score junior infielder Luis Tovar, but didn’t keep the lead for long.
The Loggers responded with two RBI’s in the bottom of the second backed up by a grand slam by UPS designated hitter Mark Rockey to give them a 6-1 lead.
The Loggers put up four runs in the third with seven more in the sixth. Whitworth scored one run during the eighth inning when Tovar scored on a fielder’s choice by Flett.
The Pirates drove two runs home in the ninth, but they failed to make the comeback and succumbed to a 17-4 loss in the second conference game of the season.
Junior pitcher Collin Gibbs shouldered the loss for Whitworth, allowing 10 runs on eight hits with three strikeouts in four innings pitched.
“Where we went wrong was we didn’t learn from losing badly. Also it’s really hard to come back from such a demoralizing loss,” Nelson said. “When it came to the second game it definitely helped having the night to rethink our play. Basically we just realized this wasn’t how we wanted to start our conference season.”
Nelson added: “I know it sounds cheesy but it was definitely a team effort. We’re not a one-man show and we all did our part and did it well to bring home a win.”
The Pirates returned to Logger Field to turn out a win in the first game of Sunday’s double header.
Whitworth took the lead early in the game, scoring nine runs in the second. Nelson highlighted the inning with a triple that scored three Pirate base runners followed by freshman infielder JR Jarrell scoring two runs on a single.
Despite trying to close the gap in the second, the Whitworth defense stopped the Loggers at four runs. In the top of the sixth the Pirates got a pair of insurance runs on a triple by designated hitter Mitch Nelson that scored Tovar and Ramsay. Nelson then scored one more on a Logger error as the Pirates brought home the 12-7 win.
Flett collected the win for Whitworth, allowing seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits with eight strikeouts in the seven-inning complete game.
The second game was called on account of rain.
Next weekend Whitworth is scheduled to host Linfield in a four-game NWC series.
The likelihood of those games happening at Merkel Field is low, as winter weather continues to be a deterrent in Spokane.
An alternate location will be determined later in the week if and when that becomes necessary.
Contact Joe Westenberg at joe.westenberg@whitworthian.com.
*In the original story, Mitch Nelson was inncorectly identified.
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