SPOKANE, Wash. – Eastern Oregon Mountaineers dropped two of three games against Whitworth University in their series at Patterson Baseball Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Game 1: Eastern Oregon 4 Whitworth 2
Eastern Oregon rallied late to defeat Whitworth 4-2 in the opening game. After a scoreless first inning, Eastern Oregon broke the tie in the second when
Greyson McDaniel's sacrifice fly allowed
Trevor Baker to score. Whitworth answered in the third with two runs, but the Mountaineers surged ahead with a three-run fifth inning.
Carson Gerding and
Mario Landeros each drove in an RBI, pushing the Mountaineers to a 4-2 lead, which they would not relinquish.
Will Seslar (1-0) pitched 4.0 innings to earn the win, giving up two runs on four hits.
Zakaia Michaels came in to close with three scoreless innings for the save. Whitworth's D. Huntsman (0-1) took the loss after allowing three earned runs in 4.2 innings.
Notable performers for Eastern Oregon included
Greyson McDaniel (1-3, 1 RBI) and
Carson Gerding (2-4, 1 RBI). For Whitworth, A. Morrison went 2-3 with 1 RBI.
Game 2: Eastern Oregon 1 Whitworth 5
In the second game of the series, Whitworth bounced back with a 5-1 victory. After a scoreless first inning, Whitworth took the lead in the second with a solo home run by T. Laugen. The Pirates extended their lead to 3-0 in the fourth on D. Giusti's two-RBI single. Eastern Oregon scored in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Ben Van Hoose to make it 3-1, but Whitworth answered with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to push the score to 5-1.
Whitworth's. O'Connor (1-0) pitched a complete game, allowing just one run on seven hits while striking out 11.
Danny Burns (1-1) took the loss for Eastern Oregon.
Easton Espinoza led the Mountaineers with a 2-for-3 performance, including a double.
Game 3: Eastern Oregon 5 Whitworth 6
The series finale saw a dramatic conclusion as Whitworth held on to win 6-5 in another close contest. Eastern Oregon took an early 1-0 lead in the first on
Mason Van Arsdall's sacrifice fly. Whitworth responded in the second with a solo home run by T. Laugen and added two runs in the fifth, led by Y. Gupta's two-RBI double. The Mountaineers fought back with a three-run fifth, which included RBIs from
Mason Van Arsdall and
Alex Olague. Eastern Oregon then extended its lead to 5-3 on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
However, Whitworth's late-game heroics sealed the win again. In the seventh, R. Gunnett hit a three-run homer to give the Pirates a 6-5 lead, which they held onto for the victory.
Shane Sinclair (1-1) took the loss after giving up three runs in 4.0 innings. Whitworth's T. Disch (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless inning in relief.
Key performances for the Mountaineers came from
Mason Van Arsdall (2-3, 2 RBIs) and
Alex Olague (1-3, 2 RBIs). For Whitworth, R. Gunnett's clutch three-run homer, along with Y. Gupta's two RBIs, were pivotal in the Pirates' late-game surge.
Key Performers (Game 1, Game 2, Game 3):
Eastern Oregon: M. Van Arsdall (2-3, 2 RBIs in Game 3; 2 RBIs in Game 1), C. Gerding (2-4, 1 RBI in Game 1), A. Olague (2 RBIs in Game 2 and Game 3)
Whitworth: R. Gunnett (3-run HR in Game 3, 3 RBIs), Y. Gupta (2 RBIs in Game 3), T. Komoda (HR in Game 2), Q. O'Connor (1-0, 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 11 K in Game 1)
Eastern Oregon's game tomorrow against Whitworth has been canceled due to weather. Next up for the Mountaineers is traveling north to the University of British Columbia for a series starting on February 22nd at 1 p.m.
