Bearcats Overcome Four-Run Deficit to Split Double Header With Whitman

KEIZER, Ore. – Willamette University's baseball team scored five times in the bottom of the ninth inning and overcame a four-run deficit to split a double header with the Blues of Whitman College to start a crucial weekend series Friday at Volcanoes Stadium.

The Bearcats dropped the opening game of the three-game series, 8-0, before coming back with a flurry in the bottom of the ninth inning to win on a walk off hit-by-pitch, 10-9. Following today's results, Willamette and Whitman sit in a two-way tie for second place in the current Northwest Conference standings. 

Senior Rocco Granucci led the Bearcats' offense with a combined four hits to go along with one run scored and one run batted in. Fellow senior Tassos Foster drove in a team-high three runs on the day, including the game-winning RBI on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in Willamette's final at-bat of the evening.

With today's results, Willamette finds itself at 10-15 overall and 8-6 in Northwest Conference play. Meanwhile, Whitman moves to 17-12 overall and 8-6 in NWC contests. In the current Northwest Conference standings, both the Bearcats and Blues find themselves one full game behind conference-leading Pacific University of Oregon.

GAME #1 — WHITMAN 8, WILLAMETTE 0

In this weekend's opener, Whitman scored runs in the first, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings en route to earning the shutout win. The Blues put up two runs in the top of the first inning on a run-scoring single by Nate Korahais before Halen Otte plated Whitman's second run of the game on a ground out to bring home Korahais.

Four innings later, Whitman would increase its lead on a Otte single scoring Korahais for the second time in the ballgame.

Jack Bickerton roped a two-run single in the top of the sixth inning that scored Nate Petz and AJ Romero, as the visiting Blues increased their lead to 5-0.

One inning later, Beck Maguire plated Romero for the second time on a RBI single to center field putting Whitman ahead by six runs, 6-0, after seven innings.

Brandon Ting capped the Blues' scoring in the top of the eighth inning on a home run down the left field line, as Whitman plated its eighth run of the opener.

Granucci led Willamette's offensive attack with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, while fellow senior Drew Baskin and junior Nate Hamburger each tallied a hit for the Bearcats.

On the mound for Willamette, Steven Verespey pitched the first 5.0 innings allowing three earned runs on eight hits with a team-leading two strikeouts. The Bearcat trio of graduate student JD Willis, first-year player Mason Binder, and first-year player Dari Liuzzi combined to pitch the final four innings allowing five earned runs on nine hits with two K's.

For Whitman, Maguire and Romero led all players with three hits each to go along with two hits apiece by a quarter of Blues that included Korahais, Jack Bickerton, Ting, Tristan Buehring, and Petz. Bickerton and Otte led all players with two runs batted in each, while Korahais and Romero each scored two runs. On the hill for Whitman, Wyatt Adams went the distance earning a complete game shutout victory allowing four hits to go along with a game-high nine strikeouts.

GAME #2 — WILLAMETTE 10, WHITMAN 9

Trailing by four runs heading into the bottom the ninth inning, Willamette began the comeback with a one-out single by senior Preston Lau before he advanced on a walk by first-year player Trevor Sostman. The next batter – Baskin – was hit by a pitch to load the bases before senior pinch-hitter Luke Piazza became the second straight Bearcat to be hit by a pitch to plate the Bearcats' sixth run of the game. With the bases still loaded, graduate student Joshua Murphy ripped a run-scoring single into center field to pull the host Bearcats within two runs at 9-7. The next batter – sophomore Liam O'Connor – became the third Willamette player to be hit by a pitch in the inning bringing home Baskin to bring the Bearcats within a single run, 9-8. The conference's leading hitter – Hamburger – stepped to the plate and dropped a single into left field scoring first-year pinch runner Matthew Rienhardt to tie the game at 9-9. Foster came to the plate next and saw a 1-1 pitch hit him in the left side causing him to flip his bat toward Willamette's dugout before taking his place at first base and watching Murphy score the game-winning run.

Leading up to the drama in the bottom of the ninth inning, Whitman got on the board first when Maguire scored on an error by Willamette in the top of the first inning.

In the bottom half of the first inning, the Bearcats evened the score at 1-apiece on a sacrifice fly by Lau that scored Hamburger.

One inning later, Willamette took its first lead of day on a two-run double by Foster that scored O'Connor and Murphy for a 3-1 Bearcat lead. Granucci, who was the next batter, pushed Willamette lead to three runs (4-1) on a single through the right side to bring home Foster.

In the top of the fifth inning, Whitman struck back with four runs of its own starting when Romero scored on another Bearcat error this time with the bases loaded. Two batters later, following Luke Malzewski scoring an unearned run, Bickerton ripped a two-run double that scored both Otte and Maguire to give the visiting Blues a slim one-run lead, 5-4.

Graduate student Charlie Ferbet tied the game at 5-all in the bottom of the fifth inning when he drove in Granucci on a RBI single.

Three innings later, Whitman pushed three runs across the plate on a bases loaded walk by Otte and a two-run double by Bickerton resulting in an 8-5 lead for the visiting Blues.

Whitman tacked on another run in the top of the ninth inning thanks to a run-scoring double by Malzewski, as the Blues secured a 9-5 lead setting up the last at-bat heroics for Willamette.

The trio of Granucci, Lau, and Murphy led the Bearcats' offensive attack with two hits each, while Hamburger, Foster, Ferbet, and O'Connor registered one hit each in the victory. Sophomore Nate Schikore pitched the first 7.0 innings for Willamette allowing five runs (one earned) on 10 hits to go along with three strikeouts. Junior Matthew Mason came on in relief in the top of the eighth inning and allowed two earned runs on one hit, while only registering one out. Junior Dylan Turner closed out the game for Willamette, as he struck out all five batters that he faced to earn his third win of the season. Turner allowed just one earned run on three hits alongside his game-high performance in strikeouts.

Maguire and Malzewski led Whitman with three hits each, while Bickerton and Buehring tallied a pair of hits each for the visiting Blues. Bickerton led all players with four runs batted in with Maguire scoring a game-leading three runs for Whitman. A quintet of pitchers, including Oliver Brown, Tanner Coddington, Rylan Burisay, Carl Moland-Kovash, and Nick Teng combined to allow 10 earned runs on 10 hits with five total strikeouts. Moland-Kovash took the loss earning his first of the season, as the Blues' pitchers combined to give up nine walks and hit four Bearcat batters in Friday's finale.

Both teams return to Volcanoes Stadium to close out the weekend series tomorrow – Saturday, April 12 – with the first pitch of Game #3 scheduled for 10:00 AM in Keizer, Oregon.