Foster and Granucci Lead Bearcat Comeback at George Fox

Newberg, Ore. - Willamette Baseball trailed 5-1 after the first inning but was able to claw its way back into the game and used a five-run 10th inning to defeat George Fox 13-8.  Tassos Foster and Rocco Granucci led the Bearcats with four hits, with Foster recording two doubles and driving in four runs.  Dylan Turner came on in relief and pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win.

Willamette struck first when Foster doubled home Preston Lau with one out in the top of the first inning, but the Bruins responded with five runs of their own to take a 5-1 lead after the opening inning.  

The Bearcats got three runs back in the third thanks to a two-RBI double by Foster that scored Nate Hamburger and Luke Piazza.  Granucci followed with a single to score Foster and cut the George Fox lead to one run.  

Willamette tied the game in the fourth thanks to a sacrifice fly by Lau that scored Liam O'Connor, but the Bruins were able to take the lead right back in the bottom of the inning on a sac fly of their own.

The Bearcats tied the score again in the fifth and took the lead back in the sixth after Piazza singled home Hamburger and scored later in the inning on a groundout by Trevor Sostman.  Now trailing 8-6, George Fox was able to respond again, scoring single runs in the sixth and the seventh to knot the score 8-8.

Willamette broke things open in the top of the 10th thanks to the first errors of the game from George Fox.  Hamburger reached on a throwing error to start the inning and Lau reached base when his bunt to move the runner resulted in another Bruin throwing error.  Luke Piazza grounded then grounded to the second baseman, but the throw to second hit Lau in the back and all runners were safe as Hamburger scored.  Foster and Granucci had back-to-back singles to score two more runs, with the final two runs coming in on a hit batter and a double-play groundout.

Matthew Mason came on to pitch the bottom of the 10th and was able to retire the side after the first batter reached on an error.

Hamburger and Piazza each scored three runs to lead Willamette, with Lau, Foster, and Granucci each scoring twice.  The top five batters in the Bearcat lineup had a total of ten hits, scored twelve runs, and drove in eight.

With George Fox having graduation on Saturday, May 3rd, the two teams will wrap up the series and the regular season with a doubleheader starting at Noon on Sunday, May 4th.