Baseball vs. Pacific Lutheran Ends in Tie

Whittier College took on Pacific Lutheran University at Memorial Baseball Field on February 14.  Nick Taiariol '08 hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the score at six.  That would be the final run of the game as it was called after nine innings due to darkness.  The Poets are now 0-4-1 in their 2008 campaign.

Taiariol went 2-for-3 with his first home run of the season and a double.  Robbie Smith '08 led the Poets offense with three-RBI.  He went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and a run scored.  Ryan Martin '08 went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.  Anthony Cappelletti '09 also had a pair of hits and an RBI. 

The Poets got a number of pitchers some work in the game.  Blake Luitwieler '08 came into the game in the third inning and pitched 3.2 scoreless innings.  He allowed just two hits and struck out four batters.  Thomas Phelps '09 pitched the final 1.2 innings of the game and allowed just one hit and struck out three batters. 

Pacific Lutheran (0-0-1) was led by Brandon Sales who went 2-for-4 with four RBI and a home run.  Jordan Post and Carl Benton each went 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Matt Wolford went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.

The Lutes jumped out to an early lead in the first two innings.  Sales hit a three-run homer in the second inning to make the score 5-0.  The Poets battled back in the bottom of the third with four runs of their own.  With two outs, Martin, John Fugazi '09 and Chuck Acker '08 hit single to load the bases.  Smith hit a base-clearing double and then was driven in by Cappelletti with a double of his own.

In the following inning, the Poets tied the score.  Mike Benavente '08 was hit by a pitch with one out and was moved to third by Tairiol who hit a ground-rule double.  Martin brought Benavente in to score on the next at-bat with a sacrifice fly. 

Neither team scored again until the top of the eighth when Post hit an RBI-single that drove in Wolford, who had doubled earlier in the inning.  In the bottom of the inning, Taiariol led off with a solo shot on the first pitch of the at-bat that flew over the left field fence and tied the game.  After the ninth inning, with the score tied, the umpires called the game due to darkness.

The Poets are on the road for a three-game series with California State University, East Bay on February 16 and 17.  The day one doubleheader is scheduled to start at 11:00am.  The teams square off at noon on February 17.