Warriors fall in first game of season to George Fox

February 23, 2006

BOX SCORE

Written by Blair Cash, George Fox Sports Information Director

Sophomore center fielder Jamie McGraw led Corban with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, 3 runs scored, and 1 RBI.

NEWBERG, Ore. – With Dan Wentzell leading the way by knocking in six runs with two doubles and a home run, the George Fox University Bruins exploded for 13 runs in their final three at-bats to overcome the Corban College Warriors 16-6 as the seven-team Yamhill County Spring Baseball Classic got under way Thursday afternoon here at GFU’s Morse Field.

Corban (0-1 overall), in its first game of the year, got on the board in the top of the 1st as sophomore Jamie McGraw (Gaston, Ore.) doubled, moved to third on freshman Rondie Taylor’s (Clackamas, Ore.) bunt single, and scored while Taylor was caught in a rundown.  The Bruins bounced back with three runs of their own in the home half, Wentzell doubling home C.R. Braniff and Nic Chapin who had each singled, and then scoring himself on a single by Daniel Downs.

The Warriors tied it in the 3rd when junior Brett Timmerman (Medford, Ore.) singled in McGraw and Taylor for a pair of unearned runs, and went ahead 4-3 in the 4th on singles by Jeremy Frantz and Darren Johnson and a sacrifice fly by McGraw.  Meanwhile, Corban righthander and junior Scott Fitchett (Sandpoint, Idaho), after that shaky 1st inning, blanked the Bruins over the next four frames, stranding a total of 10 runners, but finally tired in the 6th.

Chapin opened the bottom of the 6th with a single and went to third on Derrick Jones’ line double off the glove of Timmerman in left.  Wentzell doubled in both runners to give George Fox a 5-4 lead and knock Fitchett from the game.  Tye Tinner’s sacrifice fly scored Wentzel, and Downs later scored an unearned run while Gehrig Richins was caught in a rundown.

George Fox (3-2 overall) tacked on four more in the 7th and added five in the 8th.  Matt Wyckoff hit a pinch home run in the 7th and Wentzell added a two-run shot later in the frame.  Bryan Donahue had a two-run double and Andrew Martin a pinch two-run home run in the five-run 8th, but all the runs were unearned off Warriors' junior closer Zeke Clayton (Myrtle Crrek, Ore.) due to an error that kept the inning alive. 

In addition to Wentzell’s three hits, Braniff, Chapin, Jones, Downs and Richins all had a pair of hits in the Bruins’ 17-hit attack.  McGraw had three hits and sophomore Ryan Porter (Keizer, Ore.) two as the Warriors collected 10 hits of their own.

Southpaw Brandon Rupp went the first six innings for the Bruins to pick up the win, improving to 2-0 as he scattered seven hits while striking out five and walking only one.  Daniel Grierson worked two scoreless innings and Kyle Johnson closed it out, allowing two unearned runs in the 9th on a throwing error.

In Thursday’s other afternoon game in McMinnville, tournament co-host Linfield College defeated Concordia University-Portland 8-5.  The University of British Columbia and Pacific Lutheran University were to meet in a 6 p.m. game in McMinnville.

Friday’s schedule has Whitman College vs. Concordia at 10 a.m., and George Fox, now 3-2 on the season, vs. British Columbia at 2 p.m. in Newberg games, and Pacific Lutheran vs. Corban at 2 p.m. and Linfield vs. Whitman at 6 p.m. in McMinnville games.  The 14-game tournament continues through Sunday.