Setting the Scene: The Lutes return home after two weekends on the road and open up their NWC home slate with a trio of games against Oregon rival Willamette University.
Series History: The Lutes and Bearcats have met 137 times since the 1980 season with Willamette enjoying a 73-64 edge in the all-time series.
Willamette won the series last year in Salem on March 11-12. The two teams split the opening doubleheader with PLU winning 5-1 and Willamette winning 7-3 before the Bearcats took the rubber match 19-12 the following day.
About the Lutes: Pacific Lutheran (1-8, 0-2 NWC) is looking to find it's stride after a bumpy start to the 2024 campaign.
The Lutes rallied to a 5-3 victory over Bushnell in the season opener back on Feb. 17 but dropped game two of the series 17-7. PLU dropped a trio of games to nationally-ranked University of La Verne the following weekend while dropping games 14-1 and 7-4 to undefeated Whitworth to begin NWC play last weekend.
Against the Pirates, host Whitworth piled on five runs in the second inning of Sunday's opening game before adding three more in both the fourth and seventh innings. Ashton Barton belted his first home run of the season for PLU's only run of the game in the eighth inning that saw the squad muster just four hits.
A four-run sixth inning sabotaged the Lutes in game two, as Whitworth earned the sweep with a 7-4 win. Hayden Kaiser finished two-for-four with two RBIs, including his first home run of the season while Peter King and Rochne Beecham also drove in runs.
On the hill, Kamryn Swartz and Chris Moreno combined for seven strikeouts with Moreno limiting the Pirate offense to just on run over the final three innings.
Aaron Barber leads the Lutes at the plate with a .300 batting average and a team-leading nine hits. Rochne Beecham has a team-high five RBIs while Rutger Youch leads the squad with six runs scored.
On the hill, Kamryn Swartz has a 5.73 earned run average in 11 innings of work while Chris Moreno leads the team in both innings pitched (12) and strikeouts (12).
About the Bearcats: Willamette (8-0, 3-0 NWC) is the second straight undefeated team the Lutes' face this season. The Bearcats' offense exploded for 44 runs in a four-game sweep of Oneonta State (N.Y.) to open the season in the last week of February. That included a 13-1 shellacking of the Red Dragons in the opener and a 10-0 thrashing to open day two of the series.
That offensive mojo carried over into the NWC opener last weekend, sweeping Lewis & Clark 6-3, 6-5, and 4-3. The Bearcats were back on the diamond on Tuesday, steamrolling Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) 12-0.
Drew Baskin leads Willamette with a .458 batting average and three stolen bases. Carl Lawson is hitting at a .400 clip with a team-best 11 RBIs while Jeff Hoffman has eight RBIs, three extra base hits and seven runs scored in just eight official at-bats.
Layton Wagner is the workhorse on the mound, tossing 15 innings with a 2-0 record and a 0.00 earned run average with 10 strikeouts. EJ McGraw has a 2.25 ERA and 12 punch outs in 12 innings of work.
Lutes' Rodriquez is 'Dynamite'
You've seen him on the diamond and likely seen him on social media after the Lute baseball player went viral this fall.
1 Weekend. 3 Championships.
Check out all the celebration highlights below as PLU volleyball, women's soccer, and men's soccer all clinched league titles on Senior Day weekend on Oct. 28-29.
Fall Sports Recap
NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll
Summer Lutes
PLU men's soccer student-athlete Elijah Singleton had a busy summer serving as an intern in a lab at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Learn more about his daily routine in the video below.
Trailblazing NIL the D3 Way: PLU Athletics continues to lead the way nationally in Name, Image, and Likeness, unveiling the Luteville Marketplace last fall through the department's partnership with Opendorse. But don't stay on the sidelines, get involved and connect with PLU student-athletes on the Luteville Marketplace: LINK
The Luteville Marketplace is the first dedicated NIL marketplace in Division III on the Opendorse platform that directly connects student-athletes with fans, supporters, and business partners in an easy to use website.
This spring PLU became just the second Division III school in the nation and the first school in any division in the State of Washington to partner with Athlete's Thread. Athlete's Thread allows every Lute student-athlete to sell customizable gear and jerseys with their name and number and receive monetary compensation for a portion of each sale. Check out the link above to order your gear today!
Stay connected to your favorite teams by downloading the official mobile app of the Pacific Lutheran University athletic department powered by SIDEARM Sports, available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
Featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more, the new PLU Athletics app is free and compatible with both iOS and Android devices.
Next Home Game:
Mar. 11 vs. Alfred State at 2 p.m.
PLU Non-Discrimination Policy: Pacific Lutheran University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability or age in its programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Title IX Coordinator Jennifer Childress-White; 253-535-7361; TitleIX@plu.edu