Setting the Scene: The Lutes open their home slate and Northwest Conference play this weekend, welcoming Oregon rival Lewis & Clark College to PLU Field for a four-game series. The opening three games will be NWC games with the final game of the weekend a non-conference game.
Series History: The Lutes and Pioneers have met 136 times since the 1980 campaign with PLU enjoying an 87-49 advantage in the series. That includes winning two of the three games last spring in Portland. The host Pios took the series opener 10-4 on April 6 but it was all Lutes after that, prevailing 9-6 later in the day and claiming the series with an 11-8 victory on April 7.
About the Lutes: Pacific Lutheran (1-3) battled tough competition and the elements for the second straight weekend as the squad gears up for Northwest Conference play.
Three of PLU's opening seven games have been postponed due to weather, including last Sunday's scheduled non-league showdown against University of Puget Sound.
The Lutes opened the season back on Feb. 15 in California, earning a doubleheader split against eighth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. The Lutes stumbled 10-2 to the Sagehens in the opener despite outhitting the nationally-ranked hosts before jumping to an early lead in an 11-7 victory.
Last Friday, the Lutes erased a six-run deficit against NWC preseason favorite Linfield University but allowed a late run as the host Wildcats escaped with the 7-6 win. The following day the reigning NWC Champion Whitman College Blues downed the Lutes 9-1 in a neutral site game in McMinnville, Oregon.
Brody Phinney lead the Lutes at the plate with a .364 batting average and is one of five Lutes hitting above .300 on the young season. Aaron Barber is hitting at a .357 clip with three RBIs and no strikeouts while Rutger Youch boasts a .353 average with two extra base hits and one home run. Braeden Lundberg sports a .333 average while Ethan Keintz has been an RBI machine with five over the course of the opening four games of 2025.
Matthew Sherwood has been the workhorse on the mound so far this season with two starts and eight strikeouts so far in 8 2/3 innings of work. Chris Moreno has seven punch outs in 6 2/3 innings of work while as a staff the team boasts a 6.27 earned run average and have limited opposing teams to hitting just .240 on the year.
About the Pioneers: Lewis & Clark (4-1) dropped its season opener but has been on fire since, heading into the weekend series riding a four-game winning streak.
The Pios opened the season back on Feb. 15, suffering a 4-3 setback to Whittier College in southern California. Lewis & Clark got revenge the following day, overpowering the Poets 14-4 and 11-4 to win the series. That included the Pios hitting eight home runs over the two games, including Will Heron tying an NCAA record with four round trippers in the series finale.
The Pios continued to roll last weekend, defeating Willamette University by identical 8-7 scores in a non-conference twin bill.
Michael Aikawa is hitting .571 on the year with five extra base hits and five RBIs while Brennan Davis sports a .478 batting average with seven RBIs and a pair of home runs. As a squad, Lewis & Clark has a .340 batting average, having blasted 10 home runs in the opening five games of the year.
10 pitchers have thrown for the Pios this spring with the unit combining for a 4.70 earned run average. Owen Eisen has seen the most action, making two starts and logging 10 1/3 innings with six strikeouts. Caden Hodina has tossed 10 innings with a team-best seven strikeouts.
Weekend Highlights
Catch up with all they highlights from last weekend's action in Luteville that included women's lacrosse playing and winning its first ever game, swimming at the NWC Championships, and men's and women's basketball earning senior day wins over Willamette.
NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll
Lutes of Summer
PLU baseball's Aaron Barber had an exciting summer, culminating in winning a West Coast League title with the Portland Pickles.
Trailblazing NIL the D3 Way: PLU Athletics continues to lead the way nationally in Name, Image, and Likeness, unveiling the Luteville Marketplace in 2022 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.
Last 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:
March 22 vs. Pacific (DH) at 12 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
Credits:
Lindsey Clark