CALDWELL, Idaho – After waiting out a four-hour weather delay thanks to an overnight snowstorm, Whitworth University broke open a pitchers' duel with a 5-run ninth inning rally to top the College of Idaho, 7-1, at Wolfe Field.
The two teams waited throughout the day for the field to become playable, as an inch of snow blanketed the surface at 9 a.m. The scheduled doubleheader was reduced to a single game, with the teams hoping to close the series out tomorrow with an 11 a.m. matinee.
The Pirates (2-1) struck for a run in the first, as Nicholas Nerud reached on a wind-aided single on the C of I infield, moved to second on a Jaxsen Sweum single and scored on a Cody Simmons base hit.
C of I (4-7) evened the score in the third, loading the bases with no outs on singles from
Alec Hopkins and
Drew Ochsner and a bunt single from
Nick Mooney.
Carter Vieira laced an RBI single through the middle to tie the game – but lefty Ryan Kingma got out of further damage with a strikeout and a double play ball.
The Bucs took the lead for good in the fourth on a Liam Fitzpatrick RBI single and tacked on five insurance markers in the ninth – taking advantage of two C of I errors to play four unearned runs.
Kingma got the win for WU, allowing five hits in six innings of work, with Mathew Pulliam working three shutout frames for the save. Nerud went 3-for-6 with two RBI for the Bucs.
Six different C of I players had one hit in the loss, as
Connor Root allowed two runs on five hits in four innings of work in his second start of 2019.
