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May 17—MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Three consecutive wins, including a rout of the top seed Sunday morning, sent Whitworth's baseball team into the NCAA Division III Montclair Regional final, but the Pirates ran out of steam in a rematch with Endicott College, and one of their best seasons in program history came to a close.
Third-seeded Whitworth's run ended with a 19-12 loss to the Gulls in the Regional title game Sunday afternoon at Yogi Berra Stadium. The Pirates had rallied after losing their Regional opener Friday, winning twice Saturday before forcing a winner-take-all early Sunday, drubbing Endicott 19-8 for the Massachusetts school's first loss of the double-elimination Regional.
The Pirates got off to a good start in the final, but Endicott (38-10) took advantage of a few costly fielding errors and Whitworth's depleting pitching reserves to advance to the Super Regional round. The Northwest Conference champion Pirates finished the year 31-16, tying the program record for single-season wins with the 2012 team that reached the D-III World Series.
After racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Whitworth committed one of its four fielding errors in the second, resulting in five Endicott runs — after the Gulls' leadoff hitter reached on an infield error, the Pirates recorded two outs, then surrendered a two-run double, an RBI single and a two-run homer.
Austin Paul answered for Whitworth in the bottom half with a two-run homer and Spencer Shipman added an RBI double to chase Endicott starter Jake Harmony, but the Gulls tied it at 6-6 in the third after a runner reached on an infield throwing error and later scored on a sacrifice flyout.
The backbreaker for the Pirates came in the fifth, when Adam Regan belted a grand slam with two outs to put Endicott ahead 11-7. Pirates starter Zach Wright, making his second start of the year, had loaded the bases with one out, prompting a pitching change. Reliever Ryan Boehm got an out, then gave up the game-changing shot on a 2-0 pitch.
Wright (1-2), a freshman from Boise, allowed four earned runs and six unearned on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings. The Pirates' bullpen tired out — four relievers combined to surrender nine runs on nine hits over the next 4 1/3 innings — and Whitworth's lineup couldn't catch up to Endicott, which recorded 16 hits with four homers.
The Pirates' offense was effective all day, to be sure. Whitworth tallied 14 hits and six walks in the final, getting four doubles, two homers and a triple. Star outfielder Kyle Memarian, the two-time Northwest Conference Player of the Year, capped his career with a rare feat — he hit for the cycle, driving in two on a ninth-inning homer, and scored five runs.
Memarian, who managed one hit over the first three games of the Regional, was also stellar in Sunday morning's must-win against Endicott, logging four hits and five RBIs with two doubles to pace an explosive showing from the Pirates' lineup, which registered a season-high 20 hits — recording the most hits and runs allowed all season by Endicott, the No. 9-ranked team in D-III which entered the game with the fourth-best team ERA (2.85) in the classification.
Mt. Spokane product first baseman Carson Coffield went 4-for-5 with a two-run homer and a double, plating seven runners in Sunday's opener. West Valley's Caleb Gray had three hits and four RBIs, smacking a two-run triple during the Pirates' seven-run seventh inning and putting the exclamation on the blowout win with a solo shot in the ninth.
Game 1 started out as a low-scoring pitching matchup. Whitworth managed two hits through four innings, then found its rhythm at the plate, opening the fifth with a walk and five consecutive singles to go up 3-1. Three straight two-out hits in the sixth made it 5-1, and the Pirates erupted in the seventh to build a 12-3 cushion.
Sophomore Rylen Blair gave Whitworth four strong innings in his second start of the year, allowing one run on two hits and two walks.
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Third-seeded Whitworth's run ended with a 19-12 loss to the Gulls in the Regional title game Sunday afternoon at Yogi Berra Stadium. The Pirates had rallied after losing their Regional opener Friday, winning twice Saturday before forcing a winner-take-all early Sunday, drubbing Endicott 19-8 for the Massachusetts school's first loss of the double-elimination Regional.
The Pirates got off to a good start in the final, but Endicott (38-10) took advantage of a few costly fielding errors and Whitworth's depleting pitching reserves to advance to the Super Regional round. The Northwest Conference champion Pirates finished the year 31-16, tying the program record for single-season wins with the 2012 team that reached the D-III World Series.
After racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Whitworth committed one of its four fielding errors in the second, resulting in five Endicott runs — after the Gulls' leadoff hitter reached on an infield error, the Pirates recorded two outs, then surrendered a two-run double, an RBI single and a two-run homer.
Austin Paul answered for Whitworth in the bottom half with a two-run homer and Spencer Shipman added an RBI double to chase Endicott starter Jake Harmony, but the Gulls tied it at 6-6 in the third after a runner reached on an infield throwing error and later scored on a sacrifice flyout.
The backbreaker for the Pirates came in the fifth, when Adam Regan belted a grand slam with two outs to put Endicott ahead 11-7. Pirates starter Zach Wright, making his second start of the year, had loaded the bases with one out, prompting a pitching change. Reliever Ryan Boehm got an out, then gave up the game-changing shot on a 2-0 pitch.
Wright (1-2), a freshman from Boise, allowed four earned runs and six unearned on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings. The Pirates' bullpen tired out — four relievers combined to surrender nine runs on nine hits over the next 4 1/3 innings — and Whitworth's lineup couldn't catch up to Endicott, which recorded 16 hits with four homers.
The Pirates' offense was effective all day, to be sure. Whitworth tallied 14 hits and six walks in the final, getting four doubles, two homers and a triple. Star outfielder Kyle Memarian, the two-time Northwest Conference Player of the Year, capped his career with a rare feat — he hit for the cycle, driving in two on a ninth-inning homer, and scored five runs.
Memarian, who managed one hit over the first three games of the Regional, was also stellar in Sunday morning's must-win against Endicott, logging four hits and five RBIs with two doubles to pace an explosive showing from the Pirates' lineup, which registered a season-high 20 hits — recording the most hits and runs allowed all season by Endicott, the No. 9-ranked team in D-III which entered the game with the fourth-best team ERA (2.85) in the classification.
Mt. Spokane product first baseman Carson Coffield went 4-for-5 with a two-run homer and a double, plating seven runners in Sunday's opener. West Valley's Caleb Gray had three hits and four RBIs, smacking a two-run triple during the Pirates' seven-run seventh inning and putting the exclamation on the blowout win with a solo shot in the ninth.
Game 1 started out as a low-scoring pitching matchup. Whitworth managed two hits through four innings, then found its rhythm at the plate, opening the fifth with a walk and five consecutive singles to go up 3-1. Three straight two-out hits in the sixth made it 5-1, and the Pirates erupted in the seventh to build a 12-3 cushion.
Sophomore Rylen Blair gave Whitworth four strong innings in his second start of the year, allowing one run on two hits and two walks.
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