Spokane, Wash. - Willamette Baseball split a pair of games with Whitworth on Saturday, defeating the Pirates 12-11 in the opening game before falling 7-6 in game two.  Tassos Foster had a huge day at the plate for the Bearcats with five hits, four runs scored, and five runs batted in.

The first game did not start well for the Bearcats as two of the first three Whitworth batters hit home runs, and the Pirates scored three runs in the first and another in the second to take an early 4-0 lead.  

Willamette was able to get one run back in the third when they loaded the bases with two outs and Foster came home on a single by Trevor Sostman.  Then, in the fourth, Willamette was able to take the lead when Liam O'Connor led off the inning with a home run and Foster followed three batters later with a three-run home run to make the score 5-4 in favor of the Bearcats.

Whitworth tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, but in the top of the fifth it was Foster again who would give Willamette the lead, this time with a double that scored two runs.  Luke Piazza brought Foster home with a double of his own to make the score 8-5 at the end of five innings.

Preston Lau hit a three-run homer of his own in the seventh to put Willamette ahead 12-6 and take what seemed to be a comfortable lead.  The Pirates had other ideas, however, and scored five runs in the bottom of the inning on a grand slam and a solo home run to cut the lead to 12-11.

Adrian Gonzalez came on in the seventh to close out the inning and Dylan Turner pitched the final two innings to earn his third save of the season.  Despite giving up the early runs, Steven Verespey went five innings for the Bearcats and earned the win. 

Luke Piazza had four hits to lead Willamette, with Foster leading with five RBIs, followed by Lau with three.  Foster scored three runs for the Bearcats, with O'Connor and Rocco Granucci each scoring twice.

Game two followed a similar pattern as Whitworth had a home run in the opening inning to take an early 1-0 lead.  Drew Baskin tied the score with a solo shot of his own in the second inning and the Bearcats took a 2-1 lead in the third when Granucci doubled home O'Connor.  

This began a pattern of lead changes that saw Whitworth take the lead back at 3-2 before Willamette tied it up at 3-3 in the fifth.  The Pirates pulled ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the inning and the Beacats took the lead back in the seventh on RBI singles by Piazza, Sostman, and O'Connor.  Not to be outdone, Whitworth scored two of their own in the bottom of the seventh to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 lead.

Unfortunately for Willamette, that was the final lead change of the afternoon.  The Bearcats were able to put two runners on in the ninth but were unable to get a run across and lost the game 7-6.

Sostman led Willamette at the plate with four hits in five at-bats.  Granucci, Foster, Lau, and O'Connor each added two hits for the Bearcats.  Six different players scored runs for Willamette and five different players provided runs batted in.

The teams will face off in the final game of the series at Whitworth on Sunday, April 6th.  The first pitch is scheduled for noon.