Kight Invitational,

hosted by Whitman College

Thursday, March 22

Bethany 12, Whitman 7

Vince Genna Stadium, Bend, Ore.

Bethany University slugged six extra-base hits, including three home runs, to power past Whitman 12-7 as the annual Kight Invitational got underway Thursday morning at Vince Genna Stadium in Bend, Ore.

Whitman, the tournament host, fell behind 12-3 before scoring a pair of runs in each of its last two at-bats to close the gap on the scoreboard. Bethany, an NAIA Div. II squad from Santa Cruz, Calif., improved to 14-10 on the season. The Missionary record slipped to 1-15.

Bethany pounded out 16 hits and took advantage of four Whitman errors to score six unearned runs. With the Bruins leading 6-0, the Missionaries plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to climb back into the game. After Michael Lazcano was hit by a pitch and Thomas Kost drew a base on balls, Brian Kitamura rapped a one-out, run-scoring single to left field. A balk by Bethany hurler Mark Koski forced home a second run, and Adam Knappe poked an RBI-double to center.

The Bruins regained the upper hand with four runs in the sixth inning and two more in the eighth. Whitman got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth. After Micah Babbitt singled and Austin Shackelford reached base on an infield error, Luke Marshall drove home one run with an infield single. The Missionaries tallied a second run when Bethany committed its second error of the inning, this one by the right fielder.

With one out in the ninth, Whitman loaded the bases when Matt Morris-Rosenfeld and Jon Nelson singled and Babbitt walked. Shackelford was hit by a pitch, forcing in one run. A wild pitch scored another Missionary run before Bethany reliever Steven Martinez closed out the win.

Marshall and Babbitt both contributed two hits to Whitman's nine-hit attack.