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Gonzaga University Athletics

Pirates headed to NCAAs

Starter Cory Mack pitched seven strong innings and third-seeded Whitworth beat top seed and host Pacific Lutheran 8-2 on Sunday in Parkland, Washington, to claim the inaugural Northwest Conference tournament championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Pirates (28-13) will play in one of the eight regionals May 13-17. Regional champions advance to the NCAA Division III World Series, held in Appleton, Wisconsin, May 22-26.

The Pirates marched to the tournament title with three victories, beginning with the first nine-inning no-hitter thrown by a Whitworth pitcher in the metal bat era from Dan Schiebe against nationally-ranked Linfield on Friday, then a 4-1 win over PLU on Saturday followed by Sunday’s clincher over the Lutes (28-11).

The Pirates gave Mack a 4-0 lead in the first inning. JT Phelan hit a two-run double and Joel Condreay and Thomas Wakem added RBI hits.

The Lutes closed to 4-2 before the Pirates added three more runs in the fourth inning. Jeremy Druffel’s two-out, two-RBI single with the bases loaded was the big blow.

Mack (5-3) gave up four hits and two walks while striking out six. T.J. Orchard finished with two innings of one-hit relief.

Druffel, Condreay and Nick Motsinger had two hits each for Whitworth.

• Starter Sam Triece threw six shutout innings and Washington State beat Utah 6-1 in a Pac-12 game at Salt Lake City.

Triece (3-0) struck out seven and walked none.

Jack Strunc had a two-run single in the sixth inning for a 3-0 lead. Strunc finished with two hits as did Derek Chapman, Ian Sagdal and Wes Hatten for the Cougars (23-19, 7-11) in the 11-hit attack against the Utes (14-25, 6-12).

• A ninth-inning rally came up short as Gonzaga lost 6-5 to host Santa Clara (18-24, 6-12 West Coast).

Tyler Frost’s two-out, bases-loaded single got the Bulldogs (20-21, 10-11) within a run but Jeff Bohling grounded out.

Taylor Jones had four hits and two RBIs for the Bulldogs, including his fourth home run. Boehling added two hits. Brandon Bailey (6-2) gave up all six Santa Clara runs, five earned, in 4 2/3 innings.

• A bases-loeaded walk resulted in a 3-2 win in the 11th inning for Oregon over Washington in a Pac-12 game at Eugene as the Ducks (25-19, 7-11) took two of three in the series from the Huskies (23-18, 8-13).