Area roundup: Whitworth baseball eliminated at D-III regional

The Whitworth baseball team’s season came to a close Friday with a 10-3 loss to La Verne at the NCAA Division III West Regional tournament at Irwin Field in Tyler, Texas.

The Leopards (26-18) used four-run rallies in the fourth and seventh innings to take control.

La Verne racked up 15 hits off three Whitworth pitchers. The Leopards’ Nolan Henley had two hits, scored twice and drove in three.

Jeremy Druffel and Nick Motsinger had two hits apiece for the Pirates (28-15).

The game was the last for Whitworth head coach Dan Ramsay, who will head to Washington State University as the Director of Baseball Operations.

• Gonzaga scored five runs in the eighth and kept its postseason hopes alive with a 10-9 win over Pepperdine in the opener of a three-game West Coast Conference series in Malibu, California.

Cory LeBrun’s two-run single capped the rally. LeBrun finished with four hits and three RBIs and Mitchell Gunsolus had three hits and scored three runs.

Gonzaga (24-26, 13-12) and Pepperdine (25-26, 15-10) will play again today at 1. The Bulldogs will need a win today and Sunday for a chance to play in the WCC Championships.

• Wes Leow’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th gave Washington State (28-24, 10-16) a 1-0 win over No. 12 Arizona State (31-19, 16-10) in the second game of a three-game Pac-12 Conference series in Phoenix.

Cougars starter Joe Pistorese pitched nine innings of five-hit ball before giving way to Ian Hamilton, who pitched a scoreless 10th for his 13th save.

• Adam Paulson fired a complete-game five-hitter, Evan Douglas drove in four runs and Community Colleges of Spokane (28-14) beat Southwestern Oregon (18-25) 5-2 in a Northwest Athletic Conference regional tournament game in Tacoma. CCS will play Tacoma today at noon, with the winner advancing to the regional finals.

Softball

Community Colleges of Spokane advanced to the quarterfinals of the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament with wins over Grays Harbor and Lower Columbia at Delta Park in Portland.

Shalaina Duford led the Sasquatch in their 11-1 opening-game win over Grays Harbor. Duford went 3 for 3, scored three runs and drove in three more.

Lindsie Scholwinski was masterful in a 5-1 win over Lower Columbia. She pitched all seven innings, giving up a run on just three hits while striking out nine. Sydnie Malloy had three hits and two RBIs.

The Sasquatch (43-4) play Southwestern Oregon (33-9) today at 12:15 p.m. The Lakers advanced with wins over Treasure Valley and Mt. Hood.

• Kasey Stanchek allowed a run on two hits in seven innings and No. 20 Washington opened the NCAA regional tournament with a 4-1 win over South Carolina Upstate (43-9) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Kimberlee Souza had three hits and drove in two runs to lead the Huskies. Washington (41-15) will play No. 6 Alabama this morning.

Men’s golf

Washington senior Cheng-Tsung Pan shot a 3-under 69 and is in first place after the second round of the NCAA Bremerton Regional at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington.

The Huskies shot a 2-over 290 as a team and are in seventh place heading into today’s final round. Washington is four shots out of fifth place. The top five teams qualify for the NCAA finals.

Gonzaga senior James Fahy shot a 1-over 73 and is tied for 48th at 6-over 150.

• Idaho shot a 287 in the second round – a 14-stroke improvement on its first-round total – and moved into seventh place at the NCAA Rancho Santa Fe Regional at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

The Vandals’ Daniel Sutton shot an even-par 72 and is tied for 11th place individually at 1-under 143.

The top five teams advance to the NCAA finals. Idaho is a shot behind sixth-place Virginia and three shots behind fifth-place Georgia heading into today’s final round.