Pirates’ Foremost Concern Involves League Standings Whitworth Must Set Up Rotation To Go With Aces In Ncic Games

Rod Taylor isn’t sure what to make of the timing of today’s 4 p.m. non-conference baseball game against host Gonzaga University.

On one hand, the Whitworth coach welcomes the instant - and much needed - motivation that usually accompanies the challenge of stepping up to play a Division I school.

But on the other, he worries about what a blowout loss might do to the fragile psyche of his NAIA Pirates, who are still trying to recover from last weekend’s three heartbreaking losses to Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges rival Linfield.

The potential for just such a loss is considerable, considering Taylor must save his best pitchers for this weekend’s important three-game home series against Willamette.

“We’ll be motivated, without a doubt,” Taylor said of today’s game. “It’s more of a pride thing than anything else for us. Unfortunately, because it comes on a Thursday and we have a big conference series (Friday and Saturday), we have to throw our No. 4 guy.”

Taylor’s No. 4 pitcher is Ken McGillivray, who is 1-3 with a 4.24 earned run average. McGillivray has thrown well of late, according to Taylor, but hasn’t faced the kind of hitters GU will parade to the plate.

The Bulldogs, 10-18 overall and 1-11 in the West Coast Conference, struggled mightily at the start of the season but took four non-league road games from University of Portland last weekend.

Whitworth’s fortunes, it seems, have gone the other way.

The Pirates, 12-8 overall and 2-4 in the NCIC, won seven of their first 10 games and appeared poised to make a run at a conference title and a postseason playoff berth.

But last week’s road trip to Linfield produced nothing but missed opportunities as the Bucs lost by scores of 4-3, 3-0 and 1-0.

Saturday’s 11-inning defeat wasted a splendid pitching performance by senior right-hander Ryan Stevens, who had a no-hitter through 6-2/3 innings. Stevens carried a one-hitter into the 11th before he was touched for two more hits, including a game-winning single by Jeff Menold.

Taylor lists Linfield, Pacific Lutheran and Lewis and Clark as the top three teams in the NCIC. In an effort to put his Pirates back among the elite, he plans to start the three pitchers against Willamette that started against Linfield.

Taylor will throw Jason McDougal, a senior right-hander with a 1.77 ERA, in Friday’s single game and use Sam Fleming, a junior righty with a 2.40 ERA, and Stevens on Saturday.

McDougal is 2-1, Fleming is 3-1 and Stevens, whose ERA dipped to less than 4.00 last weekend, is 2-3.

“Overall, we have been playing pretty well,” Taylor said. “We’ve been pretty consistent with our hitting and pitching. About the only thing that hasn’t been consistent is our defense, and even that has picked up here the last couple of weeks.”

Part of Whitworth’s defensive woes resulted from Paco Crandall’s move from second base to shortstop at the beginning of the season.

Crandall, a junior, leads the Bucs in hitting with a .406 average. Senior first baseman Sean Peterson is second at .380 and junior center fielder Ryan Swan is hitting .348.

Gonzaga 8, WSU 2

Jeff Birkland (3-3) threw his sixth straight complete game and the Bulldogs (11-18) backed him with 14 hits in a win over the host Cougars (13-24) at Pasco.

Birkland allowed six hits, walked one and struck out four as the Zags won their sixth straight.

Matt Brunell and Rob Pearsall, who had three hits apiece, slapped run-scoring singles in the second to stake GU to a 2-0 lead. Rob Ryan, who had two hits, scored the Cougars’ first run in the sixth, on Birkland’s throwing error.

Gonzaga 020 020 040 - 8 14 2

WSU 000 001 001 - 2 6 4

Birkland and Asan; Glaze, Post (6), Grutz (9) and Hairston. W - Birkland (3-3). L - Glaze (1-1)

HITS: GU - Pearsall 3, Bowne, Murrell, Hare, Wong, Knight, Workman, Brunell 3, Asan 2. WSU Wetmore, Ryan 2, Horner, Bowman, Kelley. 2B-Hare, Kelley.

Portland 5, Washington 3

Justin Ross had a two-run double in the third to lead the Pilots (9-20) over the visiting Huskies (14-19) in a non-conference game.

, DataTimes