Whitman Baseball Hosting Linfield Sat-Sunday at Borleske

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- After losing three times last weekend in a cold, steady rain in Tacoma, the Whitman College baseball team returns to the friendly and hopefully drier confines of Borleske Stadium this Saturday for the start of a three-game series with Linfield.

Saturday's Northwest Conference doubleheader starts at noon with a third game slated for noon on Sunday.

Linfield, in pursuit of a third straight NWC title, is the latest challenge for a young Whitman squad that took two of three games from Puget Sound two weekends ago.

The latest weather forecast for Saturday calls for mostly cloudly skies with a 30 percent chance of showers; high temperatures ranging between 47 to 52 degrees with winds at 15 to 20 miles per hour and higher gusts.

Sunday's forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a slight chance (20 percent) of rain and snow showers in the afternoon. Look for high temperatures 45 to 50 degrees with winds at 10 to 15 miles per hour.

Whitman's Aaron Cohen

While Whitman is off to a 2-4 start in conference games, Linfield is 6-3 in the NWC (9-4 overall) and ranked No. 10 in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll.

The Wildcats won two of three close games last weekend against Willamette. Two weekends ago, Linfield dropped two of three decisions to Pacific.

Sophomores Chris Andrews at second base and Cam Young at shorstop are hitting at just under .300 for the season, and sophomore outfielder Kyle Moyes is hitting .471 and slugging a sizzling 1.000 in Whitman's first six NWC games. 

Moyes has belted four early season home runs, which is just one off the league lead. He is one of just three players with a slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats) at or above 1.000 in NWC games.

Freshman outfielder Jonny Chow, who recently moved into the starting line-up, is hitting .471 in his first four conference games.

Sophomore outfielder Aaron Cohen, who has two home runs and a triple, leads the team in RBI with 13. Freshman first baseman Peter Valentine is among the league leaders in doubles with seven.

Young tops Whitman in total hits with 20 -- a number that includes five doubles and a triple.

Junior right-hander Justin Weeks and sophomore left Jake Nelson have been Whitman's most reliable starting pitchers thus far this season. Both hurlers notched wins in the Puget Sound series.

Weeks has compiled a 3.00 earned run average in first two conference starts while Nelson has logged a 4.63 ERA.

Freshman right-hander Will Thompson also has shown early promise, striking out 10 in his first 8.1 innings of work against NWC foes.

Senior right-handers Ryan Larson and Robert Vaughn lead a deep Linfield pitching staff. Sophomore Zach Brandon is 2-0 on the season with a 3.86 ERA.

Nate McClellan, a sophomore outfielder for the Wildcats, returned from injury last weekend to go six of 11 at the plate (.545) in his first three games. Junior catcher Kyle Chamberlain and sophomore infielder/outfielder Tim Wilson are hitting .392 and .370, respectively, on the season.

Senior outfielder Zach Boskovich is hitting .289 with three home runs.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu