McMinnville, Ore. - (From Linfield SID Kelly Bird) Linfield clinched its 16th straight 20-win season with a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep of Whitworth Saturday afternoon at sunny Roy Helser Field. The Wildcats (21-14 overall, 16-7 NWC) defeated the visiting Pirates (13-23, 9-14) 10-0 and 5-3.

Scarpelli led the Bucs with three hits Saturday

GAME 1 - Box Score
Brian Clark pitched a complete-game four-hitter and the Wildcats pounced on Whitworth pitchers for 14 hits on their way to the lopsided opening-game victory. Clark surrendered five walks, but fanned six Pirates to improve to 7-3.

The Wildcats scored twice in the first inning to take the early advantage. Stew Davis drove in Cory Ellis, then a double to right-center field by Rhett Fenton plated Kevin Mills from third base. Davis added a sacrifice RBI in the third, then Kerr made it 4-0 with an RBI double in the fourth.

Linfield scored four times in the seventh, as Kerr doubled two runs home and Austin Highberger homered for a 8-0 Wildcats lead. In the eighth, the Wildcats rounded out the scoring with Davis’ sacrifice fly and Fenton’s third base hit of the game scored Mills.

Pirates starter Chad Flett (4-3) took the loss. Flett went seven innings, giving up 11 hits and seven earned runs with three strikeouts and two walks. Collin Gibbs pitched the eighth for the Bucs.

GAME 2 - Box Score
Linfield snatched a 2-0 lead in the third when Jordan Boustead tripled to right field and Cory Ellis laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Boustead.

Whitworth responded with a three-run fourth inning. Wildcats starter Cameron Larson gave up five hits as Dan Ramsey, Alex Scarpelli, and J.J. Jones all had run-scoring singles in the frame.

With runners at first and second in the eighth, Linfield's Brian Kerr doubled to score two runs, then Drew Van Cleavemade it 5-3 for the hosts with an RBI single down the left-field line.

Despite his early difficulty, Larson held on to pitch the entire game, striking out five and walking a pair. He scattered 10 hits to improve to 8-2 for the season.

Brandon Zimmerman (3-6) took the loss while going the distance on the mound for the Pirates. Zimmerman allowed nine hits and one walk while striking out four Wildcats.

Up Next: Whitworth will complete the NWC series, and its NWC schedule, with a single game at Linfield on Sunday. The Pirates need one more win to finish in fifth place in the conference standings and avoid a three-way tie for sixth with Willamette and Lewis & Clark (both 9-15).