TACOMA, Wash. - Whitworth earned a split of its Northwest Conference baseball double header at Puget Sound on Saturday, winning the opener 9-6 before dropping the nightcap 5-3. It might have been a sweep if the Pirates had not left 20 runners on base in the two ball games.

Whitworth is now 11-18 overall and 8-9 in the NWC. UPS, which entered the day in third place in the conference standings but fell to fourth after Linfield won twice, is now 13-16, 12-8.

Flett improved to 3-2 with a complete-game win

Game 1: Whitworth 9, Puget Sound 6 - box score
Whitworth opened up a 6-0 lead against the Loggers and then held off a late charge. The Pirates scored their first three runs in the top of the first inning as Ryne Webb hit a solo home run (his fourth of the year) and J.J. Jones added a two-rbi single.

Scott Ward scored on Dan Ramsey's ground out in the second for a 4-0 lead. Whitworth got two more runs in the fourth inning on Jon Whiteside's RBI ground out and Joel Tampien's RBI single.

UPS got four runs back in the bottom of the sixth against Whitworth pitcher Chad Flett, three of which came home on Joe Newland's NWC-leading ninth home run of the season.

The Pirates added three unearned runs in the top of the eighth inning as the Loggers committed two errors. Ramsey drove in two with a single to left field.

UPS added two more runs on a homer in the bottom of the ninth, but the Loggers were never able to bring the tying run to the plate against Flett, who improved to 3-2 with his complete-game effort. He struck out six without walking a batter.

Game 2: Puget Sound 5, Whitworth 3 - box score
Whitworth had plenty of base runners against UPS in the second game, getting nine hits and six bases on balls, but the Pirates stranded ten runners on base and scored only three times.

Whiteside singled home Van Lierman in the top of the third inning for an early 1-0 lead. But UPS answered in the bottom of the inning with two runs. The Loggers made it 5-1 in the fourth against Whitworth starting pitcher Brandon Zimmerman with two singles and a three run home run by Tim Steggall, all with two outs.

Tampien hit a two-run home run to left center in the fifth inning, his fourth of the season, to pull the Pirates within 5-3. But they could get no closer.

Zimmerman pitched well, allowing only two more singles after the fourth inning, but fell to 3-4 with the complete game loss. He game up all five runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

Coming up: Whitworth and UPS will complete the series with a second doubleheader on Sunday. Only the first game will count toward NWC standings. The second will be a non-conference contest. The first pitch will be thrown at 11:00 am.