TACOMA, Wash. - Whitworth earned another split of a baseball doubleheader at Puget Sound today, but the Loggers won the opener 6-2, gaining the only game that counted toward the Northwest Conference standings. Whitworth won the non-conference nightcap 5-3.

Whitworth is now 12-19 overall and 8-10 in the NWC. UPS is 14-17-1, 13-8.

Hauck earned his first career victory as a Pirate

Game 1: Puget Sound 6, Whitworth 2 - box score
Whitworth led 2-0 through the top of the sixth inning before Puget Sound rallied to win.

The Pirates scored single runs in the third and fourth innings. Scott Ward, who had doubled, scored on Ryne Webb's fielder's choice in the third. Mitch Nelson singled home Dan Ramsey in the fourth for the second run.

Whitworth's Ryan Snell held UPS hitless and scoreless through five innings before tiring in the sixth, when he allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and one Pirate error.

The Pirates had a chance to tie the game in the seventh inning, but Logger pitcher Dusty Kauflin got Jon Whiteside to ground out to second base with the bases loaded. Whitworth then left two more runners on base in the eighth inning before UPS gained a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the inning.

Snell fell to 4-5 as he allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 7.0 innings of work (he pitched to one batter in the eighth). But he mowed down 12 Loggers on strikeouts with only two walks.

J.J. Jones finished the game 3 for 4 for Whitworth.

Game 2: Whitworth 5, Puget Sound 3 - box score
Whitworth won the series finale behind the strong relief pitching of Jon Hauck. Hauck, a sophomore, earned his first career victory as a Pirate by pitching the final 3.1 innings and retiring all 10 batters he faced. He struck out two of them.

The Pirates struck first, scoring two in the first inning. Kyle Richardson singled to short, then came around to score on a throwing error by the short stop. Nate Rodland added an RBI double to center field.

Whitworth made the score 4-1 in the third when Webb singled home Whiteside, who had opened the inning with a triple. Webb later scored on Rodland's sacrifice fly.

After UPS closed to within 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth, Hauck shut the door on the Logger offense and the Pirates added an insurance run in the sixth when Whiteside's sacrifice fly brought home Dan Belet, who had opened the inning with a double.

James Nelson started the game on the mound for Whitworth and allowed one run in two innings of work. Stephen Baranowski pitched 1.2 innings and gave up two runs on five hits.

Richardson, Whiteside, Rodland and Joel Tampien all had a pair of hits for the Bucs. Rodland led Whitworth with two runs batted in.

Coming up: Whitworth will host conference-leading Pacific Lutheran in a three game Northwest Conference series next weekend at Merkel Field. The Lutes swept Whitman in three games over the weekend to improve to 27-6 overall and 16-2 in the NWC. If PLU wins all three next weekend, the Lutes will clinch at least a share of the NWC title and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Last season PLU took two of three games from the Pirates in a series played at Merkel Field. Both Whitworth losses were by one run (1-0 and 5-4).