Keith Mader
Sports editor

The Linfield baseball team won three games in its four-game set against the Pacific Boxers, April 4 and 5. After losing its first game to Boxer ace junior Tyler Fransen, the Wildcats returned to win their next three games.
“Fransen was pretty average but was able to locate pitches pretty well,” senior Don Bard said. “The most effective thing a pitcher can do is locate, and Pacific’s pitcher was able to do that.”
In the first game, Linfield walked seven and left 11 runners on base.
“We struggled on the mound and at the plate, and it is tough to win when we’re not doing anything exceptionally well,” Bard said.
During the next three games, the ’Cats beat the Boxers with 29 runs combined to seven.
“As the weekend went on, we just started to string some hits together, and the momentum really built up and just made it easier,” sophomore Cole Bixenman said.
In the three victories, Bixenman and senior Stew Davis combined for 12 of the team’s 29 runs.
“For the most part this year, I have been hitting in the third spot and Stew has hit right behind me in the four spot,” Bixenman said. “It’s really nice having a proven hitter behind me, I get pitches to hit because they don’t want to face him.”
In the second game April 4, Bixenman hit his seventh home run of the year.
“This is definitely the most homeruns I have ever hit in a season; I think my previous season high was four,” Bixenman said. “Hopefully the wins just keep piling up and I keep getting pitches to hit.”
Much of the ’Cats success resulted from pitching performances by juniors Reese McCulley and Garrett Dorn. Both McCulley and Dorn pitched seven innings and allowed the Boxers to two runs.
“It was a real battle for me against Pacific,” Dorn said. “I didn’t have my best stuff, but I knew that just by getting guys to swing the bats I could be successful.”
Dorn improved to 3-1 for the season following the victory against Pacific.
“This year I have really been trying to improve the command and quality of all of my pitches instead of just a couple,” Dorn said.
Dorn said he is confident in the future of the pitching squad.
“I don’t think we have achieved what we expect of ourselves yet, but we are definitely coming around,” Dorn said.
The future looks bright for Linfield’s pitching staff as freshman JV pitcher Casey Cameron threw nine inning no-hitter against the Concordia JV April 4.
According to the April 7 ABCA poll, Linfield is ranked 21 in D-III baseball.
Dorn believes the Wildcats are better than that.
“With the kind of offense we have this year, I really believe we have a good chance to repeat and even improve upon last year’s successes,” Dorn said.
Linfield plays at Lewis & Clark College April 4 at noon.