Tournament Information
Forest Grove, Ore.- Pacific University will host the 2023 Northwest Conference Postseason Tournament from April 21-23. The tournament will be held at Chuck Bafaro Stadium in Forest Grove, Ore.
The winner of the NWC Postseason Tournament will be named the ‘NWC Baseball Tournament Champion’ and will receive automatic qualification for the NCAA Tournament.
Pacific (Ore.) earned their third consecutive NWC regular season title, finishing 18-6 in conference play. After dropping their first conference series, the Boxers rallied to a 10 game winning streak, helping them to advance to the top of the NWC standings. The Boxers boast strong offensive numbers, hitting .319 as a team and 42 home runs. The Boxers have proven to be highly effective at bat with a conference leading slugging percentage of .506. Pitchers Will Clark and Kahi Bisho helped the Boxers to a league-leading average of 4.32 team ERA. Tyler Quinn leads the Boxers in batting average while CJ Colyer leads the team in RBI.
Lewis & Clark earns the #2 seed heading into the tournament with a 15-9 conference record. This will be the first time in history that the Pios make an appearance at the NWC baseball tournament and enter the tournament with some of the highest offensive stats in the conference. The Pios hold the highest team RBI in the conference. Leading hitter, Jack Thomson leads the conference with 19 home runs and a .897 slugging percentage.
Willamette claimed the #3 seed with a 15-9 conference record after splitting their final NWC double header of the season. Offensively, Willamette is led by Jeff Hoffman, Jonny Suchor and Luke Wekmeister-Martin. Hoffman leads the Bearcats with eight home runs and 25 RBI. Suchor has a batting average of .368 with two home runs and 18 RBI, and Werkmeister-Martin is hitting .314 with a home run and 23 RBI. Willamette's top pitcher is senior Layton Wagner, who is 4-2 in 10 appearances with a 4.53 ERA and 65 strikeouts.
Whitman earned the final spot in the tournament with a 13-11 conference record. Coming down to the final game in their season, the Blues managed a win over Pacific Lutheran. Ben Parker holds high conference stats with 1.275 OPS, .373 batting average, and leads the conference with 45 RBI. Pitchers Mateus Conaway and Julien Hernandez highlight the Blues as Hernandez leads the league with an earned run average of .208 and Hernandez with 78 batters struck out.
Tournament Format is as follows:
Day One: Friday, April 21, 2023
Game 1 - Noon #4 seed Whitman at #1 seed Pacific
Game 2 – 3:00 pm #3 seed Willamette vs. #2 seed Lewis & Clark
Day Two: Saturday, April 22, 2023
Game 3 – 10:00 am Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Game 4 – 1:00 pm Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Game 5 – 4:00 pm Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4
Day Three: Sunday, April 23, 2023
Game 6 – Noon Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7 (if necessary) – 3:00 pm