WHITTIER, CA. (Feb. 15, 2026)- Whittier College baseball was back in action on Sunday for a single-game match against the Whitworth University Pirates. The poets battled back twice and capped the game with a walk-off RBI double from
Aidan Cardoza (Riverside, Calif., San Bernardino Valley College) to secure the 7–6 victory.
After falling behind 3–0 early, the Poets answered immediately in the bottom of the second inning when
Parker Eastwood-Lilles (Vancouver BC, Canada, St. George's Academy) launched a solo home run to left field to get Whittier on the board.
Johnathon Lewis (Long Beach, Calif., Millikan), on the mound, then began to settle in for Whittier and pitched 3 straight 3 up and 3 down frames in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
The breakthrough came in the fourth for the Purple and Gold. Trailing 3–1, Whittier sent eight batters to the plate and erupted for four runs.
Eric Logsdon (Apple Valley, Calif., Victor Valley College) singled to start and later scored on an RBI single from
Jackson Brummett (Huntington Beach, Calif., Huntington Beach). With the bases loaded,
Coehn Nakasone (Aiea, Hawaii, Mid-Pacific Institute) worked a walk to force in a run, and
Joe Plaskett (Fremont, Calif., Washington) was hit by a pitch to bring home another.
Alex Jasso (South Gate, Calif., MACES) followed with a bases-loaded walk, giving the Poets a 5–3 advantage.
Whitworth tied the game in the sixth, but the Poets responded again in the seventh. After Jasso was hit by a pitch and Eastwood-Lilles singled, Cardoza ripped a double down the right-field line to plate the go-ahead run and make it 6–5.
The Pirates would not go away, though, and evened things in the ninth, setting up late-game drama.
In the bottom half, The Canadian, Eastwood-Lilles, sparked the rally with a one-out single, and Logsdon followed with a perfectly placed bunt single to put the winning run in scoring position. That brought Cardoza to the plate, and he delivered once more, drilling a double to left-center to score Eastwood-Lilles and seal the 7–6 victory.
Eastwood-Lilles finished 3-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored, while Cardoza drove in two runs on a pair of doubles, including the walk-off. Logsdon added two hits, as the Poets totaled 11 on the day.
Whittier will look to carry the momentum forward as non-conference play continues next week. The Poets are set to play host to the University of Puget Sound in a three-game series starting Friday at 2:00 PM.
Follow and show support for your Whittier Poets on Twitter (@WCPoets), YouTube and Instagram (@PoetAthletics)!
