The Boxers wrapped up the 2016 season with a 9-4 loss to Willamette University on May 1. Pacific ended with an overall record of 25-18, which is the baseball program’s best since 2002.
The Boxers also finished with a conference record of 14-10, which earned the team a spot in the conference tournament.
Pacific played three games in the Northwest Conference Championships, losing a close game 3-5 to conference leader Whitworth University April 22.
They went on to beat George Fox University the following morning with a score of 17-9. The Boxers then faced Whitworth again that same day and lost another close game 5-6.
Although the Boxers were unable to make it to the NCAA tournament this season, head coach Brian Billings is happy with the way the baseball program is progressing each year.
“We took a big step last year, going from a last place finish in 2014, to a winning season the next year and now this year we made it to the conference tournament,” said Billings. “We feel like it was a pretty successful year for the program.”
Coach Billings is not the only one who feels the program is showing signs of improvement every year; many of the players feel that is the case as well.
“I think that the team did very well and we accomplished a lot this year,” said senior outfielder Walker Olis. “We did not end the season as well as we had hoped, but that does not reflect how far we came as a team and as a program this year.”
In addition to the team’s success, the Boxers had a lot of individuals earn All-Northwest Conference honors. Three Boxers were named All-NWC first team including senior Walker Olis, junior outfielder Kurtis Kloke and sophomore pitcher Paul Wolfram. Sophomore Dylan Wright earned a Second Team with junior Kyler Knieriem.
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