McMINNNVILLE, Ore. – Cole Bixenman smacked his sixth home run of the season and drove in two other runs to boost the Linfield Wildcats to a 9-1 victory over Puget Sound in Game 3 of a Northwest Conference baseball series Sunday at Roy Helser Field.

It was the second win in the three-game series for Linfield (18-6, 12-3 NWC), which surged ahead of Puget Sound (11-10, 9-3 NWC) into first place in the NWC standings.

Bixenman went 2-for-5, including a two-run homer in the second inning that put the Wildcats comfortably in front 7-0.

Dustin Smith tapped out three singles and scored a pair of runs as the Wildcats rolled up 12 hits on UPS pitchers Nathan Aguiar and Cameron Duvall.

Wildcats leadoff hitter Tim Wilson (Jr., Redmond, Wash.) went 2-for-4 and drove in a run, while Kevin Allan also contributed a pair of hits for Linfield

Linfield starting pitcher Evan Hilberg held the Loggers scoreless through six innings, then turned the game over to Spencer Crepeaux to begin the seventh. Together, the two Wildcats struck out seven UPS batters while each surrendering four hits.

Hilberg, a senior righthander, earned the victory to improve to 3-1.

UPS notched its lone run in the eighth inning as Chaz Kramer scored unearned on an RBI single by Will Mentor.

Kramer, Dakota Resnik and Matt Cox all had two hits to lead the Loggers offensively.

Aguiair took the loss to fall to 1-2.

COMING UP: Linfield heads to Portland for a three-game NWC set with the Lewis & Clark Pioneers. The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday followed by a single game Sunday. Action both days starts at noon.