Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)

ELLENSBURG (Feb. 13) -- Senior Jake Hammons (Snohomish) had a two-run single to highlight a three-run first inning, and junior Jake Millbauer (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) allowed just two hits over 5 2/3 innings in helping the Central Washington University baseball team to a split of its season-opening doubleheader with the University of Puget Sound on Saturday. The Wildcats won the second game, 4-1, after dropping the first game, 7-5.

Central and Puget Sound are both 1-1 after the opening day of their respective seasons. The two teams will wrap up their four-game series with two more games on Sunday in Ellensburg.

Hammons had a four-hit day including three hits in game one. He gave Central a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning of game two with his two-RBI single, which came after Brett Bielec (Port Orchard/North Mason HS) walked and Kevin Walkenhauer (Yakima/West Valley HS) doubled to lead off the game.

Puget Sound scored its only run of the nightcap in the top of the first on Mark Rockey's two-out solo home run. Millbauer retired the next 12 Logger hitters he faced -- and 14 of the next 16. After a two-out single by Jarvis Nohara and a walk to Rockey in the sixth, the junior right-hander was lifted for junior Palmer Brown (Sacramento, Calif./Rio Americano HS). Brown walked the first hitter he faced before inducing a bases-loaded fly out to end the inning. Brown then allowed just a leadoff single in the seventh to pick up his first save.

In addition to their three-run first, in which senior shortstop Evan Churlin (Monroe) also scored on a RBI double by redshirt freshman Skyler Schiller (Spokane/Prescott HS [Ariz.]), the Wildcats added an insurance run in the fifth as Bielec scored on an infield single by Churlin to make it a 4-1 score.

Seven of Central's nine hitters had at least one hit in game two as Central outhit Puget Sound by a 10-3 count. Bielec, freshman Sean Murphy (Bothell/Woodinville HS), and senior Nate Wallen (Bremerton/Central Kitsap HS) all had two-hit outings in the nightcap for the Wildcats.

In game one, consecutive home runs by Mark Cox and Devin Black to lead off the top of the ninth inning gave visiting Puget Sound a two-run victory.

Central had tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth on a solo home run by Ellensburg native Eric Sorensen (Kittitas HS). However, Cox hit the first pitch of the ninth over the right-field fence and Black delivered his insurance blast five pitches later to seal the win for the Loggers.

The Wildcats scored the first runs of the season with a two-run second inning, as Wallen and Anthony Sanelli (Carnation/Issaquah HS) had back-to-back run-scoring hits. Puget Sound scored once in the third and three times in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead, with the latter two runs scoring on a two-out error. Central responded with a tally in the bottom of the fourth on a Walkenhauer RBI single, but the Loggers matched the Wildcats with a bases-loaded hit batsman in the fifth to push their lead back to two at 5-3.

CWU cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out solo home run by Bielec, who went 2 for 4 in each of Saturday's games. He also had a triple in the opener.

Puget Sound won the opening-game slugfest and had a 14-13 edge in hits. Cox led all players with four hits (4 for 5) in game one, while Central's Hammons had three hits including a double. A total of 10 players -- five for each team -- had multi-hit games in the opener.

Matt Robinson (1-0) earned the win in relief for the Loggers, throwing 1 2/3 innings of hitless baseball, while CWU sophomore Ryan Tarver (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) suffered the loss after relieving junior starter Bryce Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS).

The two teams will conclude their four-game series on Sunday (Feb. 14) with another doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. at the CWU Baseball Field.