Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
ELLENSBURG (Mar. 11) -- Pinch-hitter Deren Jones (Lewiston, Idaho) delivered a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning, capping a three-run rally by the Central Washington University baseball team in the opening game of its Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader with Northwest Nazarene University on Friday, lifting the Wildcats to a 4-3 victory. NNU then won the nightcap, 5-3, to split the twinbill.
Central Washington is now 5-9 overall and 1-5 in the GNAC, while NNU is 13-5 overall and 2-4 in the conference. The two teams complete their four-game series on Saturday at noon.
CWU took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning of the opener, and held that lead through a pitcher's duel between junior Brandon Rohde (Gig Harbor) and NNU's J.T. Brodrick. The visiting Crusaders got through to Rohde in the latter innings of his start, scoring two unearned runs in the seventh inning and one more in the eighth as NNU capitalized on four CWU errors in the game. Rohde finished with five strikeouts and no walks, scattering seven hits.
The Wildcats used a combination of hits and NNU miscues in the bottom of the ninth to rally for the victory. Sophomore David Leid (Carson City, Nev./Carson HS) and senior Kris Henderson (Liberty Lake/Central Valley HS) led off with consecutive hits, including a double by Henderson that put a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out. Chaz Ocbina (Tacoma/Wilson HS) then followed with a pinch-hit single of his own to score Leid, and an ensuing error played pinch-runner Connor Williams (Buckley/White River HS) with the tying run. After a popout and a walk, a balk advanced runners to second and third to set the stage for Jones, who drove home the game-winner on an 0-2 pitch.
Central's offense rattled the bats for 11 hits against three Northwest Nazarene pitchers, with two hits apiece from Leid, Henderson, junior Glen Reser (Spokane/Mead HS), and senior Nate Wallen (Bremerton/Central Kitsap HS). Senior Blaine Holbrook (Quilcene/Chimacum HS) threw seven pitches in a scoreless ninth inning to pick up the victory (1-1).
NNU had seven hits, led by Sean McDonald's 2 for 3 outing.
In game two, Northwest Nazarene scored four unanswered runs between the second and fourth innings, then held off the Wildcats, 5-3.
Central scored first on Reser's RBI single in the opening inning, which capped a string of three straight singles. They later added two runs in the sixth on two hits, as a passed ball and a RBI single by Wallen enabled the Wildcats to crawl back to within one, but NNU added an insurance tally with an unearned run in the top of the seventh.
The Crusaders scored once each in the second and third, and twice in the fourth, against CWU starter Kyle Long (Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway HS), whose record fell to 0-4 on the season.
The Wildcats managed just five hits in game two, with one each from Reser, Ocbina, Wallen, Kelly Gau (Woodinville), and Brady Kincannon (Federal Way/Decatur HS). Ty Windall and Zach Hibbard led Northwest Nazarene with two hits apiece, while Josh Hatfield doubled and drove in two.
The two teams wrap up their four-game series on Saturday at noon before CWU returns to the road next weekend for a pair of games at Lewis-Clark State on Mar. 18-19.
