Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
ELLENSBURG (Mar. 22) -- Junior Kyle Long (Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway HS) threw six innings of shutout baseball in game two, and fellow junior Glen Reser (Spokane/Mead HS) was a combined 8 for 9 at the plate as the Central Washington University baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader with visiting Whitworth University on Tuesday afternoon. The Wildcats won game two, 7-0, after losing the opener, 6-4.
CWU is now 6-12 overall on the season and 2-4 in home games. Whitworth, which competes in the Northwest Conference as a member of the NCAA Division III, is now 9-12 overall.
Long, who had been winless in his first four appearances as a Wildcat, allowed just three hits and struck out three while throwing 77 pitches over six innings. Senior Mike Miller (Bellevue/Issaquah HS) then completed the shutout by retiring the side in order in the seventh inning in his CWU debut.
Meanwhile, Reser was a dominant force behind a Wildcat offense that combined for 27 hits in the two games. The left-handed-hitting third baseman had singles in each of his first four at-bats in the opener before finishing that game 4 for 5, and then added three singles, a double, and two RBI in the nightcap.
In game one, CWU stranded a season-high 15 runners on base and allowed six consecutive runs to turn a 1-0 lead into a 6-1 deficit.
Senior Kris Henderson (Liberty Lake/Central Valley HS) gave the Wildcats the early lead with a RBI single in the third, and senior right-hander Jake Millbauer (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) had his way with the Pirate lineup through the first four innings, allowing just a two-out double in the fourth to Landon Scott to that point. However, Whitworth tied it in the fifth and took the lead in the sixth against Millbauer, eventually adding three more runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to take a five-run advantage.
The Wildcats, who left seven runners on base in the first three innings, pieced together a rally in the eighth that saw them score twice on a single by sophomore David Leid (Carson City, Nev./Carson HS), but they left the tying run at the plate when Reser popped out to end the inning.
In the ninth, Central again left a pair of runners on base but made things interesting when senior Kelly Gau (Woodinville) had a two-out RBI single and the Wildcats had the tying run at second base after a passed ball.
Reser, Henderson, Gau, and junior Brady Kincannon (Federal Way/Decatur HS) led the Wildcats' 13-hit attack with multiple-hit games, with the latter three of those each picking up two hits.
Whitworth was sparked in the opener by Scott, who finished 4 for 5 with three doubles and three RBI, driving in all three of the Pirates' seventh-inning runs with the last of his two-baggers.
Game two was much more productive for the Wildcats in every capacity, as they scored at least one run in each of their first five innings at the plate and Long shut down the Pirates from the mound.
Run-scoring singles by Reser and redshirt freshman Clifton Coulter (Camas/Union HS) got Central on the scoreboard in the first, while Gau had a RBI single in the second to make it 3-0. Doubles by Reser and Henderson in the third accounted for the Wildcats' fourth run, while Reser tacked on another RBI with a fourth-inning single. The game's scoring culminated with two more tallies in the fifth on a single by senior Eric Sorensen (Kittitas) and a bases-loaded walk by junior Deren Jones (Lewiston, Idaho).
CWU had a commanding 14-3 edge in hits in the nightcap, again keyed by Reser's four-hit outing. Gau and Henderson once again had two-hit games.
Central Washington will next return to Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, visiting conference co-leader Saint Martin's University this weekend in Lacey. The Wildcats' next scheduled home games are Apr. 1-2 against Montana State University Billings.
