Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Apr. 6) -- Junior pitcher Randy Button (Allyn/North Mason HS) threw a seven-inning complete-game and struck out five, helping lead the Central Washington University baseball team to a doubleheader split against visiting Northwest Nazarene University on Friday. The Wildcats won the nightcap, 10-1, after a 15-1 loss in game one.

Central Washington is now 11-15 overall and 7-7 record in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, while the Crusaders own a 16-13 mark, 5-7 in the GNAC.

Button (2-2) threw a season-high seven innings in game two, scattering nine hits and allowing just one run. He had plenty of offensive support, especially late in the game, when the Wildcats scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to turn a 2-1 lead into a 10-1 rout.

In the contest, Central Washington fell behind 1-0 as NNU scored in the top of the third inning, but the hosts quickly tied the game as senior Brandon Wang (Mill Creek/Jackson HS) led off the fourth inning with a double for the Wildcats' first hit of the game. Wang later scored on a RBI single by junior Kyle Sani (Kennewick/Southridge HS). CWU scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on a squeeze bunt by senior Brett Bielec (Port Orchard/North Mason HS), which brought home senior Glen Reser (Spokane/Mead HS) from third base.

The Wildcats, who collected just three hits in the first five innings, erupted in the sixth inning with eight runs on six hits, as the first six batters of the inning reached base safely to give CWU a 10-1 advantage. Senior David Leid (Carson City, Nev./Carson HS) had two run-scoring singles in the inning, and junior pinch hitter Spencer Humphrey (Dublin, Calif.), who originally came in as a pinch-runner for senior Derrick Webb (Ephrata) who led the inning off with a single, drove in two runs on a single to center field. The Wildcats also scored two runs on bases-loaded walks in the inning.

Leid and Sani both earned two hits in game two, when the Wildcats and Crusaders both had nine total hits.

The Wildcats also finished with nine hits in game one, but were unable to piece together more than one run in the 15-1 loss. The Crusaders' 14-hit attack was aided by seven CWU errors, which led to eight unearned runs.

Central Washington had four miscues in the sixth inning alone, when Northwest Nazarene scored seven runs on five hits to extend its lead to 11-0.

The lone Wildcat run came in the eighth inning on a run-scoring single by junior Brett Gray (Ephrata) that scored Leid, who had reached base on a double. Gray had two of the Wildcats' nine hits in game one, going 2 for 4. Webb also collected two hits in as many at-bats in the opener.

NNU outfielder Logan Parker was 4 for 6 with three runs scored and two RBI in the game, as five different Crusaders drove in two runs apiece in game one. Northwest Nazarene starting pitcher Zeb Sneed picked up his fifth win of the season (5-3), throwing 7 2/3 innings and allowing just the one run.

The two teams wrap up their four-game series on Saturday (Apr. 7) with another doubleheader at noon Pacific Daylight Time.