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BILLINGS, Mont. (Apr. 26) -- Senior Kyle Sani (Kennewick/Southridge HS) homered three times in the first game, and once more in the nightcap, as the Central Washington University baseball team split its doubleheader with host Montana State University Billings on Friday afternoon at Dehler Park. The Wildcats won the opener, 17-7, before falling in game two, 20-8.

CWU remains one game out of first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with six games to play, owning an 18-8 league mark and a 27-17 overall record. MSUB locked up the final berth in the GNAC Tournament with Friday's split, improving to 15-14 in GNAC play and 19-25-1 overall.

GAME ONE: CWU 17, Montana State Billings 7
After an early 1-0 deficit, CWU scored at least two runs in each of its final seven innings at the plate en route to a 10-run victory over MSU Billings.

Sani got the Wildcats on the scoreboard with the first of his three home runs in the contest -- a solo shot to left field with one out in the third. Two batters later, freshman Kramer Ferrell (Ellensburg) joined in the long-ball festivities -- the first of his two in the game -- with a two-run shot to give CWU a 3-1 lead.

CWU scored twice each in the fourth through sixth innings, with Sani's second home run leading off the sixth. He later added a two-run home run in the seventh, while also earning a RBI on a single in the fourth. The catcher finished the game 5 for 5 with four runs scored and five RBI.

Ferrell's second homer of the contest capped the Wildcats' scoring in the top of the ninth inning, driving home Sani on the play. The CWU right fielder finished 3 for 5 with four runs scored while also stealing two bases.

Montana State Billings scored single runs in the first and ninth innings, with its other five tallies coming in the bottom of the fifth inning. CWU relief pitcher Max Dickinson (So., Hoquiam) was credited with the victory after 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in which he struck out four.

CWU junior Joe Castro (Union City, Calif./James Logan HS) added a three-hit, two-RBI game with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. The Wildcats finished with a 20-15 edge in hits.

GAME TWO: Montana State Billings 20, CWU 8
The host Yellowjackets scored at least once in every inning of the seven-inning contest, taking an 8-0 lead after two innings en route to the 20-8 win.

CWU closed to within 8-4 after the top of the third inning, as Sani had a two-run single to break up the shutout and junior Scott Stone (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley HS) followed with a two-run home run. That four-run margin was as close as the Wildcats would get, however, as MSUB scored once in the bottom of the inning and three more times in the fourth before scoring four runs each in the fifth and sixth frames.

The hit totals were an exact reverse in game two from the opening game of the doubleheader, as MSUB finished with 20 to the Wildcats' 15. Three CWU players -- Castro, sophomore Kasey Bielec (Port Orchard/North Mason HS), and junior Justen Weigel (Naches/Naches Valley HS) -- had three hits each while Sani added two more to finish 7 for 9 in the doubleheader.

Montana State Billings saw six of its starters get more than one hit, with all nine registering at least one. Colby Robison, who had been held hitless in Friday's opener, finished 5 for 5 with two home runs and nine RBI for the Yellowjackets.

The two teams will wrap up their four-game series on Saturday. CWU will then return home next weekend for its regular-season finales against conference leader Western Oregon University on Friday and Saturday (May 3-4).