Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NAMPA, Idaho (Apr. 12) -- The Central Washington University baseball team hit a total of five homeruns as they swept Northwest Nazarene Saturday afternoon in Nampa, Idaho winning game one 6-5, and game two 6-1.
 
Central Washington improved to 21-14 on the season and 14-10 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders fell to 15-20, 11-11 in the GNAC.  With the two wins, CWU wins the four game series 3-1, and sits just two games out of first place.
 
Two of the longballs came in the opener with Kyle Baumgartner (Enumclaw, WA, Enumclaw) and Cory Welch (Las Vegas, NV, Bishop Gorman) each hitting two-run round-trippers in the fifth inning to give the Wildcats a 5-2 lead.  The Crusaders mounted a comeback, scoring twice in the bottom half of the fifth inning and again in the sixth to tied the game at 5-5.
 
It wasn't until the ninth inning that the Wildcats scored the game-winning run as they took advantage of a fielding error by NNU.  Welch led off with a walk and advanced to third on groundouts by Kasey Bielec (Port Orchard, WA, North Mason) and Ethan Sterkel (Ellensburg, WA, Ellensburg), and eventually scored when Jake Levin (Redmond, WA, Redmond) reached base on a fielding error.
 
Welch made sure the 6-5 lead held as he picked up his conference leading 8th save of the season striking out the final two batters in the ninth.
 
Nolan Amundson (Boise, ID, Timberline) pitched in relief for the Wildcats and earned his second win of the season (2-0) allowing just two hits in 2 1/3 innings of work.
 
In the second game of the twinbill Willie Davies (Shoreline, WA, Shorecrest) pitched a complete game and improved to 3-0 on the season.  Davies gave up nine hits in the contest but gave the Crusaders no free passes on the day while striking out two batters.
 
Davies got some help from big homeruns by Bielec, Josh Potter (Des Moines, WA, Mount Rainier) and Eric Tinnell (Ephrata, WA, Ephrata).  Potter led of the inning with a moonshot to left field, striking the first pitch he saw.  Tinnell followed suit three batters later, also connecting on the first pitch, sending it over the left centerfield wall scoring pinch hitter Jeff Beckman (Renton, WA, Hazen).  Bielec led off the seventh inning and also cleared the left field wall to collect his team-leading sixth big fly of the season.
 
Although he didn't drive in any runs and scored just once, Sterkel had a great day at the plate going 6-for-9 with five singles and a double.
 
The Wildcats will play their final two home games of the season next weekend when they host Holy Names Academy next Friday and Saturday.