ELLENSBURG, Wash (Feb. 28) – The Central Washington University baseball team came storming back in game two of the first Great Northwest Athletic Conference double header this season behind four homeruns to earn a split versus Montana State University.
 
The two-game split leaves the Wildcats at 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the GNAC, as the Yellowjackets moves to 4-10 overall and 1-1 in conference.
 
Game Two – CWU 13 MSUB 4
 
The Wildcats jumped on the Yellowjackets in the second inning when Jeff Beckman and Jonathan Dailey singled and set the table for Austin Pernell who drove them in on a sharp single to left. Central Washington would tack on two more runs an innings later when Beckman hammered his first homerun of the year to deep centerfield to give the Wildcats a 5-0 lead.
 
"We talked about getting something done early," Head coach Desi Storey said. "I think we were a little more aggressive early in the count, I don't expect four homeruns a game, but we squared some balls up and Brandon pitched well for us."
 
In the fourth inning Darren Honeysett deposited his third homerun of the year to right field that chased home Zach Reay and Cory Welch to increase the lead to 8-0 in favor of the home team.
 
Montana State would answer with four runs in the top of the fifth to cut the Wildcat lead to 8-4, but Reay responded with a two-run shot to left for his second homerun of the year, and Honeysett would cap the inning with his second homerun of the day to give the Wildcats a 12-4 lead.
 
"I had struggled a bit in the first game," Honeysett said. "But I was sitting fastball and put my best swings on both pitches, they just happened to leave the yard."
 
Starting pitcher Brandon Williams earned his second win of the season improving his record to 2-1. The righty threw is second complete game of the season, reducing his ERA to 1.02. He struck out 13 Yellowjackets over seven strong innings allowing just five hits and four unearned runs.
 
Game One- CWU 6 MSUB 14
 
The Yellowjackets were the first to score in game one on a bizarre play. With MSUB threating to score with runners on first and second base, a high fly ball to center field was caught by Myles Wesener. A small stumble allowed the MSUB runner, who was tagging from second, to score from second base, giving the Yellowjackets a quick 1-0 lead.
 
The Wildcats tried to respond in the bottom of the first and second innings with two hits apiece in each frame, but could not find the right combination to knot the game.
 
Starting pitcher Zach Johnson battled through five innings allowing seven hits and three walks that resulted in three earned runs. The loss moves Johnson's record to 1-1, but the crafty lefty struck out five, and picked off his fifth base runner of the season. In the fourth inning, a MSUB batter reached on the first of two Wildcat errors in the game, but was picked off by Johnson five pitches later.
 
The Yellowjackets scored two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to increase their lead to 3-0 when the first four batters reached base. Montana State Billings added six more runs in the seventh, three in the eighth and two in the ninth to put the game away.
 
"That was there best guy out there," Storey said of MSUB's game one starter. "I thought we had some opportunities to score some runs early but didn't capitalize. That would have changed some things for the game moving forward. If we didn't give up the four spot late in game one, we would have put ourselves in a better position to come away with a win."
 
The Wildcats only recorded two innings that resulted in runs crossing the plate. In the eighth inning, the Wildcats scored four runs on six hits, capped by a Jeff Beckman two-RBI single, and a Cory Welch RBI-single one batter later. The Wildcats would muster two more runs in the ninth inning.
 
"We want to come out and win game one," Storey concluded. "We want three wins this weekend, we're not looking to settle for two. We want to come out of every weekend with at least three, so we can start pulling away from people."
 
The Wildcats will return to the field Sunday, March 1^st., to complete the four game series versus MSUB. First pitch of game one is scheduled for noon. Follow the action a Wildcatsports.com
 
Notable Players
 
SP: Brandon Williams – 7 inings 5 hits 13 strikeouts 1 walk
OF: Darren Honeysett – 2-6, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R
UTIL: Jeff Beckman – 3-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 R