ELLENSBURG, Wash (Feb. 7) – The Central Washington University baseball team was supposed to open up its season in San Francisco with a six-game series, instead it earned an Opening Day sweep over Saint Martin's University Saturday, at the CWU Baseball Field, aided by a Brandon Williams' no-hitter.
 
The Wildcats improve their record to 2-0 in the young season as the Saints fall to 1-3.
 
The no-hitter was the fourth recorded in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's history and the first since 2010.
 
-Game one-
The Wildcats were the first to strike on Opening Day. Darren Honeysett led off the second inning with a line drive double into the left-center gap and would later score on a Benjamin Dunbar bloop-single to right field.
 
Central threatened again in the third as they would load the bases and scratch another run across when Cory Welch was able to scamper home on a fielder's choice to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
 
Zach Johnson gave the Wildcats 6 1/3 innings on the mound, scattering four hits and allowing three runs, only one of which was earned, and striking out two while earning his first win as a Wildcat.
 
The Saints tied the game in the fourth inning with two runs, but the Wildcats quickly answered in the fifth.
 
Austin Pernell set the table with a four-pitch walked and scored on a two-run blast that dented the scoreboard in left field by Kasey Bielec. Two batters later, Honeysett followed suit with a jack of his own that bested the 326' mark in right field.
 
"I thought we came out strong, we got a couple of key homeruns and offensively we did some good things today," Head coach Desi Storey said. "Usually when you come out in the beginning of the season pitchers are ahead of the hitters, but we had some timely hitting and it was a great start."
 
SMU cut the Wildcat lead to one run in the eighth inning, but the Wildcats would answer, yet again. A bases loaded walk by Pernell and a hit-by-pitch scored another two runs for the Wildcats giving the team a 7-4 advantage going into the final frame.
 
Cory Welch, who led the conference in saves last season, shut the door in the ninth striking out two batters.
 
-Game Two-
 
The Wildcats copied the successful formula from game one as the team scored early and often. Honeysett singled after a Welch popup in the first inning, and scored from first on a one-out RBI double from Bielec. Bielec crossed the plate two batters later when Randy Fuller singled through the four-hole for the second Wildcat run. Fuller went a perfect 4-for-4 in game two.
 
Those two runs would be all that was needed for senior pitcher Brandon Williams.
 
Williams was cruising all afternoon racking up 13 strikeouts and facing one more batter than the minimum of 21.
 
"I was establishing the fastball, conditions were great, and I was throwing strikes," Williams said. "They were chasing screwball down."
 
Williams had a perfect game into the sixth inning until Ryan Archibald misplayed a slow rolling ground ball. SMU's Chandler Tracy nearly broke the no-hitter in the top of the seventh when a high fly ball carried down the right field line only to be ruled foul by the first base umpire.
 
The Wildcats will return to action, Feb. 8, when they conclude the four-game series with Saint Martin's.
 
"I think overall we feel pretty good for the start," Storey added. "This is the earliest we have ever played at home, but having said that, we have two more, and we have to finish the weekend."
 
 
Notable Players:
Kasey Bielec: 4-7, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Darran Honeysett: 5-7, 4 Runs, 2 RBI
Brandon Williams: 7 innings, 13k, 0 H, 0 Runs