Baseball | 3/1/2015 6:21:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ELLENSBURG, Wash (March. 2) – The Central Washington University baseball team earned a walk off win Monday, to take the fourth game of the series versus Montana State University Billings to earn a Great Northwest Athletic Conference opening weekend split.

The two win leaves the Wildcats at 7-5 overall and 2-2 in the GNAC as the Yellowjackets climb to 5-11 and 2-2 in conference.
 
"We were pretty resilient all weekend, we didn't play well in a couple of games and made some mistakes and didn't pitch it that well," Head coach Desi Storey said. "But with that said, we didn't give in, and in those two games we lost we kept coming back and coming back, and that's a good sign for a team that keeps battling even when we come up on the short end."
 
Game Two – CWU 4 MSUB 3
 
Cory Welch started the second game for the Wildcats and worked 6 1/3 innings allowing eight hits and just two earned runs, while striking out five batters. Davis Engel got the win on Monday throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
 
"Cory did a great job for us," Storey said. "He came in, and gave us some strong innings, and Engel came in and kept [MSUB] off the board."
 
The Wildcat offense gave Welch a quick lead thanks to lone runs in the second and third innings. Randy Fuller reached base on a Yellowjacket error and found himself at second after a poor throw from the shortstop. After a productive out by Jonathan Dailey that advanced Fuller to third, Fuller would cross the plate on a Jeff Beckman two-out RBI single to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
 
Montana State answered in the top of the third with a run, but Darren Honeysett continued his torrid weekend by hitting his third homerun of the series in the third inning on a 2-1 count to regain the lead for the Wildcats, 2-1.
 
A costly error by the Wildcats in the top half of the sixth innings tied the game at two apiece. But in the home half of the sixth, Kasey Bielec unknotted the game with a deep sacrifice fly to left that allowed Welch to score the go-ahead run.
 
With just three outs remaining, MSUB centerfielder Luke Reinschmidt lifted a 1-0 fastball to left-centerfield to tie the game at 3-3. The game would be suspended due to darkness, and scheduled for a Monday restart.

On the Monday restart, the game picked up in the top half of the eighth inning. MSUB advanced a runner to third, and with two outs in the inning, a poor throw from the Wildcat second basemen pulled Fuller's foot off the bag, allowing the runner to score from third. A quick conference between the umpires resulted in the play being overturned, giving the Wildcats a chance in the bottom half of the frame.
 
Zach Reay led off the inning with a hustle infield-single to the third basemen and was lifted for a pinch runner that advanced to second on a Myles Wesener sacrifice bunt. After Honeysett was intentionally walked, Bielec blasted a hanging slider over the MSUB centerfielder's head for a walk off to give the Wildcats the win.
 
"The first pitch I saw was fastball up and in for a strike," Bielec said. "I knew we would come back with a slider, and luckily I hit the pitch hard and it fell in."

 
Game One- CWU 9 MSUB 11
 
The Wildcats wasted no time in the first game of the doubleheader, they scored in the first three innings of the game. In the first inning, Honeysett reached on a throwing error by the Yellowjackets' first basemen and methodically worked his way around the bases. Honeysett stole second base and then found himself crossing the plate on back-to-back passed balls, and a Benjamin Dunbar RBI-single two batters later gave the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead.
 
Welch added another run in the second inning on a line drive single to the opposite field that chased home Jonathan Daily and inflated the lead to 3-0.
 
Montana State Billings answered in the top half of the third with a four-spot behind two wild pitches and a throwing error, but CWU answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to an RBI hit-by-pitch off the back of Reay and another passed ball that allowed Beckman to cross the plate.
 
Game one saw the lead change hands four different times. The Wildcats knotted the score in the fifth inning when Honeysett worked a bases loaded walk to make the score 6-6.
 
Starting pitcher Mitch Yada battled through three innings striking out four batters, allowing six hits and five runs, four of which were earned.
 
The Yellowjackets regained the lead in the top of the eighth inning after MSUB's Trevor Nix delivered a go-ahead three-run homerun to left field. A lone Wildcat run in the eighth would not be enough for the Wildcat to over come the deficit.
 
The Wildcats will battle Whitworth University, Wednesday, March. 4., for a midweek doubleheader then travel to Monmouth, Ore., for a four-game series versus the Wolves.
 
"We got to use the rest of the week and both Whitworth games to eliminate some of the mistakes," Storey added. "We want to become more consistent in our pitching staff and keep the offense rolling. We have to do a better job of playing to our ability, and this week will be a good test for this club to see where we stand."
 
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