MONMOTH, Ore. (March. 8) – The Central Washington University baseball dropped the final two game at Western Oregon University Sunday, losing game one 17-6, and the second 3-5. The Wildcats finished 1-3 on their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference road trip.
The Wildcats will travel back to Ellensburg with a 9-9 record overall and a 3-5 record in the GNAC as the Wolves climb to 10-14 overall and 6-2 in conference.
Game One – CWU 6 WOU 17 The Wildcats led off the first game going down in order 1-2-3, which would be the first of four innings that saw Wildcat hitters retired in order.
Central Washington fell behind the eight ball early allowing eight runs to cross the plate in the first inning.
Mitch Yada started game one and was relieved by
Jacob Forrester after Yada failed to record an out. Forrester worked 1 2/3 innings allowing six runs, four of which were earned.
The Wildcats cut the lead down to six in the second inning when
Myles Wesener pulled a ball through the left side to chase home
Jonathan Dailey who singled two batters earlier.
Austin Pernell drove in the second run of the inning on an RBI-groundout that allowed Wesener to score.
The Wolves offense was clicking in game one as they scored multiple runs in four different innings highlighted by the eight runs in the first and four in the seventh inning. The Wildcats used five pitchers to chew up all nine innings.
The final run for the Wildcats occurred in the eighth inning when Atkinson drove in his third RBI of the game.
Game Two – CWU 3 WOU 5 Cory Welch started his second game of the season working 5 1/3 strong innings allowing five runs, three of which were earned while striking out six Wolves.
The Wolves got on the board in the first inning capitalizing on a error in the outfield.
Welch worked out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning that saw that bags full of Wolves with no outs. WOU would only score one in the inning as Welch limited the damage to an RBI-ground out.
The Wildcats cut the lead to one in the fourth when
Jeff Beckman tripled down the right field line with two outs and would cross the plate on an infield single by
Austin Pernell.
With the Wildcat down 5-1 in the final inning the Wildcats started to mount a comeback. Beckman led off with another hit to the opposite field and
Darren Honeysett doubled with two outs that left runners on second and third. After
Kasey Bielec worked a walk,
Zach Reay stepped into the box as the tying run and singled up the middle to drive in two runs to cut the lead to 5-3. That would the final as Benjamin Fuller flied out to right to end the game.
The Wildcats will travel back to Ellensburg to battle Northwest Nazarene University for a four-game series beginning Friday, March 13., and continuing on Saturday, March. 14. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. for both days.
Notable Players Ryan Atkinson: 3-5 3 RBI 2 Runs
Myles Wesener: 1-2 2 RBI
Jeff Beckman: 2-2 2 Runs 1 RBI
