BILLINGS, Mont. (April 11) – Saturday's double-header was a tough pill to swallow for the Central Washington baseball team. They dropped the front end of the double dip 21-8 and lost a back-and-forth extra inning thriller in the nightcap 10-9 after a seven-run rally in the seventh inning came up just short. Central moves their record 18-21 overall and 9-15 in conference play.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a
Kasey Bielec single down the right field line that scored
Darren Honeysett. It was all Billings from there as they poured in six runs in the bottom half of the first inning.
Starting pitcher for the Wildcats,
Dustin Hamilton, issued two free passes to start the inning via a leadoff walk and beaning reigning GNAC Player of the Year Brody Miller. After a strikeout, Hamilton issued two more base on balls to Trevor Nix and Luke Reinschmidt. Kevin Toon and Corey Morris followed suit with back-to-back singles to give Billings a 3-1 lead. A bases-loaded hit by pitch from Landon Peterson plated the fourth run. Casey Merritt then singled to plate two more for a 6-1 advantage.
In the Billings half of the third inning, the Yellowjackets tacked on three more on three base hits from Peterson, Merritt and Colter Sternhagen.
Central answered with a run of it's own from Honeysett that plated
Austin Pernell, who came around to score after being issued a walk.
MSUB didn't let up, pounding out eight runs in the fourth, punctuated by a Miller grand slam and five walks and a hit batsmen from the Wildcat's pitching staff.
Billings scored in all but three innings and starting pitcher Tanner Johnson picked up the win to run his record to 3-1 this season.
In the nightcap, Central got on the board first with a homerun from
Benjamin Dunbar. MSUB wasted no time answering; Conner Holbrook smacked an RBI double to score Reinschmidt in the bottom of the second.
In the bottom of the third, Miller belted a double to deep centerfield for an RBI double to score Myles Berkram. Sternhagen added another run with a double of his own to plate Miller. Later in the third, Reinschmidt grounded into a double play, but Sternhagen scored on the play.
The Wildcats closed the deficit by one when
Jonathan Dailey singled home Dunbar in the top of the sixth. MSUB added some cushion plating three runs in the six on Miller's two-run homerun, his second of the day. Sternhagen then singled and was brought in to score on an RBI groundout by Reinschmidt.
The Wildcats wouldn't go away though; they rallied for seven runs in the seventh to take the lead 9-7. Central Washington started off the seventh with three straight hits by Pernell, Honeysett and
Myles Wesener. Pernell scored on Wesener's double. Wesener advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when MSUB pitcher Adam Cox failed to pause in his stretch and was called for a balk.
Dunbar was then walked and stole second and advanced to third on the balk.
Randy Fuller followed with a walk and then MSUB Head Coach Rob Bishop went to the bullpen to get Lucas Blehm.
Dailey wasted not time, singling off Blehm to plate Dunbar and
Jeff Beckman joined the action with a base-on-balls.
Garrett Terrell reached on an error that scored pinch runner
Tanner Romo and Dailey.
Billings wouldn't go down easy; with one out Holbrook singled and Merritt blasted a two-run homerun to knot the game 9-9 and send the game to extra innings.
MSUB threatened in the bottom of the eighth when Reinschmidt reached on an error and advanced to third via a Morris single. A soft groundout to first kept Reinschmidt at third, but one batter later Holbrook singled to score the game-winning run and seal the series win for the Yellowjackets.
Central hits the road for a four-game series with Northwest Nazarene next weekend, who they beat three times in Ellensburg.
