Baseball | 4/21/2015 1:21:00 PM
ELLENSBURG, Wash (April. 21) --The Great Northwest Athletic conference baseball season is winding down and the Central Washington University baseball team is on the outside, looking in. Facing an uphill battle, the Wildcats do still hold a sliver of hope to make the postseason with one conference series to play versus Saint Martin's (SMU) in Lacey this weekend. CWU will go into the series with an 11-17 GNAC mark and 20-23 overall. Saint Martin's sits in the GNAC cellar with a 7-17 record and 15-27 overall.
These two teams have met twice previously this year, both in Ellensburg and they have split the season series four games apiece, both sweeping one another.
For the Wildcats to make the postseason they must sweep SMU this weekend and get some help from Montana State Billings, who plays Northwest Nazarene (NNU).
CWU has struggled to put together a complete game this season. Often times the offense has shined, but the pitching hasn't managed to shut the door and vice versa. On Friday against NNU, the Wildcats pounded out 15 runs and only surrendered two earned runs. Saturday was much different, as pitchers struggled to find the strikezone and the offense went dormant, being one hit in the nightcap.
Zach Johnson and
Mitch Yada were stellar last weekend as both threw complete games, saving bullpen arms. More than likely, both will start game one and game two, respectively.
Zach Johnson has excelled as of late, allowing three earned runs or less in his last four starts. He also is the team's leader in ERA (3.44), innings pitched (65.1) and wins (4). Yada notched his first win at NNU.
Hitting has been the staple for the Wildcats all season long, as CWU boasts three of the top 10 leading hitters in the conference and a .295 team batting average.
Kasey Bielec and
Darren Honeysett spearhead an offense that has found several ways to put up numbers in a big way. Bielec and Honeysett highlight this group, but junior college transfers
Randy Fuller (.323 batting average) and
Benjamin Dunbar (.333 batting average) have been a pleasant surprise, in addition, Dunbar has done a fantastic job behind the plate limiting the running game.
Saint Martin's pitching staff sports 5.52 team ERA, if the Wildcats can dig into SMU's bullpen early and spread them thin for the weekend, it could make an immense difference later in the series. SMU leads the GNAC in grounding into double plays, if CWU pitchers can induce groundballs it could propel the Wildcats to wins.
