ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Apr. 30) – The Central Washington University baseball team completed its sweep of Northwest Nazarene University with a pair of wins on Senior Day. Central improves to 26-20 overall and 22-14 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Northwest Nazarene falls to 24-20 overall and 19-15 in the GNAC.
"Congrats to our guys today," CWU Head Coach
Desi Storey said afterward. "They battled all day and, again, our bats came through in big spots and put up big numbers."
Central's bats came alive again on Saturday. Trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning, the Wildcats exploded for eight runs.
Tanner Romo singled home
Kyle Stahl to even the score.
Ryan Atkinson then singled home
Benjamin Dunbar and
Tanner Romo. A groundball to second allowed
Jonathan Dailey to score.
Dylan Freyre then singled home Atkinson.
Jake Levin's two-run double scored both Freyre and Martinez. Dunbar closed the scoring in the fifth with an RBI double, scoring Levin, and giving CWU an 8-1 lead.
"That was a huge inning for us," Storey noted. "Everything clicked in that inning. It was solid hitting, no one was trying to take one out or over swing. You look at what our guys did all weekend and that inning is a testament to that."
That would be all the offense Central needed and then some in game one.
Mackenzie Gaul hurled six innings of two-run ball on three hits. He struck out eight hitters.
"Mack looked good," Storey said. "He hit his spots and missed bats for the most part. He got us deep and
Jacob Forrester did the rest."
Atkinson, Dunbar, and Freyre each recorded two hits.
A see-saw battle in game two culminated in the fifth inning. Trailing 5-4,
Randy Fuller launched a three-run shot to left field for a 7-5 lead.
"He was pounding in fastballs," Fuller said afterward. "He hung a curveball and I hit it. I was really trying to hit a sacrifice fly, but hey, I'll take it. It was an incredible moment to be able to come through on Senior Day like that."
Previously. Martinez had an RBI single in the first. Honeysett scored on a balk in the third, before Stahl doubled home Martinez. In the fourth, Atkinson singled and scored Fuller.
"We found ways to capitalize today and all weekend," Storey noted. "Guys came through in big moments to help us out. It was a fantastic weekend for our guys."
In the sixth inning, Freyre singled home Honeysett for an 8-5 lead. Stahl then had a three-run shot of his own, giving Central an 11-5 lead.
The Crusaders scored twice in the seventh, but
CJ Gettman was able to hold the lead.
"It was great to pick up a pair of wins today, on Senior Day," Storey finished. "We've got one series left and it's a big one for us in regards to the standings."
Central will be back in action next weekend in a crucial GNAC series against Western Oregon.
