ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University baseball team swept both of its game against Concordia University (Ore.) Saturday afternoon in the Wildcats first home series of the 2017 season. Central Washington won the first game 2-1, followed by a 7-4 victory later in the day.
 
GAME 1
 
Senior Jake Levin did not disappoint in CWU's opening contest against the Cavaliers. On the mound, Levin earned his fourth win of the season, allowing just three hits with three strikeouts in five scoreless innings. He also terrorized the Cavaliers from the batter's box. Levin was the only Wildcat to cross home plate, going 2 for 3 with a solo homerun in the seventh inning to propel the Wildcats to a 2-1 victory.
 
Junior Kyle Thompson relieved Levin in the sixth inning and pitched three solid innings. Thompson faced 13 batters, allowing just three hits. Christopher Dalto surrendered one run in the final inning, but struck out Concordia's Andrew Barrera to end the game and earn the save.
 
GAME 2
 
Concordia struck first with a 1-0 lead after their first two batters singled to center and leftfield. With two on and no outs, junior Mackenzie Gaul regained his composure and forced the next two batters to ground out with only one Cavalier crossing home plate. A pop fly to right field ended the inning for the Wildcats.
 
Levin's hot hitting continued in game two driving a hard line drive into left field for a single. Conor Plaisance reached first on an error by Concordia's third baseman and Levin advanced to second. Both runners advanced to third and second following a balk by the CU pitcher. A sacrifice fly deep into centerfield by James Smith III allowed Levin to score and Plaisance to move to third.
 
The Wildcats extended their lead in the third inning following a standup double by freshman Yi-Fan Pan that allowed Kyle Stahl to score. Dylan Freyre hit an RBI single to bring Pan home to close out CWU's scoring effort.
 
Concordia leveled the score at 4-4 with three runs on three hits and one error in the fifth inning. The Wildcats rallied back in the bottom of the fifth with three runs of their own. Levin reached first on an error by the third baseman and James Smith walked. Michael Buehn singled to center field to bring Levin around and Brice McCulloch doubled down the right field line to add two more runs for a 7-4 Wildcat advantage.
 
Seth Pendersen and Kyle Blankenship shut down the Cavaliers for the remainder of the way to help CWU hold on to the win. Gaul earned the start, allowing four runs on seven hits with two strikeouts over five innings.
 
The Wildcats and Cavaliers will finish up their four game set tomorrow at the CWU Baseball Field with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.
 
-CWU-