ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Mar. 31) – The Central Washington University baseball team swept both ends of its doubleheader against Montana State Billings, in part thanks to the long ball.
 
The Wildcats took game one, 12-3, before walking off in game two, 9-7, on a three-run shot by James Smith III.
 
Jake Levin hurled a complete game in the series opener, allowing just three runs, on five hits, with seven strikeouts.  At the plate, Levin blasted a grand slam in the in the bottom of the second inning. 
 
"Lev did a great job," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said. "Tossed a complete game, hit a grand slam.  It was an awesome outing by him."
 
The Wildcats scored a pair in the first inning on a sacrifice line drive by Dylan Freyre.  Smith later singled home Levin for a 2-0 advantage.  The Yellowjackets struck back in the second, levelling the score at 2-2. 
 
Levin's grand slam gave CWU a 6-2 advantage.  A solo homerun by MSUB cut the deficit to 6-3, but that was all the offense MSUB got.
 
The Wildcats, meanwhile, pushed across six more runs.  They notched two in the fourth and four in the sixth for a 12-3 victory.
 
"We are getting better," Storey noted.  "We put up crooked numbers in multiple innings and we are getting more consistent throughout the lineup."
 
In game two, the Yellowjackets opened a 1-0 lead in the third inning.  Central responded by levelling the score in the fourth. 
 
A four-run fifth inning gave MSUB a 5-1 lead. 
 
Christopher Dalto blasted his first homerun of the season in the bottom half of the fifth, before Yi-Fan Pan singled home Kyle Stahl, for a 5-3 score.
 
After the Yellowjackets scratched across a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh, the Wildcats trailed 7-3 heading into their final at-bats.
 
Two quick outs and the game looked over for CWU.  Undeterred, Stahl singled up the middle and stole second.  Rory Graf-Brennen pinch hit and singled up the middle, driving in Stahl.  Freyre then roped a double, scoring Graf-Brennen.  Levin came up and sliced a single through the left side, advancing Freyre to third.  Michael Buehn came on to pinch run for Levin.  With two out and two on, Plaisance singled up the middle.  Freyre came around to score and Buehn advanced to third.
 
Trailing 7-6, Smith blasted a towering three-run homerun for a 9-7 walk-off victory.
 
"We wanted to stay with our approach," Storey said.  "Have good at-bats, don't try to do too much.  I think we did a good job with that.  We kept things alive.  Same thing with Jimmy, he was just trying to stay alive and he got a pitch that was left up."
 
The Wildcats are back in action on Saturday (Apr. 1) for another twin bill against Billings.  First pitch is scheduled for noon.