PORTLAND, Ore. (May 10) – A late push from the Central Washington University baseball team dropped Northwest Nazarene University in the opening game of the 2017 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championships by a score of 7-6.
 
"It was our most complete game of the season," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said.  "We scored in multiple innings and came through in clutch moments.  It's a great start to the tournament."
 
Jake Levin took to the hill for the Wildcats and hurled a eight-strikeout complete game.  Levin notched his eighth win of the season. 
 
"Lev went out and shut them down in the moments we needed most," Storey noted.  "He pitched a great game."
 
The First Team All-GNAC selection pitched his way out of a jam in the top of the ninth, getting Andrew Helmstadter looking and stranding the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
 
Christopher Dalto got the Wildcats' offense on the board first.  Dalto dropped down a bunt single, allowing Levin to score in the second inning. 
 
Conor Plaisance tacked on a second run, singling up the middle and driving home Dylan Freyre.  James Smith III then hit a sacrifice fly, extending the Wildcats' lead to 3-0.
 
Billy King, the GNAC Player of the Year, got the Crusaders on the board in the fourth inning.  King singled through the right side, scoring Casey Sheehan.  A throwing error later in the inning allowed Colton McCluskey to scramble home, cutting the Wildcats' lead to 3-2.
 
The Crusaders levelled the score in the sixth on a double by King, scoring Sheehan for the second time.  Helmstadter then singled through the left side, scoring King, and taking a 4-3 lead.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Smith took a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence, bring the game back to square one.
 
The Wildcats tallied once more in the seventh.  This time, Plaisance singled to right center and Freyre scored from third for a 5-4 lead.
 
King struck once again for the Crusaders in the top of the eighth.  With McCluskey on first, King took a 2-0 fastball to the porch in right field, giving NNU a 6-5 lead.
 
Opening the bottom of the eighth inning, Dalto walloped a two-strike offering from First Team All-GNAC selection Jaramy Jacobs for a no-doubt solo blast.
 
Ty Deckwa then roped a double down the right field line.  A sacrifice bunt by Yi-an Pan moved Deckwa to third.  Kyle Stahl then hit a Baltimore chopper to short, but the throw to the plate was late, allowing Deckwa to score the go-ahead run.
 
Levin kept the Crusaders off the scoreboard and the Wildcats prevailed 7-6.  Central now plays tomorrow (May 11) at 3:30 p.m. against the winner of Montana State Billings and Western Oregon University.