Baseball | 5/11/2017 1:40:00 PM

PORTLAND, Ore. (May 11) – After opening the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament with a 7-6 victory over Northwest Nazarene, the No. 2 seeded Central Washington University takes on Western Oregon University at 3:30 p.m. at Porter Park.
 
"It's going to be a battle," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said.  "We know about all there is to know about each other at this point in the season, there aren't many surprises.  We need to come out and play our game.   Yesterday we put together our most complete game of the season and we will need to do that again today.  Western Oregon is a good program and they will be ready to battle."
 
In the opening game, the Wildcats trailed by a run going into the eighth inning, but got a leadoff solo home run by shortstop Christopher Dalto to knot the game at 6-6. Ty Deckwa then got his first hit of the day with a double down the right-field line and eventually scored the game-winning run on an RBI-fielder's choice hit by Kyle Stahl.
 
Jake Levin became the fourth pitcher in GNAC Championships history to throw a complete game, picking up his GNAC-leading eighth win of the year. He struck out eight batters and allowed six runs, five earned, on 11 hits and two walks. He tallied 122 pitches, and in the process, assured that the entire Wildcat bullpen would be available for Thursday's game.
 
Dalto had two RBIs in the game after driving in the first run with a bunt single that allowed Levin to score in the second inning. The Wildcats added two more for a 3-0 lead on a single by Conor Plaisance up the middle and a sacrifice fly by James Smith III.
 
Cam Walker threw a two-run complete game, scattering four hits with a GNAC Championships record 10 strikeouts to lead Western Oregon to a 4-2 win over Montana State Billings at Porter Park on Wednesday in the first round.
 
Joey Crunkilton got the Wolves' big hit to break open the pitching duel with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning that gave Western Oregon the lead for good. Forrest Garcia added one more with a line drive into right-center field that was deep enough to score Justin Wakem for a 4-2 lead.
 
The Wildcats and Wolves split their season series against one another, 4-4.  The Wolves took the top seed in the GNAC with a record of 26-12 in conference play.
 
The Wildcats will most likely see left-hander Trey Smith on the mound for the Wolves.  Smith is 4-2 on the season with an earned run average of 3.54 in nine appearances.  Opponents are hitting .261 on the year off of Smith.
 
First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Porter Park.  Live stats and video are available through the GNAC's Stretch portal.

Contributions to the release made by GNACSports.com.