ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Apr. 6) – The Central Washington University baseball team (12-17-1, 9-13) played host and split today's games with Concordia University (11-19, 9-13). The Wildcats won game one 9-6 and lost game two by score of 8-2.
 
Game one belonged to the long ball. A total of five homeruns were hit between the two teams. The scoring started in the first inning for the Wildcats and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead.  Mitch Lesmeister led off the inning reaching on a fielding error from the Cavalier center fielder. Two pitches later, Justin Hampson hit a laser to right field for his fourth homerun on the year.
 
Tyler Hoefer was handed the ball to start game one and cruised through the first two innings. Hoefer stumbled in the top of the third inning giving up four runs on two homeruns in the inning. Central responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The run came from a deep sacrifice fly by Jesse Unger allowing Hampson to tag from third and score on the play.
 
After three innings of play, the Cavaliers led the Wildcats by score of four to three. In the fourth inning CU added one more run to their total after their leadoff hitter hit a solo homerun to left field. AJ Wood came in after Hoefer worked his 3.1 innings. Hoefer gave up five earned runs on six hits, and stuck out just two of the 20 batters that he faced. Wood came in and was able to shut down the inning and get the Wildcats back in the dugout.
 
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Central tied the game at five after Lesmeister hit a two RBI single through the right side allowing Robert Ball and Colton Turner to score on the play. Wood continued his dominance of the Cavalier offense. The junior went 3.1 innings giving up just one run on two hits and struck out four Cavalier hitters.
 
Concordia regained the lead in the top of the seventh inning scoring on a sacrifice fly. With runners on first and third, Rhyse Frey came in and closed to door to minimize the damage. After the Wildcats went quietly in the bottom of the seventh, Frey came back out and stuck out the only hitter he saw in the eighth inning. JJ Asinas came in on relief and struck out two batters to close out the inning.
 
Central capitalized on some shaky pitching in the bottom of the eighth inning. The inning started with a solo homerun from Lesmeister (his third homerun on the year) tying the game. Three pitches later, Hampson doubled to right center. Yi-An Pan was hit on the next pitch which forced CU to change pitchers. After the change, Luke Smith drew a four pitch walk to load the bases.
 
After a wild pitch allowed the runners to move up a bag each, the lead was back with the Wildcats. The Cavaliers managed to get an out on a comebacker by Unger. Michael Peter was then intentionally walked to load the bases and put the double play in order. The next batter struck out making two outs in the inning. Ball then came up and drew a walk of his own which brought in another run for the Wildcats extending their lead to two. One more walk in the inning brought in the fourth run of the inning making the Wildcat lead 9-6 heading in the top of the ninth inning.
 
Jacob Forrester came on in the top of the ninth inning going for his fifth save on the season. The senior struck out the first two batters that he saw before giving up a single through the left side of the infield. Three pitches later, Forrester got a CU hitter to pop out to Tripoli just a few feet into the outfield. Central took the win in game one by score of 9-6.
 
"I thought we really did a good job battling back," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said. "Our bullpen kept us in it and our offense just kept scrapping. We got some timely hitting and were able to come away with the win."
 
Game two started with both teams scoring a run in the first inning. Central scored on a bases loaded walk allowing Lesmeister to score from first base. Both teams went quietly in the second inning. Concordia took their second lead of the game in the top of the third inning scoring three runs in the inning off a two RBI double and a second RBI double.
 
The Cavaliers scored three more runs in the fifth inning coming from a two-run homerun and a fielder's choice. After five innings of play, the Cavaliers led game two by score of 7-1. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Wildcats scored their only other run of the game.
 
After Turner reached on an error by pitcher, Jason Hill had a pinch hit double down the right field line that allowed to Turner to score all the way from first base. After a baserunning mistake gave the Cavaliers two outs in the inning, the Wildcats couldn't make anything else out of the inning.  Concordia added one more run in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 8-2 and then proceeded to shut down the Wildcat offense in the bottom half of the seventh inning.
 
"We just had too many missed opportunities," Storey said. "I just felt like we missed chances to score runs early at the plate and then we had some base running miscues that took us out of innings."
 
The two teams are back in action tomorrow as day two of the weekend series will start at 12:00 p.m. at the CWU baseball field.