ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington University Wildcats Baseball is set to hit the road for the third straight week. The Crimson and Black travel to Salem, Oregon to square off against NAIA foe Corban University.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Friday, Feb. 14 (DH)
At Corban
11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. PT
Volcanoes Stadium
Salem, Ore.
 
Saturday, Feb. 15
At Corban
11:00 a.m. PT
Volcanoes Stadium
Salem, Ore.
 
QUOTABLE
"Our focus is to be consistent in all three aspects this weekend," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said. "Hitting, pitching, and defense need to be consistent so that we are playing more complete baseball every time out."
 
SCOUTING CORBAN | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | 2020 STATS
The Warriors baseball team already has 12 games under their belt entering the weekend series with Central. The NAIA squad currently sits at 2-10 overall entering its final non-conference series of the regular season.
 
Corban is hitting just .218 as a team with 76 hits on the year so far in 348 at bats. They have scored 36 runs in 12 contests to go along with 31 RBI. Of the 76 hits, 12 have been doubles as well as seven homeruns on the year.
 
On the mound, the Warriors have a combined ERA of 5.75 and have allowed batters to hit an average of .272 this season. They have yet to post a shutout this season and have surrendered 12 homers so far.
 
Senior Nate Cantonwine leads the bats going into the weekend with a .361 batting average. He has knocked 13 hits, scored a trio of runs and has four RBI to go along with one homerun.
 
Estenio Sede has the most RBI for Corban with eight and is batting .255 in 12 games played. He also leads the way in homeruns hit with three and is tied for the lead in runs scored with six. Jared Bell also has scored six runs and is batting .242.
 
Sede has 12 hits on the year which is second-most behind Cantonwine. Maxwell Jeffrey is the only other player with double figure hits with 10. Maxwell leads the team in doubles with three. Bell is the team leader in stolen bases with five, followed by Jeffrey with four.
 
On the hill, three Warriors have all started in three games to tie for the lead. Jackson Arnsdorf has the lowest ERA of the three at 4.85 in 13.0 innings of work, but is winless on the season at 0-2. He has fanned a team-high 14 batters and allowed just one homerun on the year.
 
Hector Sepulveda and Mason Shaw are both 1-2 in three starts this year. Sepulveda is second in total strikeouts with 11 on the year. He has a 5.56 ERA and in 11.1 innings pitched. Shaw has pitched the most innings going 14 complete but has given up 18 runs on the year with 17 being earned for an ERA of 10.93. He has just six strikeouts in three games.
 
GNAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced its Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week Monday after and Central Washington University grabbed one of the spots.
 
Earning GNAC Baseball Player of the Week honors was outfielder Justin Hampson. He is the first CWU selection for the 2020 season.
 
Hampson finished the previous weekend going 8-16 at the plate for a batting average of .500. He drove in two runs and scored four. He tacked on one double and slugged .563 as the Wildcats split a four-game series at Academy of Art, going 2-2. Hampson also drew three walks as well and defensively he had nine putouts and a clean fielding percentage of 1.000.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Central Washington University Wildcats baseball team suffered a tough series finale loss Sunday afternoon as they fell 17-16 to Academy of Art on the road. The Wildcats led 14-5 after three innings but were unable to hold on for the win to secure the overall series victory.
 
The high scoring affair was lopsided through the first half of the contest as CWU (2-5) managed to jump out to a 14-5 lead after three innings of play. The Urban Knights (2-2) then mounted a comeback in the final six frames scoring 12 runs, while holding the Wildcats to just two in that span.
 
Both teams hit the ball well, combining for 41 on the day, but AAU finished with overall advantage at 23-18. The Wildcats also had two errors in the game while the Urban Knights played a clean game to mount the comeback and tie the series at 2-2.
 
Michael Copeland led the way for Central going 5-6 with five RBI and four runs scored. Jaden Hassell was 3-6 with a pair of RBI and one run scored. Trevor Tripoli finished with three RBI and was 2-4 also with a run scored. Justin Hampson also had three hits in four at bats and had a run scored and an RBI.
 
Aaron Foust got the start on the mound and worked 3.2 innings. He had a game-high six strikeouts and allowed three runs, with just one being earned. Josh Touhey suffered the loss to go to 0-1 on the season.
 
CWU vs. CU HISTORY
The Wildcats are 13-6-1 all-time against the Warriors and have won five of the last six contests. All five wins have come on the home turf of the Warriors field.
 
Last season, Central and Corban played a four-game series with CWU walking away with a 3-0-1 overall win. The lone tie of the series came at a final score of 0-0 after eight innings. In the three wins, CWU scored 19 runs and held Corban to just eight.
 
The last time the Wildcats suffered a defeat to the Warriors was in 2018. The Warriors won a pair of game, 5-1 and 2-1, to ultimately end the series in a 2-2 draw.