ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington University baseball split the second day of its conference series with Western Oregon Sunday afternoon at home to end the series in a 2-2 overall split.
 
The bats owned game one for the Wildcats (6-12, 3-5 GNAC) as they scored nine runs and totaled 16 hits to take the day two opener. Pitching and fielding was stout the whole way for the Crimson and Black who allowed just one run, gave up two hits and had just one error.
 
Game two was nearly even in hits as the Wolves (6-6, 4-4 GNAC) barely outhit CWU by three, 7-4, but a grand slam homerun in the third and five total runs scored in that frame was the difference maker. CWU had a chance to win in the seventh with the bases loaded but fell short of the comeback.
 
QUOTABLE
"I thought, overall, we competed well all weekend; not just today. For the whole weekend, we probably had three innings got big against us. We overcame one of them, but I thought our guys pitched pretty well and we competed all weekend. We came up short here at the end [in the finale] but we kept fighting and I'm proud of them," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said. "We had some really good pitching outings and we swung the bats well. We're going in the right direction and the team got better. That's a good team over there [in WOU] that we played. We'd like the series win but we just have to move on and get ready for next week."
 
Game One: Central Washington 9, Western Oregon 1
The Wildcats never trailed in the day two opener two win by eight runs. Helping CWU secure the win was five combined runs scored in between the fifth and sixth frame and the pitching of starter Brayde Hirai.
 
Hirai pitched eight complete innings to pick up his first win of the year (1-3). He allowed the one run and gave up the two hits but finished with a game-high six strikeouts to lead the defense and improve to 1-3 on the mound.
 
CWU scored its first two of nine runs in the opening stanza. A Cameron McGrath single plated home Michael Copeland to make it 1-0. Mitch Lesmeister brought the score to 2-0 after getting on base by a hit by pitch and eventually made it to third before stealing home.
 
Western Oregon's lone run of the nine-inning contest came in the top of the second when Joshua McIntyre hit a solo homerun to right center field. Their only two hits also came in that frame as well. The score remained 2-1 going into the third.
 
Following a 1-2-3 top of the third frame, CWU scored one run in the bottom half to get back up by two. McGrath hit a one-out double to left field and crossed home plate on a Jason Hill RBI single to right.
 
After a scoreless fourth inning, the Wildcats quickly worked a three-up, three-down top of the fifth. The offense then ripped off three runs to jump out to a 6-1 advantage. McGrath crossed home again after he hit a triple and Austin Ohland quickly got him home with a double to right.
 
Following a pitching change, Hill pushed the score to 5-1 with a hard hit single up the middle to score Ohland. Hill came in for the sixth run of the game after he advanced to second on walk against Derek Lohr. Jake Engel got him home with a single to the middle to before the Wolves closed out the fifth.
 
The Wolves drew two walks in the sixth but made nothing of it. Lesmeister was hit by pitch to lead off the bottom of the sixth. He stole second and got to third on a groundout from McGrath before a baulk allowed him to come home and made it 7-1.
 
Two batters later Hill tripled to left center field and was immediately brought home thanks to the RBI double from Lohr. The Wolves managed to stop the bleeding and allowed just the two runs in the sixth as CWU held an 8-1 lead.
 
The final CWU run came in the bottom of the seventh after Hirai worked a 1-2-3 frame to start the inning. Copeland was the final run scored after he got on from a bunt single. He stole second before a pair passed balls from WOU eventually allowed him to score.
 
McGrath had himself a game going 4-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. He nearly had a full cycle hitting a single, double, and triple in the win. Hill also tallied four hits finishing 4-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.
 
Game Two: Western Oregon 9, Central Washington 5
The second game was flip of game one as the bats came to life for the Wolves, especially in the third, as they scored five runs and won the overall hitting battle 7-4. They also had two homeruns on the day, including a grand slam.
 
The Wolves led wire-to-wire in the contest and got the scoring start in the first inning. A two-out shot over the right center field fence by Joshua McIntyre got Western Oregon out to a 2-0 lead early.
 
The Wildcats responded in the bottom half as Justin Hampson drew a leadoff walk to get on base. He stole second and two batters later was driven in on a Cameron McGrath RBI single to make it a 2-1 game.
 
Starter Hunter French worked a 1-2-3 inning to start the second and give the offense a chance to get back on the field quickly. Central made nothing of it though despite drawing another leadoff walk and the score remained at 2-1 after two.
 
The third frame is where the Wolves did the most damage scoring five runs including a grand slam homerun to left field. The first run came on a wild pitch as Jayden Hanna scored from third. CWU walked a pair of batters to load the bases after giving up two singles and Connor McCord delivered the four RBI hit to make it a 7-1 lead for the visitors.
 
Mitch Lesmeister got a run on the board for the Wildcats in the bottom of the third on an RBI double to right center and Hampson was able to score run No. 2 after a leadoff single and stolen base.

Western Oregon got the run back in the seventh when Mitchell Hulse led off with a double. He got to third on a wild pitch and was able to cross home plate on a second wild pitch by Ryan Marstiller. The Wolves closed the fourth with a 1-2-3 outing to retain a six-run lead, 8-2.
 
Marstiller and the Wildcats' defense responded in the next two innings working back-to-back three-up, three-down frames. Despite the efficiency on defense, the offense never managed to capitalize and Western Oregon still held a 8-2 lead entering the seventh.
 
A leadoff hit by pitch got a runner on for the Wolves and two batters later Hanna plated the runner home with a deep RBI single to right field. The Wolves led comfortable, 9-2, entering the bottom of the seventh but pitching woes nearly gave CWU a shot at a walkoff win.
 
Following a pitching change, Western Oregon walked four of the first five at bats which allowed a run to come in and make it 9-3. The Wolves made a second change on the hill but then walked a fifth batter and gave up a single to make it 9-5. Austin Ohland was the game-winning run next up to bat but grounded into a double to help Western Oregon escape with the win.
 
McGrath was the only multi-hit performer in the game going 2-4 with two RBI. Hampson was 1-3 while scoring three runs. French was dealt the loss (0-2) but finished with four strikeouts in 3.0 innings of work.
 
Up Next
The Wildcats will hit the road for the next two series before returning back to Ellensburg. CWU gets its eight-game road trip started with four at Montana State Billings. The series will take place Friday-Saturday, March 13-14 in Billings.