ELLENSBURG, Wash.— Central Washington is set to host Montana State Billings for its first four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series of the season in Ellensburg this Friday and Saturday.
Friday's doubleheader will start at 12:00 p.m., while Saturday's will start at 11:00 a.m.
"We've got to play consistent and good baseball all weekend," Central Washington Head Coach Desi Storey said. "We've got to limit big innings on the mound and control what we know we can in the field."
SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS
MSUB (15-15 overall, 6-6 GNAC) make the trip over to Ellensburg after splitting a four-game series at home against Northwest Nazarene. Winning games one and three by scores of 10-5 and 11-6, the Nighthawks just nearly escaped the Yellowjackets 3-2 in game three.
Carson Green, named the GNAC Player of the Week for his efforts against NNU, hit .471 (8-for-17) over the weekend. The junior tallied three doubles, a home run, and seven runs batted in.
Dylan Barkley (4-2), the 'Jackets game-one starter, carried MSUB through 6.0 innings pitched. Barkley gave up just three hits, two walks, and one earned run alongside six strikeouts on the afternoon.
As a team Montana State Billings is hitting .269 at the plate, a mark that ranks third in the conference. The Yellowjackets have hit a conference-leading nine triples through 29 games this season. On the mound the MSUB pitching staff owns a combined 6.22 earned run average, led by Barkley who owns a 3.18 earned run average through 45.1 innings.
SPLIT WITH THE SAINTS
Last weekend Central (10-19, 4-8 GNAC) split a four-game series with Saint Martin's 2-2. The Wildcats captured the opening game of the series in dominant fashion 17-4 and escaped with the night cap victory on day two 8-5.
The outfield duo of Tyler McClain and Zach Berryman led CWU at the plate over the weekend. McClain hit a whopping .571 (8-for-14) over the weekend, scoring four runs alongside three runs batted in. Berryman led the Wildcats with five runs batted in and four runs scored on two doubles, one triple and one home run hitting a combined .400 (6-for-15).
Strong outings on the mound from Ryan Arredondo (3-1) and Dylan Weese (1-2) set up Central for success. Arredondo allowed just two hits and one earned run while giving up three walks in his 6.0 inning outing in game one. In the final game of the series, Weese scattered five hits and gave up just one earned run and one walk alongside five strikeouts through 4.2 innings of work.
This weekend's series if the first of two meetup's between the Wildcats and Yellowjackets this season. Central will close out its regular season with another four-game conference series in Billings, Montana, on May 5-6th.
