ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington baseball (9-9) will prepare for a road trip down to Monmouth, OR this weekend to take on Western Oregon (7-9). Both teams are entering their second weekend of conference play with Central Washington sitting at the top of the GNAC with a 4-0 record, as the Wolves are in 3rd place with a 2-2 record.

GAME INFO
Friday, March 8th & Saturday, March 9th
Noon & 3:00 p.m.
Central Washington vs Western Oregon
WOU Baseball Field
Monmouth, Oregon
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH DESI STOREY
"Looking forward to another challenge in the GNAC."

SCOUTING THE WOLVES
Western Oregon sits in 3rd place of the GNAC after the opening weekend of conference play. The Wolves split last week's series with Northwest Nazarene and moved to 2-2 and are 7-9 on the season. To open the year, Western Oregon dropped their first two games to Westmont College, another two games to San Francisco State University, and picked up their first win with a score of 12-8 against Eastern Oregon. Following the win, Western Oregon split a series with Oregon Tech losing the first two games 12-13 and 2-5, then beating the Owls 14-2 and 11-9.

The Wolves have four batters hitting over .300 through 16 games this season. John Olsen leads the team with a .375 batting average with 24 hits, two home runs, 16 RBIs, and 12 runs scored. Collin Irwin is averaging .365 with 16 hits, two doubles, and 11 runs scored. Curran Mitzel is leading the Wolves offensively with a .338 average, 22 hits, five doubles, three triples, a home run, 16 RBIs. Owen Bischoff is hitting .311 with 19 hits, 4 doubles, two triples, a home run, 11 RBIs, and two stolen bags on two attempts.

Junior pitcher Jacob Memmott is 3-0 for the Wolves on the mound after four starts. Memmott has pitched 24.1 innings and has a 3.70 ERA after facing 92 batters. He is tied for a team high of 22 strikeouts. Memmott's best outing was last weekend against NNU, pitching 7.0 innings and only giving up one run off of five hits, four walks, and six punch outs.

Junior right-hander, Dylan Chalmers, is another strong starter for the Wolves. Through 21.2 innings pitched, Chalmers has given up 18 runs (10 earned), with 24 hits given up, 10 walks, and 22 strikeouts through 88 batters. Chalmer's best outing also came from last week's series against the Nighthawks where he chucked seven innings of baseball, only giving up two runs on three hits and three walks, and punched out 10 batters.

LAST TIME OUT
The Wildcats swept last weekend's contest going 4-0 against Saint Martins. In the four games, Central Washington's offense combined for 63 hits.

Over the four-game series, senior catcher #12, Austin Ohland had seven hits, six RBIs, and scored eight runs. Throughout the weekend, he averaged .412 at the plate and held a .882 slugging percentage. Ohland was named GNAC Player of the Week following the 'Cats weekend sweep of Saint Martin's.

Daniel Charron threw together another impressive performance on the mound for the Wildcats, through a complete seven innings. Charron only allowed four hits and gave up one run, while recording three strikeouts.

Run production from the Wildcats also came from senior DH, Ben Leid, and Junior infielder, Marcus Manzardo. Leid (.367) had 11 hits and 12 RBIs on the weekend. Manzardo (.387) had 10 hits and scored five times on the weekend.

ON DECK
After a bye week, the Wildcats will be back in action with GNAC play at home, taking on the Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets in a four-game home stand. First pitch of the doubleheader will be at 1:00 on Friday, March 22nd.