Tuesday, March 25, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - Front-runner Western Oregon, which plays at least its next 15 games, including 10 conference contests, on the road, travels to Nampa, Idaho, this weekend for a four-game series with Northwest Nazarene (7-16, 2-5).

The Wolves (18-11, 9-1) don't play any more home games until April 26 and April 27 when they close out their regular-season with doubleheaders against Western Washington and Simon Fraser.

WOU, which won three of four home games last week, takes a two-game lead over Central Washington (15-8, 8-4) and a 2 1/2 game lead over Saint Martin's (12-12, 7-4)  into the week.  The Wolves lead both teams in the loss column by three games.

The WOU-NNU series begins Friday in Nampa.  Meanwhile, defending conference champion Saint Martin's visits Billings for a four-game series with Montana State Billings  (9-12, 4-8).  That series starts on Saturday.

Central Washington goes on the road for the second week in a row, visiting Western Washington (13-8, 5-5) and Simon Fraser (2-19, 2-10) Friday and Saturday.  CWU split four road games last week dividing twinbills with WOU and SMU.

The Vikings and Clan conclude their weeks Sunday with a twinbill at Burnaby.

Western Washington is currently in fourth-place in the conference, two games ahead of MSUB.  Four teams will eventually qualify for the conference playoffs in May.

Western Washington Ranks Fifth in Batting

Western Washington ranks fifth nationally in batting with a .363 average.  The Vikings also rank 12th nationally in slugging (.536), 15th in runs scored (7.05) and 15th in home runs (1.10). 

Individually, WWU's Alexie Levin ranks 19th in batting (.486) and 25th in RBI (1.29).  WWU's Autumn Isaacson ranks ninth in stolen bases (0.90).

WWU's Haylee Baker, who had 12 RBI last weekend to share GNAC Red Lion Player of the Week honors with Raina Reece of Western Oregon, ranks 28th in RBI averaging 1.26 per game.

Both players hit for power last week.  Baker had four home runs - in consecutive games - and had eight hits in 17 at bats as WWU split four games with MSUB. Baker is the eighth player in GNAC history to hit home runs in four straight games.

Reece had three home runs and 10 RBI to lead Western Oregon to two wins over Saint Martin's and a split with Central Washington.   She also had a single and double and batted .385 (5-of-13).

In the circle, Western Oregon's Kelli Demianew didn't allow an earned run in pitching the Wolves to two victories in a 4-0 shutout over Central Washington. 

Demianew, who was the GNAC Red Lion Pitcher of the Week, takes a string of 26 consecutive innings without surrendering an earned run into WOU's series at Nampa.

NCAA NATIONAL STATISTICS (Top 30; through March 23): Team: Batting – 5. Western Washington .363.  Fielding – 28. Central Washington .969.  Scoring – 15. Western Washington 7.05.  Home Runs – 15. Western Washington 1.10.  Slugging – 12. Western Washington .536. Double Plays – 6. Western Oregon 0.62.  Individual:  Batting – 19. Alexie Levin, WWU, .486.  RBI – 25. Alexie Levin, WWU, 1.29; 28. Haylee Baker, WWU, 1.26; 29. Taviah Jenkins, SMU, 1.25.    Stolen Bases – 9.  Autumn Isaacson, WWU, 0.90..  Saves – 20. Kelli Demianew, WOU, and Noelle Wright, NNU, 2.  Slugging – 30. Alexie Levin, WWU, .889. Runs – 20. Autumn Isaacson, WWU, 1.24.  Sacrifice Flies – 16. Bridjet Box, WOU, 3.

For more GNAC Softball News, check out the GNAC Weekly Report.