Wednesday, February 19, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – Three Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball teams return to the diamond this weekend, as preseason action continues leading up to the first weekend of conference games Feb. 28. 

Western Oregon (5-3) is back on the road this weekend, traveling to Lewiston, Idaho, to face NAIA powerhouse Lewis-Clark State. The teams are scheduled to play a 4-game set, with a doubleheader on Saturday sandwiching single games on Friday and Sunday.

Montana State Billings (0-4), which lost four games to LC State last weekend in its 2014 debut, is headed to St. George, Utah, this week to face Dixie State in a 4-game series.

Saint Martin’s (0-4), which also made its season debut last weekend, will face a trio of NCAA Division III schools this weekend in a tournament co-hosted by Concordia University (Portland) and Linfield College. The Saints square off against Willamette and Linfield in McMinnville, Ore., and Puget Sound on Sunday in Portland.

Northwest Nazarene (1-8) returns to action next week, with a 4-game set against Hawaii-Hilo to kick off its 2014 home slate. Central Washington (4-4) is off until the first weekend of GNAC play, facing Western Oregon at home beginning March 1.

RECAP

Behind a dominating performance by Red Lion Pitcher of the Week Aaron Vaughn, Northwest Nazarene collected its first win of the season and the first of head coach Rocke Musgraves’ Division II career with a 7-3 triumph over CSU Dominguez Hills on Friday. Vaughn allowed six hits and two earned runs in his seven innings of work, while striking out 10 batters against just one walk.

The victory was the lone bright spot for NNU on the weekend, as the Crusaders lost the other three games to the Toros in Carson, Calif.

Central Washington tackled six games in four days last week, taking 3-of-4 from the Academy of Art before losing a pair of makeup games against San Francisco State. Kasey Bielec launched two home runs and batted 6-for-13 overall on the weekend, earning Red Lion Player of the Week honors for the Wildcats.

Another notable CWU performance was that of senior starting pitcher Stuart Fewel, who tossed a six-strikeout complete game in the Wildcats’ 5-2 win in the series finale with AAU. Fewel scattered nine hits and allowed just one earned run and no walks in his first victory of the season. 

Both of CWU’s losses to SFSU were by a single run, with the final game lasting 12 frames before the Gators walked-off with a 3-2 win.

Western Oregon tested its hand against the reigning Division III NCAA National Champion last weekend, splitting a doubleheader against Linfield College on Sunday. In Game one, WOU mustered just two hits against 2013 d3baseball.com National Pitcher of the Year Chris Haddeland in a 6-0 defeat.

The Wolves’ bats came alive in Game 2, as the first home run of the season for Tim Rausch ignited WOU to a 5-0 victory. Five WOU hurlers combined for the shutout, with Clark McKitrick and Spenser Watkins each tossing three scoreless innings and the latter earning his first win of 2014.

Saint Martin’s dropped its first four contests of the 2014 season against Cal Baptist, but catcher Chandler Tracy kicked off his junior campaign with a home run in his first at-bat and two total on the weekend. In 2013, Tracy finished second in the GNAC with 12 home runs, and he moved into a tie for sixth place in the GNAC record books for career home runs last weekend, as he now has 22.

MSUB junior Brody Miller also hit his first home run of the season, and drove in all three of the Yellowjackets’ runs in a tough 5-4 loss to Lewis-Clark State on Saturday. The one-run defeat was the closest game the teams played last week, as MSUB dropped its next three games in Lewiston. 

Right-hander Jake Campeau was outstanding in the series finale, striking out 10 batters and allowing just two earned runs in his six innings of work.