Tuesday, March 11, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – Having won six of its last seven games, Western Oregon’s baseball team has moved into the early lead in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings at 6-2 in conference action. 

WOU (12-9, 6-2 GNAC) is in the midst of a 13-game home stand, which it will wrap up this weekend with a four-game set against visiting Northwest Nazarene on Friday and Saturday in Monmouth.

The Crusaders (9-12, 5-3) are just one game back of WOU in the GNAC standings and are coming off a solid 2-2 split with Central Washington (7-9, 2-4) last weekend.

Central Washington plays host to nonconference opponent Whitworth on Wednesday, before a 10-day stretch until its next series against Montana State Billings on March 22-23.

The Yellowjackets (2-14, 1-3) will head to Lacey, Wash., to face Saint Martin’s (3-12, 1-3) this weekend. The four-game series will serve as the 2014 home debut for SMU, which is coming off a 1-3 road trip to nonconference opponent Dixie State last week. 

AROUND THE GNAC

CWU: Making its home debut last week, Central Washington is coming off a split in a 4-game set with Northwest Nazarene. The Wildcats started the series strong with a 6-1 victory on Friday, as starter Brandon Williams posted a GNAC season-high 15 strikeouts and allowed no earned runs on six hits in eight innings of work. Williams earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors for his effort.

The Wildcats struggled at the plate in Game 2 falling 9-3, before coming up on the short end of an 8-6 extra-inning result in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

CWU responded well in the series finale, as Kurtis Pitcher struck out six batters over 5 2/3 innings and Cory Welch drove in a pair of runs in the solid 6-1 victory. 

MSUB: The Yellowjackets got their 2014 GNAC schedule underway last week, taking one of four games from host Western Oregon in a rain-filled series in Monmouth.

MSUB’s lone victory was of the extra-inning variety, as the ‘Jackets came from behind with four runs in the eighth inning to take the lead. MSUB allowed the Wolves to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but eventually responded with three more runs in the top of the 11th to secure its first conference victory of the season.

Powering the comeback offensively were Brody Miller and Kevin Toon, who were each 3-for-6 on the game and combined to drive in three runs. Luke Reinschmidt’s RBI single in the top of the 11th broke the stalemate, and Casey Merritt added a pair of insurance runs with a two-run base hit to right field to secure the win. 

Bryon Baker earned honorable mention Pitcher of the Week as he pitched four innings and earned the win for MSUB. Baker allowed just one hit and no earned runs while striking out five WOU batters to keep the Yellowjackets in the game. 

Brad Birch was 2-for-3 with three RBI in the Yellowjackets’ narrow 5-4 loss in Game 2 on Friday, and MSUB was shut out 8-0 on Saturday in the series finale.

NNU: Northwest Nazarene had a strong showing in Ellensburg last week, taking two games from host Central Washington to remain above .500 and in second place in conference action.

Tate Glasgow had a big weekend for the Crusaders, finishing with a line of 7-for-15 with four runs scored, two doubles and a triple. In the Crusaders’ 8-6 win in Game 3 of the series, the center fielder went 3-for-5 with one run batted in and a run scored. 

From the mound, Aaron Vaughn was instrumental as he notched his third 7-inning complete game of the season in NNU’s 9-3 win over CWU on Friday. Vaughn allowed three runs and struck out seven batters against just one walk in the strong performance. 

SMU: Facing Dixie State in nonconference action last weekend, Saint Martin’s came away with one win in a four-game set in St. George, Utah.

The Saints got off to a hot start and never looked back, as Luke Besel launched a grand slam in the first inning. From there it was all SMU as the Saints scored in the next three innings and rolled to a 14-3 win on Friday. 

Spencer Dodd was 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, and GNAC Player of the Week Alex Bielaski was 4-for-5 with five RBI in the lopsided win.

The victory came after a pair of losses to the Red Storm on Thursday and earlier Friday, and DSU closed the series with a sound 17-3 win on Saturday in the finale. 

WOU: Despite an extra-inning setback to Montana State Billings on Saturday, Western Oregon continued to play well as the Wolves took three of the four games from the Yellowjackets and have won six of their last seven overall.

Spenser Watkins was outstanding in the series opener, tossing a complete game with 12 strikeouts and allowing just one earned run. The right-hander got plenty of support from the Wolves’ lineup, as center fielder Chris Bradshaw led the way with a line of 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. 

On the weekend, Bradshaw finished with a line of 10-for-17 with three doubles, five runs scored, eight RBI and no strikeouts.

In the final game of the series, Bradshaw went 4-for-4 with three doubles, three RBI and two runs scored in the 8-0 triumph. Clark McKitrick recorded the 7-inning shutout, allowing just two hits while striking out three.