Wednesday, May 8, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – Home runs don't typically come easy at Porter Park, but don't tell that to Mitchell Hulse.

The Western Oregon shortstop belted the first home run of the 2019 GNAC Championships in the sixth inning of Wednesday's game, notching two of his three RBI on the day. The blast helped the second-seeded Wolves cruise to a 10-2 victory over No. 3 seed Northwest Nazarene in game one of the conference tournament.

"As an offensive club, we know we can swing it well," said Hulse after the victory. "Playing in a big park like this, I just wanted to put a good swing on it and that's what I did today. I connected well and it just kept going."

Also dominant on Wednesday was WOU starting pitcher Alex Roth, who struck out seven without allowing a run in seven innings of work. The performance came just one day after Roth was named as the GNAC Pitcher of the Year. 

Western Oregon gave Roth an early lead to work with in the bottom half of the first inning. With two outs, senior Griffey Hale put the ball in play and was able to score Collin Runge on a towering fly that got lost in the wind and sun.

The score remained 1-0 until the fourth when Hulse tallied his first RBI of the afternoon with a triple to the gap in right-center field. His sixth-inning blast followed a Jacob Maiben RBI double, putting the Wolves ahead 5-0 with the conference's top arm still on the mound. 

The Nighthawks eventually got into the opponents' bullpen and briefly got back into the game, plating two runs in the eighth on a Shawn Grandmont double to left field. Grandmont finished the day 1 for 3 at the plate, while second baseman Parker Price hit 2 for 4 to lead NNU. 

That comeback attempt would ultimately be snuffed out in the bottom half of the frame as the tournament's No. 2 seed tallied five runs to break the game open. Maiben scored the first of those runs, finishing the day with a 3 for 4 clip while recording three runs and one RBI.

Northwest Nazarene will now face the loser of Wednesday night's game between regular-season champion Montana State Billings and No. 4 seed Saint Martin's at 12 p.m. on Thursday. The Wolves will await the winner of that one with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.