Baseball | 3/19/2009 4:49:24 PM

This week…
Rain and other inclement weather conditions has cause the Western Oregon University baseball team (7-6) to move the location and the date of its Great Northwest Athletic Conference series against Northwest Nazarene. The four-game series has been moved from Mar. 20-21 in Monmouth, Ore., to Mar. 23-34 in Nampa, Idaho. Game times for the series are yet to be announced.

WOU was also forced to reschedule its home game with Concordia from Mar. 17 to Apr. 21 at 2:00 p.m.

A look at Western Oregon…
The Western Oregon baseball team is 7-6 this season but the Wolves have yet to complete a GNAC conference game this season. After starting the conference schedule with a bye, WOU was rained out in game one of its GNAC-opening series with Saint Martin's (Mar. 14) forcing a postponement if the series till Apr. 1.

Freshman Thomas McCarthy leads the Wolves and the GNAC with a .536 batting average (15-for-28) and a .679 on-base percentage. He also ranks second in the conference with a .517 on-base percentage.

Justin Speer is the Wolves' leading RBI man with 12. He started the season on a 10-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 12 of 13 games overall. His .382 batting average places him seventh in the GNAC. He leads WOU in total bases (33), walks (6) and extra base hits (7) while tying for the team-lead with two home runs. He has a .444 on-base mark and a .600 slugging percentage. Speer hit a three-run home run in the top of the ninth to lift the Western Oregon baseball team to a 3-1 victory at No. 2 UC San Diego Saturday, Feb. 14.

Centerfielder and leadoff batter Travis Fox is leading Western Oregon with 22 hits, 13 runs scored and three stolen bases. His six doubles tie him for the conference lead and his .373 average rank him eighth. He has hit safely in 10 of 12 games he has played in this season and has eight multi-hit performances.

Jason Moseby has a nine-game hitting streak and is second on the team and third in the GNAC with a .433 average (13-for-30). He also ranks third in the conference with a .500 on-base percentage and second with a .667 slugging percentage. Moseby is tied for second on the Wolves with 10 RBI. He hit a home run in the top of the eighth inning in game three of the series against No. 2 UCSD to propel Western Oregon to a 2-1 victory.

Shortstop Justin Thornton is tied for the team-lead with two home runs. He is hitting .300 on the season to go along with a .500 slugging percentage and six runs scored.

On the mound, freshman Kirk Lind leads the GNAC with a 1.72 earned run average. He has allowed just three earned runs in 15.2 innings of work while striking out 12 and walking one. He is tied for the team-lead with two wins.

Jacob Pettit's 1.80 ERA ranks him second in the conference behind Lind. He is 2-0 this season and has allowed just 19 base runners (18 hits and one walk) in 20 innings on the mound. Opponents are hitting just .240 off of Pettit.

Blake Keitzman leads the conference with 31 strikeouts. He is 2-1 on the season with a 2.96 ERA and is holding opponents to a .238 batting average while fanning 10.21 batters per nine innings. He picked up his first win of the season after starting the game for WOU in its 9-0 win over Lewis and Clark in which five Wolves' pitchers combined for the shutout.

As a team, Western Oregon is leading the GNAC with a .305 batting average and a 4.35 ERA. The Wolves are also tied with Montana State Billings for the conference lead with 45 extra base hits despite playing 10 less games than the Yellowjackets. WOU has 11 home runs on the season and are the only team in the GNAC with more than eight. Western Oregon pitchers lead the league with only four homers allowed and 44 walks given up.

A look at Northwest Nazarene…
The Northwest Nazarene Crusaders are 6-9 this season with a 0-4 record in the GNAC. After winning six of seven games to start the season, NNU has now lost eight straight including being swept at home by Montana State Billings (Mar. 6-7). The Crusaders are holding its opponents to a league-low .258 batting average but are giving up a league-high 5.91 walks per nine innings.

Boone Farrington leads NNU and the conference with a .526 on-base percentage. He is batting a team-best .386 this season with 12 runs scored and eight walks. Joel Oliver leads the Crusaders with a .533 slugging percentage while Jon Keller, Jimmy Van Beek and Connor Rankin lead the club with 12 RBI.

Ryan Brown leads the team with a 2.45 ERA and five appearances. He has gone the distance in two of his four starts this year. Charles Pollock is 2-1 this season with and is holding opponents to a .175 batting average while striking out 23 in 17 innings.

Western Oregon leads the all-time series 77-21. Last season, the Wolves went 6-2 against the Crusaders. WOU took three of four games at home and on the road while outscoring NNU 47-25 in the season series.

Head coach Jeremiah Robbins…
On the GNAC: "We get everybody's best shot being the defending league champions. We have a target on our back and we need to be prepared for each game."

Continuing on the GNAC: "It is a new GNAC season and we are once again focused on our goal of another GNAC championship. This is a good conference which has shown it is not afraid to take on anyone."

On the early season schedule: "We always have a strong schedule early in the season because we want to play the best teams around. We want to play as many Division II opponents as possible but in order to do that we have to play most teams on the road."

More on difficult early schedule: "These games help prepare us for Great Northwest Athletic Conference play as well as help us know what teams in our west region championship will be like if we get there."

Last week…
The Western Oregon baseball team went 1-0 as it earned a 9-0 victory over Lewis and Clark in the home-opener and went to the 11th inning tied 4-4 with Saint Martin's before the game was halted and the series suspended due to rain.

Lewis & Clark (Mar. 11): Five Western Oregon pitchers combined on an eight hit shutout as the Wolves won 9-0 over Lewis & Clark it the home-opener. Blake Keitzman picked up his first win as a Wolf as he started the game and went two innings without giving up a base runner while striking out three. Catcher Taylor Mieras led the Wolves' offense as he went 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. WOU scored all its runs in the second and third innings. The Wolves put up four in the second inning as Thomas McCarthy led off the inning with a double and Bill Clontz reached on an error before Mieras drove both runners in with a double to right center. After Nick Fleck was then hit by a pitch, Alex Yeaney sacrificed the runners to second and third and Justin Thornton drove them in with a two-out single to right to put the Wolves up 4-0. Western Oregon added five runs in the bottom of the third as its first five hitters reached base and designated hitter Tyson Nelson delivered the big hit of the inning with a two-run double to left. The Wolves would use a combination of pitchers for two inning stints after Kietzman's departure. Mike Eisenhauer entered the game in the third and went two innings giving up two hits and a walk while striking out one and inducing three groundball outs. Pettit would take over next, allowing three hits to go along with a strikeout while pitching the fifth and sixth. Chad Lynch would allow just two singles over his innings of work and Andrew Reid pitched the ninth to finish off the game. "Whenever you can throw a shutout against a team using aluminum bats you have done a great job," explained Western Oregon head coach Jeremiah Robbins. "Our pitchers did an excellent job filling the strike zone and defending our home field.

SMU Game 1 (Mar. 14): With Western Oregon trailing 3-2 in the top of the ninth inning, Jason Moseby doubled home Taylor Mieras to tie the game at 3-3. The Saints had scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a triple sandwiched around two singles to take a 3-2 lead. Blake Keitzman started the game for the Wolves and went 7.1 innings allowing just five hits and two runs while striking out a season-high 11. Kyle Boe led the Wolves' offense as he went 3-for-5 at the plate. He got the Wolves on the board in the sixth inning with a two-run double down to left field.