Baseball | 4/9/2010 6:27:39 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 [Box score game 1] [Box score game 2]

MONMOUTH, Ore. - The starting pitchers for Western Oregon held Northwest Nazarene to just one run in 15 innings of work, as the Wolves won both games on Friday (Apr. 9) to take a 3.5 game lead in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.

The wins extended the Wolves' (18-11, 13-3 GNAC) winning streak to 10 games. The back-to-back losses to open the series were the first for the second-place Crusaders (18-16, 10-7 GNAC) since WOU took the opening two games of the series in Nampa to start off the GNAC season.

Game 1
Kyle Boe doubled in the winning run in the 10th to give the Wolves the 3-2 win in the opener.

Brett Davis led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk and moved to second on a bunt single by Devon Bouvier, bringing Boe to the plate with a runner in scoring position. Boe drilled a pitch onto the warning track in left center field and pinch runner Aaron Headrick came around with the winning run.

The Crusaders' starter Jesse Gwaltney held the Wolves' batters in check for most of the game, as he allowed just two hits through the first seven innings, but in the eighth WOU was able to touch him up for two runs. After the first out, Garrett Breda lined a single to left field then Jason Moseby smashed a ball into the right center field gap to score Alex Yeaney from first base for the tying run. Moseby was then lifted for a pinch runner and Boe was walked intentionally to get to Daniel Dillard. Dillard made NNU pay by singling sharply down the left field line to score the pinch runner, Bouvier, from second for the go-ahead run (2-1).

However, the game was sent to extra innings after Joel Oliver tied it at 2-2 with a solo home run in the top of the ninth.

Moseby had two of the Wolves' seven hits in the game and was the only WOU batter to record a multi-hit game.

Michael Ward pitched the first eight innings for Western Oregon. He allowed just one run in the first inning to go along with six hits and six strikeouts while not walking a batter. He then gave way in the ninth to Kirk Lind (3-2), which gave up the solo home run to Oliver, but bounced back to earn the win with a strong 10th inning performance.

"Ward pitched well," WOU head coach Jeremiah Robbins explained. "We felt good going to Lind after his strong performance last week at Central Washington, and even after the home run he continued to throw well and did not let it affect his mental psyche."

NNU outhit WOU 9-7 as Jon Kellar, Connor Rankin and Oliver all had two hits apiece.

Game 2
Blake Keitzman (5-2) pitched his second straight shutout at home and just the second in the GNAC this season, as the Wolves blanked the Crusaders 2-0 in game two.

Keitzman yielded four hits and one walk while striking out seven. He did get in trouble a few times, including a bases loaded no-out situation in the second, but managed to work out of the jams unscathed. He did not allow a hit after the third inning and retired 10-straight batters at one point.

"Keitzman kept grinding out there and gave us a very strong game," noted Robbins.

His offensive support came on a two-out RBI single from Jason Moseby to score Cody Reeves from second base in the third inning and on Daniel Dillard's 11th home run of the season in the fourth. Dillard reached base in all three of his plate appearances and had two of the Wolves' six hits.

Charles Pollock (2-2) took the loss after allowing five hits and two runs while striking out two and walking three over 4.2 innings of work.

"Wins aren't by differential," Robbins continued. "We knew going in that they were going to be tight games and NNU was a good club not to be taken lightly, but our guys stayed focused and played hard."

Next games
These two teams will play another doubleheader tomorrow beginning at noon.