Baseball | 3/5/2011 6:13:36 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 [Game 1 box score] [Game 2 box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon baseball team broke in its new field turf with a pair of wins over Central Washington on Saturday, Mar. 5.

The Wolves won the opener 4-3 in 14 innings on Griffin Boyd's single down the left field line. Then Michael Ward threw a complete game four-hitter to lift WOU to the 5-1 win in game two.

The victories extend the Wolves' (8-6, 2-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) home winning streak to 14 game. They have also defeated the Wildcats (4-6, 0-2 GNAC) 12 straight contests.

Game 1
Griffin Boyd came through with two clutch run-scoring hits and the Wolves held on to win game one 4-3 in 14 innings.

First he tied the game up at 3-3 with a two-out single in the eighth and the game remained that way until the 14th. Eric Copenhagen got the rallied started with a single to leadoff the inning. He would go on to steal second and advance to third on a single by Andre Royal. Central Washington then chose to intentionally walk Austin Potter and Boyd made them pay. He lined reliever Palmer Brown's offering past the diving third baseman down to line to let Copenhagen trot in from third with the winning run.

“He came up and he attacked,” explained Robbins. “That is the thing I like about our hitters right now; they are attacking. I like where our hitters are at and things are going to fall for us.”

The comeback was made possible by a Wolves' bullpen which hurled 7.2 scoreless innings. Brad Carter set the tone when he was called upon right after CWU had taken the lead (3-2) and was still threatening with two runners on. He came in and induced a harmless fly ball to right then struck out cleanup hitter Brady Kincannon on three straight pitches to end the rally.

Kirk Lind took over from Carter in the top of the 10th and preceded to work the next four innings while giving up just three hits and striking out five. He gave way to Ian MacDougall who worked a perfect 14th to pick up his first win as a Wolf.

“They came in determined,” said Robbins. “We knew what we were going to get out of Carter and Lind but I was impressed with Ian MacDougall. He came in for an inning and was lights out with good velocity.”

Western Oregon went up 2-0 after four as Grant Glover had an RBI and a run scored. Central would answer back with single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh to take the lead and set up Boyd for the dramatics.

WOU had 13 hits in the game led by Miles Kizer, Bo Folkinga, Austin Potter and Boyd who each had two.

Game 2
The senior Michael Ward pitched a gem in game two en route to leading the Wolves to a 5-1 victory. He allowed only four hits while striking out four and walking just one to move to 2-1 on the season.

“We talked to him between games and told him we needed a strong outing from him,” said Robbins. “He put it on his shoulders and he did a phenomenal job keeping their hitters off-balance.”

Daniel Dillard provided the run support for Ward with a three-run double in the fourth. Once again Eric Copenhagen got the rally started for the Wolves. With one out he was hit by a pitch, and that was followed by a Grant Glover single and Michael Chiarelli getting plunked by a pitch to load the bases for the 2010 GNAC Newcomer of the Year. On a 1-0 count Dillard lined the ball into the warning track in the left-center field gap to bring clear the bases.

“We are 14 games and we were still looking for that one big hit and we finally got it,” Robbins explained. “We've been snake bitten early in the season were that hit right to somebody, so we were glad to see it fall in the gap. It was a good job by Dan Dillard but also the guys in front of him getting on base.”

Those three runs extended Western Oregon's lead from 2-0 to 5-0. The Wolves had taken the lead on Griffin Boyd's single in the second and added an insurance run on Miles Kizer's single to right in the third.

Dillard went 3-for-4 to help the Wolves outhit Central Washington 9-3.

“We came out a little too amped today,” Robbins admitted. “We faded off the deeper that game one went and then they refocused and found a way to win.”

Next games
Western Oregon and Central Washington will close out their GNAC opening series with another doubleheader on Sunday (Mar. 6) at noon.