Baseball | 3/25/2012 8:28:00 PM

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

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The Western Oregon baseball team responded from a doubleheader split on Saturday to take both games from Central Washington today (Mar. 25), 8-7 and 12-3, and win the series.

With the wins WOU (18-7, 7-1 GNAC) takes a two game lead over Central Washington (9-11, 5-3 GNAC) in the the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.

The Wolves received strong production from their three and four hitters in both games to earn the wins. No. 3 hitter Blake Miller went 4-for-9 with a home run, three RBI and four runs scored. Cleanup hitter Bo Folkinga went 5-for-7 with two doubles, a homer, three runs scored and four RBI.

Game 1
Blake Miller went 2-for-5 with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI to lead Western Oregon to an 8-7 win in the opening game of the doubleheader.

Kirk Lind (3-2) picked up the win by throwing five innings while allowing seven hits, four runs (three earned) and picking up four strike outs. He never trailed on the mound thanks to the Wolves' offense scoring two in the first on Miller's two-run shot, two more in the third on a homer by Matt Nylen and then picking two more in the fifth on singles by Miller and Quinn Naughtin.

The Wolves would build their lead to 8-5 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning and then held off a furious CWU rally, which included stranding the tying run at third base, to earn the win. The Wildcats were the beneficiaries of a couple hit by pitches, a wild pitch and a balk scattered amongst some hits to bring the game to 8-7 with the bases loaded and one out. Ian MacDougall then hunkered down to strike out the next batter and get a grounder to second base for his GNAC-leading fourth save.

David Amberson went 2-for 3 with three runs scored out of the leadoff spot and Bo Folkinga was 2-for-4.

Game 2
Bo Folkinga was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and four runs knocked in to increase his GNAC-leading RBI total to 31 to lead the Wolves to a 12-3 victory in game two of the doubleheader.

Travis Bradshaw (5-1) picked up his fifth win of the season by throwing five innings and allowing three runs.

The Wolves staked Bradshaw to a 10-1 lead in the game by scoring three in the first, two in the third and five in the fifth. Of the 14 Western Oregon hits seven went for extra bases, including homers from Folkinga and Quinn Naughtin. Kyle Blackwell came off the bench to drive in two runs in the Wolves' five-run fifth.

"It was a phenomenal effort by our guys," said Western Oregon head coach Jeremiah Robbins. "We gave 100 percent the whole weekend and got the series against a very good club."

Next games
The Wolves will now prepare to host Saint Martin's next weekend, Mar. 31-Apr. 1, in Monmouth. Friday's doubleheader will start at 1:00 p.m. and Saturday's will start at Noon.