Baseball | 4/12/2013 6:32:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MONMOUTH, Ore. – A pair of outstanding starting pitching performances by the Western Oregon baseball team paced the Wolves to a doubleheader sweep of Northwest Nazarene on Friday afternoon as WOU downed the Crusaders, 6-0, in game one, before a 2-1 win in game two. With the victories, WOU improves to 21-15 overall, 16-6 in league play, while NNU falls to 18-21 overall, 9-13 in league play.

Spenser Watkins was the star in game one as the right-handed pitcher recorded a season high 12 strikeouts, allowing only five hits and two walks as he improved to 6-4 on the season.

As the game was scoreless through the first five innings, WOU would give Watkins all the run support he would need when Scott David scored on a throwing error with one out. Tim Rausch would extend the lead when he hammered a triple to right-center field, scoring Blake Miller from third to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

WOU erased any doubt of the outcome as the Wolves put four on the board in the seventh to grab a commanding, 6-0 lead. After Michael Gange and Garrett Harpole scored on a throwing error, David and Nylen delivered RBI singles to give Watkins a six-run cushion.

It would be more than enough for Watkins as the junior retired six of the final eight batters he faced to record the complete game shutout.

Jeremy Burk took the loss for NNU and fell to 0-3 on the season after allowing five runs on five hits in 6.1 innings of work.

David led WOU offensively with three hits and two runs while Charlie Gorzo managed two hits in a losing effort for the Crusaders.

In game two, Gary Steindorf pitched brilliantly for the Wolves, allowing only one unearned run on two hits as the Wolves escaped with a one-run victory. Steindorf would improve to 4-3 on the season as he struck out four NNU batters while walking none.

WOU would grab the lead early when Miller's RBI groundout scored Chris Bradshaw in the bottom of the first inning gave the Wolves a 1-0 advantage.

After NNU answered with an unearned run in the fifth to tie the score, WOU would regain the lead for good when Miller hit a line drive single to center, scoring Josh Solemsaas from second to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.

Kody Stone came into the game in the seventh and slammed the door shut on the Crusaders as the reliever picked up his tenth save of the season.

Andrew Gloves took the loss for NNU as the reliever fell to 2-2 on the year after allowing one unearned run on four hits.

Garrett Harpole led WOU with a pair of hits while Jamie Mitchell and Jake Ferdinand recorded the only hits in the contest for the Crusaders.

WOU and NNU will close out the four-game series when the teams meet for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13, at 12:00 p.m.