Baseball | 5/3/2013 8:03:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Western Oregon baseball team captured its 12th straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship on Friday afternoon as the Wolves clinched the title with a split over Central Washington, winning game one, 9-7, before dropping a 5-4 decision in game two against the Wildcats. With the split, WOU will host the GNAC Baseball Championship next week as the Wolves move to 29-19 overall, 22-8 in conference play.

In the championship clinching game one victory, WOU jumped out to a 7-0 lead before holding onto a two-run victory.

Spenser Watkins picked up the win for WOU as he improved to 7-6 on the season after allowing two runs on seven hits in 7.1 innings of work. The right-hander struck out a season-high 14 while walking only one through 138 pitches.

Daniel McNabb led the WOU attack, going 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI as his sixth-inning home run to right gave the Wolves a seven-run cushion.

The Wolves grabbed control of the game with a five-run, third inning as Matt Nylen delivered the key hit with a two-run double, scoring Blake Miller and Scott David as WOU grabbed a 5-0 lead. WOU took advantage of a two-run error to start the inning before McNabb's sacrifice fly gave the Wolves a six-run cushion.

After CWU got on the board with a pair of runs in the eighth, WOU scored two important insurance runs in the ninth to extend the lead back to seven. Miller delivered a RBI double for the first run of the inning before coming home on Tim Rausch's RBI single as the Wolves took a seven-run lead into CWU's final at-bat.

The pair of runs proved to be the difference as CWU scored five in a wild ninth that saw WOU pitching walk six Wildcat batters. Nursing a tenuous, two-run lead, with the bases loaded, Kody Stone struck out Spencer Hannah to seal the win and the conference title for the Wolves.

Stuart Fewel took the loss for CWU and fell to 5-3 on the year after allowing seven runs on six hits in six innings of work.

In game two, WOU jumped out to an early, three-run lead before CWU scored five in the fourth to take the lead as the Wildcats held on for the victory.

Kyle Sani delivered the key blast for the Wildcats as he blasted a three-run home run to left-center field to give CWU the lead for good. CWU took advantage of a WOU miscue in the inning as all five of the Wildcats runs in the inning were unearned.

Gary Steindorf was the tough-luck loser for WOU as he tossed a complete game, allowing no earned runs on seven hits in six innings of work while falling to 5-4 on the season.

Skye Adams improved to 5-2 on the year after allowing three earned runs on eight hits in seven innings of work.

Chris Bradshaw led the WOU attack with two hits and a pair of runs scored while Nylen added a run and a RBI. David blasted a home run for the Wolves as his solo shot in the third gave WOU a 2-0 lead.

WOU will close out the regular season when the Wolves and Wildcats meet in a doubleheader on Saturday, May 4, at 12:00 p.m.