Baseball | 2/28/2014 5:55:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University baseball team split on the opening day of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play against Central Washington University Friday, 6-7 and 7-4.

The Wolves (7-8, 1-1 GNAC) and CWU were the top two teams in the conference preseason poll, and opened the conference schedule with the games Friday. WOU beat the Wildcats in last year's GNAC Championship game. The teams opened this year's conference slate with two entertaining games.

Western Oregon's Matt Taylor went 3-for-7 at the plate Friday. He had a double and a triple and drove in two runs. Taylor crossed the plate three times, and had a stolen base. Parker Miles was 3-for-8 with three RBI. Tim Rausch hit two doubles and scored three times. Michael Sherwin and Nathan Etheridge both had two RBI. Matt Minnich picked up the victory in Game 2.

The Wildcats rallied twice in their first game 7-6 victory. CWU trailed by three in the middle of the game, and by one in the final inning before pulling out the win. After Central Washington opened the game with a run in the top of the first inning, the Wolves responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Garret Harpole, Miles, and Etheridge all drove in runs. Etheridge added another RBI single in the third, which brought in Miles.

Trailing 4-1 in the sixth inning, CWU took its second lead of the game with five runs in the frame. Following an Ethan Sterkel double, Scott Stone hit a three-run home run over the right center field fence on a pinch hit. Western Oregon countered with a run in each of the seventh and eighth innings. Miles big outing continued with an RBI single to right center. Central Washington answered with the winning runs in the ninth.

Jake Levin (1-0) grabbed his first victory of the season on the mound after tossing only a third of an inning. Cory Welch grabbed his second save. WOU's Kody Stone (0-2) was credited with the loss. Spenser Watkins struck out six Wildcats in six innings.

In Game 2, Western Oregon scored the game's first seven runs before holding off a late CWU rally. A Michael Sherwin single through the right side drove in a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. After another score in the second inning, WOU got an RBI single from Marcus Madden and a double from Austin Hamilton that drove in a run in the third. The Wolves extended their led 5-0 lead in the sixth with two more scores.

Central Washington (5-5, 1-1) threatened in the seventh inning. The visitors made another rally attempt with four runs in the final frame. It stranded a pair of runners on base before falling.

Minnich (2-2) pitched a shutout and allowed only one hit through five innings. He finished with two strikeouts and two walks. Skye Adams (1-2) had the loss. The Wildcats committed all five errors in the game.

The teams return to the WOU Baseball Field Saturday for a doubleheader. The third game of the four-game series begins at 12 p.m. Live stats will be available on WOUWolves.com.

Central Washington 7, Western Oregon 6 (02/28/14 at Monmouth, OR) (Game 1)
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Central Washington.. 100 004 002  -  7 12  0      (5-4, 1-0)
Western Oregon...... 301 000 110  -  6 10  0      (6-8, 0-1)
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Pitchers: Central Washington - Williams,B.; Davies(7); Levin(8); Welch(9) and .
Western Oregon - Watkins,Spenser; Pratt,Jesse(7); Stone,Kody(9) and .
Win-Levin(1-0)  Save-Welch(2)  Loss-Stone,Kody(0-2)  T-2:50  A-77
HR CWU - Stone.

Western Oregon 7, Central Washington 4 (02/28/14 at Monmouth, OR) (Game 2)
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Central Washington.. 000 000 4 -  4  6  5      (5-5, 1-1)
Western Oregon...... 212 002 0 -  7  9  0      (7-8, 1-1)
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Pitchers: Central Washington - Adams,Sk.; Rothing(6); Dickinson(6) and Reay; Baumgartner.
Western Oregon - Minnich,Matt; Hetrick,Taylor(6); Tokunaga,Chase(7); Kayser,Zach(7) and
Sherwin,Michael.
Win-Minnich,Matt(2-2)  Loss-Adams,Sk.(1-2)  T-2:07  A-0
Rothing faced 2 batters in the 6th.