Baseball | 3/12/2014 11:19:00 AM

GNAC WEEKLY REPORT (PDF)

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University baseball team continues its long homestand to open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a pair of doubleheaders against Northwest Nazarene University Friday and Saturday.

The Wolves (12-9, 6-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) will have played 13 straight home games before they head on the road for 17 consecutive road contests. This weekend will be the last time fans can watch WOU until it returns for its final seven games of the regular season beginning on April 26. A change in the schedule that brought Central Washington to Monmouth due to weather has greatly altered the slate for the Wolves with this long homestand, followed by the long road trip.

Western Oregon has taken advantage of the home games by winning six of the first eight conference contests. It has won 3-of-4 in consecutive weeks against CWU and Montana State Billings. The Wolves are 12-0 this season when they hold their opponents to five or fewer runs, but are 0-6 when the opponent reaches six runs. WOU is also 8-0 when it outhits the opponent and 10-2 when it scores first.

The Wolves lead the GNAC in 10 different stat categories, including sacrifice bunts which they are also fifth in NCAA Div. II with 26 this season. Their 12 sacrifice flies are also 21st in the country. Matt Taylor is fourth in the nation, first in the conference, with four sacrifice flies. He also leads with 15 RBI. Defensively, WOU leads the GNAC in fielding percentage (.969) and hits allowed per nine innings (8.91).

On the mound, Spenser Watkins' 33 strikeouts lead the conference. The senior is averaging 8.49 strikeouts per nine innings. Kody Stone is also first in the GNAC with 18 saves. He is currently second on the conference's all-time career list with 17 saves, seven shy of matching the record. Clark McKitrick tossed the first complete-game shutout in the conference this season in Western Oregon's 8-0 seven-inning win over Montana State Billings last Saturday.

Northwest Nazarene (9-12, 5-3 GNAC) is currently in second place in the conference standings. The Crusaders split their four-game series at Central Washington last weekend. Tate Glasgow finished 7-for-15 at the plate in the series with four runs scored, two doubles and a triple. On the mound, Aaron Vaughn (4-1) picked up his third seven-inning complete game of the season, which is fifth in NCAA Div. II, in NNU's 9-3 win last Friday. Vaughn allowed three runs and struck out seven batters against just one walk.

The Crusaders lead the GNAC with a .266 batting average and a .374 slugging percentage. Their seven home runs and 41 doubles also top the conference.

Western Oregon has won 104 of the 130 all-time meetings between the programs. The Wolves won seven of the eight meetings last season. They have won 11 straight in Monmouth in the series. Friday's doubleheader begins at 1 p.m., while Saturday's first game is scheduled for 12 p.m. All four games will have live stats on WOUWolves.com.