Baseball | 4/11/2014 8:48:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Western Oregon University baseball team took both games the first day of a four-game series at Montana State University Billings Friday, 8-3 and 6-4.
 
The Wolves (22-14, 15-7 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) remain atop the conference standings with the victories. Nate Etheridge finished the day 6-for-8 at the plate and was walked once. He hit a home run, two doubles and four RBI, while scoring twice. Daniel McNabb was 5-for-8. Spenser Watkins and Matt Minnich both picked up wins on the mound.
 
Western Oregon scored the first six runs of the first game before cruising to the win. It opened with a run in the first inning after a Matt Taylor double scored Chris Bradshaw. In the fourth inning, Garret Harpole hit a two-RBI single, followed by a Taylor RBI single. Parker Miles closed the scoring with an RBI sacrifice fly. MSUB responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.
 
A pair of RBI singles by the Wolves in the seventh and eighth innings proved to be enough for the victory. MSU Billings hit a solo home run in the ninth before falling.
 
The Yellowjackets committed five of the game's eight errors and were outhit 13-9. Western Oregon stranded 13 runners on base in the win, compared to Montana State Billings' 10.
 
Watkins (4-3) allowed only one earned run on six hits through six innings on the mound. He fanned six Yellowjackets and walked three.
 
The Wolves had to rally in the second game. After scoring two runs on an Etheridge home run in the top of the second, MSUB (9-21, 6-10) countered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Yellowjackets tacked on another run in the fifth inning. WOU scored four runs in the seventh, courtesy of doubles by Marcus Madden and Etheridge.
 
Minnich (5-3) grabbed the win after throwing four innings. He allowed four earned runs on five hits. He struck out three Yellowjackets. Kody Stone grabbed his sixth save of the season.
 
Western Oregon and MSU Billings play their third and fourth games Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m. Mountain Time. Live stats will be available on WOUWolves.com.

 

Western Oregon 8, MSU Billings 3 (Apr 11, 2014 at Billings, MT) (Game 1)
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Western Oregon...... 100 500 110  -  8 13  3      (20-14, 14-7 GNAC)
MSU Billings........ 000 200 001  -  3  9  5      (9-20, 6-9 GNAC)
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Pitchers: Western Oregon - Watkins,Spenser; Tokunaga,Chase(7); Kayser,Zach(8);
Trautmann,Spencer(9) and Chavarria,Will. MSU Billings - Muller; Baker(6); Knoll(7); Cooper(9)
and Nix.
Win-Watkins,Spenser(43-0)  Loss-Muller(1-3)  T-2:50  A-189
HR MSUB - Bitow (1).
Weather: Cloudy
Watkins faced 1 batter in the 7th.

Western Oregon 6, MSU Billings 4 (Apr 11, 2014 at Billings, MT) (Game 2)
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Western Oregon...... 020 000 4 -  6 10  1      (22-14, 15-7 GNAC)
MSU Billings........ 030 010 0 -  4  6  2      (9-21, 6-10 GNAC)
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Pitchers: Western Oregon - Minnich,Matt; Pratt,Jesse(5); Storedahl,Jacob(6); Stone,Kody(7) and
Turner,Jarrod; Chavarria,Will. MSU Billings - Eames; Campeau(7); Mills(7) and Holbrook.
Win-Minnich,Matt(5-3)  Save-Stone,Kody(6)  Loss-Mills(2-3)  T-1:50  A-217
HR WOU - Etheridge,Nathan (1).
Weather: sunny
Minnich faced 2 batters in the 5th.
Eames faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Campeau faced 3 batters in the 7th.