Baseball | 4/27/2014 9:13:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Saint Martin's University (Wash.) baseball team remained in the hunt for the final spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament with two victories at Western Oregon University Sunday.
The Saints (15-28, 11-17 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) split the series at the regular season GNAC champion, WOU, with a pair of extra inning wins, 11-9 and 5-3. The Wolves won both games on Saturday. Sunday's first game began at 1 p.m. and the second game ended just before 8 p.m. There was a 45-minute rain delay in the sixth inning of Game 1.
Western Oregon's Nate Etheridge went 3-for-7 at the plate with three walks. He had three RBI and scored twice.
Tim Rausch was 2-for-5 with four walks. He had two RBI and scored twice.
Daniel McNabb was 3-for-8, was walked twice and scored three times.
Garret Harpole had three RBI.
The first game featured five home runs, four ties, and four lead changes. The lead was never larger than two runs. The two teams combined for 29 hits scoring 21 runs in the first game on Sunday that was nearly four hours and 11 innings.
The Wolves put three on the board in the second but SMU kept things close scoring a run each in the second, third and fifth innings tying the score in the fifth on Kaelen Hirashiki's single.
The Saints briefly took a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth behind Spencer Dodd's RBI double but WOU evened the score in the bottom half of the inning. Saint Martin's reclaimed the lead in the seventh as Luke Besel hit his third home run of the season to put the Saints in front 6-4.
But once again WOU answered this time with four runs in the bottom of the eighth as the Wolves took advantage of two SMU errors to go ahead 8-6 and once again the Saints had an answer.
Chandler Tracy was hit by a pitch to start the inning while Besel walked and both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Carl Svanevik cut the lead in half with a single to score Tracy. Hirashiki laid down a bunt on the next play at the Wolves through home to get the lead runner as Besel tried to score on the play.
Chris Womac loaded the bases with a one out single setting the table for pinch hitter Kameron Banister who drove two runs with a single up the middle to give the Saints back the lead 9-8.
Then with one swing of the bat in the ninth in the game was tied again as
Parker Miles hit a one-out solo shot. WOU would advance the game-winning run to third but Chase DeCoito got
Garret Harpole to fly out extending the game.
SMU was retired in order in the 10th while the Wolves mustered just a walk moving the game into the 11th. Western Oregon looked to have another chance to win the game in the bottom half of the inning after two quick outs retired SMU to start things off. But Hirashiki worked the count drawing a walk while Womac was hit by a pitch and Decoito came to bat drawing a walk as well.
Travis Shaw followed with the clutch two-out single up the middle scoring two to put SMU ahead 11-9 and despite two walks from the Wolves Decoito finished the game to pick up his first win of the season.
Tracy hit his 10th home run of the season while Hirashiki hit his first. The home run for Tracy was his fifth in the last six games for the Saints. He was 2-for-3 in the game with four runs scored while Hirashiki was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI.
Game two went down to the wire as well as this time it was the Saints who struck first scoring twice in the first as both Alex Bielaski and Hirashiki drew bases loaded walks.
SMU increased its lead to 3-1 when Zack Larsen singled in a run in the fifth. WOU had just one hit in the fifth and none in the sixth but in the seventh loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a hit by a pitch.
Tim Rausch's sacrifice run scored one run while
Nathan Etheridge tied the game with a walk. Once again WOU had the winning run a third but left him stranded sending the game to an extra frame.
The Saints wasted no time drawing their sixth and seventh walks of the game and Womac plated what proved to be the game winning run in the next at bat while Dodd added an insurance run with a bunt RBI. Anthony LaDue calmy retired the side in the bottom of the inning to record his first win of the season.
Shaw was 3-for-4 in game two while Dodd, Larsen and Womac all collected hits and Hirashiki drew a pair of walks as did Tracy to help the Saints get their first wins at Western Oregon (29-17, 22-10 GNAC) since 2011.
The Wolves welcome the No. 3 team in NAIA, Lewis-Clark State, in a non-conference series Friday and next Sunday. The three-game series begins with a single game Friday at 2 p.m.
Saint Martin's 11, Western Oregon 9 (04/27/14 at Monmouth, OR) (Game 1)
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Saint Martin's...... 011 011 203 02 - 11 17 2 (14-28, 10-17)
Western Oregon...... 030 001 041 00 - 9 12 0 (29-15, 22-9)
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Pitchers: Saint Martin's - Sontag; Balfour(8); LaDue(8); DeCoito(9) and Raczok; Tracy.
Western Oregon - Huson,Eric; McKitrick,Clark(6); Stone,Kody(9); Storedahl,Jacob(9);
Pratt,Jesse(10) and Sherwin,Michael; Chavarria,Will.
Win-DeCoito(1-2) Loss-Pratt,Jesse(1-1) T-3:50 A-55
HR SMU - Tracy; Besel; Hirashiki.
HR WOU - Miles,Parker; Rausch,Tim.
Weather: Cold and rainy
Balfour faced 3 batters in the 8th.
Stone faced 3 batters in the 9th.
Saint Martin's 5, Western Oregon 3 (04/27/14 at Monmouth, OR) (Game 2)
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Saint Martin's...... 200 010 02 - 5 6 1 (15-28, 11-17)
Western Oregon...... 000 100 20 - 3 6 1 (29-16, 22-10)
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Pitchers: Saint Martin's - Banker; Balfour(6); LaDue(7) and Tracy. Western Oregon -
Hetrick,Taylor; Keller,Nick(5); Tokunaga,Chase(7); Trautmann,Spencer(8) and Chavarria,Will.
Win-LaDue(1-0) Loss-Tokunaga,Chase(1-2) T-2:20 A-0
Weather: Cold and partly cloudy
Banker faced 1 batter in the 6th.
Tokunaga faced 3 batters in the 8th.
