Written by Matt Rawlings, Sports Information InternLEWISTON, Idaho – In the finale of the four-game series between Western Oregon University and the NAIA's No. 2-ranked Lewis-Clark State College, the Wolves were able to win their second game of the series by beating the Warriors by a score of 5-0 on Sunday at Harris Field.
Western Oregon (4-12) was led by senior
Matt Taylor, who had a game-high three RBI. Junior
Nathan Etheridge, junior
Adam Bloom, and junior
Mac Gridley each had two hits apiece for the Wolves. Junior
Michael Bennett got the start and the win on the mound for WOU, going 5.1 innings and giving up only four hits and no earned runs while striking out five. He was relieved by junior
Shawn Domke, and junior
Jacob Storedahl, who combined to throw 3.2 innings and gave three hits and no earned runs.
Lewis-Clark State (10-5) was led by Willie Allen, who led the team with two hits on the day. Nick Sagendorf got the start on the mound for the Warriors, as he threw 4.0 innings giving up five hits and one earned run in the loss.
After the game went scoreless over the first three innings, the Wolves struck for a run in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single by senior
Jacob Whisler, scoring Bloom. Bennett continued to shut down the Lewis-Clark State's offense for the first five innings. However, the Wolves only had a 1-0 lead going into the sixth inning.
The Wolves exploded to score four runs in the top of the sixth inning. After loading the bases with one out in the inning, senior
Marcus Hinkle hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Gridley. Following a hit by pitch by senior
Tim Rausch, Taylor came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. After getting to a full count, Taylor hit a high-arching blooper that was able to drop for a hit between the LCSC second baseman and right fielder. Since the runners were going on the pitch, the "Texas-League" single was able to score all three runners and gave the Wolves a 5-0 lead.
Lewis-Clark State threatened to score in the bottom of the sixth, but Domke was able to come in for Bennett and get out of the inning with no runs scored. Storedahl closed the deal in the bottom of the ninth, sealing up the 5-0 victory.
Western Oregon returns to the diamond on Friday, February 28, as the Wolves open up Great Norrthwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a doubleheader at Saint Martin's University starting at noon in Lacey, Washington.
