MONMOUTH, Ore. – Western Oregon University scored a combined 11 runs over its final three at-bats, as the Wolves came back to earn a 13-10 victory over NAIA's No. 19-ranked Lewis-Clark State College in a non-conference game Thursday at the WOU Baseball Field.

"We had some good and some bad today, but we were able to stay with what we were trying to do and compete on every pitch and fight for every pitch and got ourselves back in the game and came up with some big hits late in the game to get a good win against a quality team" said Head Coach Kellen Walker.

Junior Cody Sullivan led Western Oregon (17-19) with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate that included driving in a game-high five RBI, while four other Wolves – senior Matt Taylor, senior Garret Harpole, junior Nathan Etheridge, and junior Sam Cameron – also registered multiple hits on the afternoon with Etheridge also recording four runs batted in.

On the hill for WOU, junior Houston Samuel got the start allowing four earned runs on five hits in 2.0 innings of work to go along with a team-high tying three strikeouts before turning the ball over to a quintet of relievers for the final seven combined innings. The Wolves' bullpen that consisted of senior Clark McKitrick, junior Cody Allison, senior Spencer Trautmann, junior Garrett Alvarez, and junior Gary Steindorf combined to allow six earned runs on five hits with Alvarez picking up his fourth win of the season with Allison tying Samuel with three K's.

When asked about his team's offensive performance late in the game, Walker said, "I think it is just staying with our plan throughout no matter what the score is, as that is something that we have talked a lot about during the year. Even if we are in a bad spot on the scoreboard or we are down or up, we still need to stick with our plan and stay consistent with our plan because that is going to give more results over the course of the season."

Lewis-Clark State (27-10) got a team-high three hits from Cameron Pongs, while Michael Sexton drove in a team-high three RBI for the visiting Warriors. Cabe Reiten was the only other LCSC player to record more than one hit with a 2-for-6 performance in the leadoff position, while Max Whitts and Darren Kolk also tallied two RBI each.

Quin Grogan would get the start for Lewis-Clark State going the opening 5.1 innings, as he allowed four earned runs on six hits to go along with a game-high six strikeouts. Grogan would turn the ball over to the bullpen, as Bryce Jackson, Beau Kerns, and Colton Wright would combine to allow nine earned runs on seven hits with Kerns suffering his first loss of the season in 2.0 innings of work.

Lewis-Clark State would strike first with a two-run double down the left field line by Sexton, while Whitt added two more runs to the scoreboard in the top of the second inning on a two-run single through the right side that handed the visiting Warriors an early 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third inning, Western Oregon would cut into LCSC's lead with a two-run triple by Etheridge that scored senior Austin Hamilton and Taylor following their two out walk and single that pulled WOU to 4-2.

Neither team would score again until the bottom of the sixth inning when Western Oregon tied the game at 4-4 on a RBI single by Sullivan that scored Taylor before junior Cody Poznanski lifted a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Harpole after he earned an earlier walk.

In the top of the seventh inning, Lewis-Clark State would score four runs on a pair of hits to pull ahead 8-4 with the big hit coming off the bat of Pongs via a two-run single through the right side to put the Warriors ahead by four runs.

Western Oregon would pull within two runs (8-6) in the bottom of the seventh inning on a two-run single by Sullivan with the bases loaded to score Hinkle and Hamilton.

After keeping Lewis-Clark State off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth inning, Western Oregon would erupt for seven runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth inning with Etheridge registering a two-run single that gave the Wolves the lead for good with Sullivan adding the eventual game-winning run via a triple down the right field line that extended WOU's lead to 12-8. Poznanski would add Western Oregon's final run via a single to right field that scored Sullivan and pushed the Wolves' lead to 13-8 heading into the ninth inning.

Despite a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning by Lewis-Clark State's Kolk, Western Oregon's defense would not allow the nationally-ranked Warriors to get any closer as the Wolves settled for the hard-fought 13-10 victory to extend WOU's home winning streak to seven games.

Etheridge talked about the Wolves' late-game performance and his four-RBI day by saying, "Personally, I was just trying to look to see the ball through the plate, hit it the other way, and hit it where it was pitched. (As a team), we wanted to make sure that we were all on time throughout the day."

Western Oregon will return to the diamond on Saturday, April 11, when the Wolves begin at four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) series against rival Saint Martin's University starting at 1 PM on the WOU Baseball Field in Monmouth.

Looking forward to this weekend, Coach Walker said, "It is a game-by-game thing. Obviously today is a good win coming from a deficit against a good team, but we will need to reset have a good workout and be ready to go for a very crucial GNAC series."