MONMOUTH, Ore. – An offensive outburst in Game #1 following by stellar defense in Game #2 helped Western Oregon University's baseball team picked up a much-needed Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) sweep over Northwest Nazarene University, 11-3 & 1-0, Friday on the WOU Baseball Field.
Western Oregon (25-22, 20-10 GNAC) was led offensively by senior
Garret Harpole with four hits in six at-bats, while junior
Cody Sullivan and senior
Marcus Hinkle each tallied three hits in the double header. Sullivan would drive in a game-high three runs for the Wolves, while juniors
Cody Poznanski and
Brandon Oliver each collected a pair of RBI for WOU.
Junior
Garrett Alvarez got the start in Game #1 for Western Oregon, as he allowed three earned runs on seven hits over the opening 6.0 innings to go along with a game-high five strikeouts before turning the ball over to junior
Tyler Bennett for two innings and senior
Christian Morrison for the final inning. In Game #2, senior
Jesse Pratt went the opening 6.0 innings allowing just two hits while striking out a game-high six batters before junior
Jacob Storedahl pitched 0.1 innings and fellow junior
Shawn Domke got the final two outs en route to earning his team-high fourth save of the season.
Northwest Nazarene (26-25, 14-16 GNAC) would get a combined two hits from Andrew Helmstadter, Kaleb DeHaas, Tate Glasgow, and Kyle Thomson, while Glasgow drove in a team-high two RBI for the Crusaders with Helmstadter collecting the only other RBI for NNU.
Jake Reppert would start the opening game for Northwest Nazarene, as he allowed eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits over 2.2 innings of work before turning the ball over to Justin Pilgrim and Jake Ferdinand for the final 5.1 innings where the duo would combine to allow three runs (two earned) on seven hits. In Game #2, Ross Clevenger would go the distance allowing one unearned run on four hits in 6.0 innings of work to go along with a pair of K's,
GAME #1 — WESTERN OREGON 11, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 3Friday's opener would begin with neither team scoring in the first inning before each team put two runs on the board in the second inning with NNU beginning the scoring with a two-run double to left field by Glasgow that brought home Jake Hilyard and Tucker Campbell for a 2-0 Crusader lead.
Western Oregon would answer with two runs in the bottom of the second inning when Oliver grounded out to second base allowing Harpole to score following his lead off single up the middle. Poznanski would then reach on an error by NNU that allowed junior
Caleb Falck to score and tie the game at 2-2.
Northwest Nazarene would retake the lead in the top of the third inning when Helmstadter double to right center to bring home Josh Hatfield after he led off the inning with an infield single, as the Crusaders took a slim one-run lead (3-2).
Wasting no time, Western Oregon would score six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the third inning to blow the game wide open as Sullivan, junior
Nathan Etheridge, Oliver, Poznanski, and Hinkle each register a RBI with Oliver's run-scoring double to left center proving to be the eventual game-winner that scored Etheridge. The Wolves would come away from the at-bat with an 8-3 lead that WOU never surrender.
Western Oregon would add a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on a two-run single up the middle by Sullivan before plating a single run in the top of the sixth inning on a single to center field by senior
Jacob Whisler for the Wolves' 11th and final run of the afternoon.
Sullivan and Harpole led Western Oregon's offense with three hits each, while Hinkle, Oliver, Poznanski, and Whisler tallied two hits each in the Wolves' 17-hit attack.
Northwest Nazarene would get two hits from Helmstadter, while Glasgow drove in two of the Crusaders' three runs in the game.
GAME #2 — WESTERN OREGON 1, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 0The final game on Friday would turn into a pitcher's dual between Pratt and Clevenger, as Western Oregon would score the game's only run in the bottom of the first inning when Hinkle led off with a single to left field before moving to second on a ground out by junior
Adam Bloom. A deep fly out to center field by Taylor would allow Hinkle to move to third, as he continued on the base paths coming around to score on a throwing error by NNU's center fielder after he missed the cut off man to give the Wolves an early 1-0 lead.
From that point on, Western Oregon's defense stepped up the pressure as Harpole made a back-to-back diving stops in the top of the fourth inning to keep the shutout in tack.
In the top of the sixth inning, Whisler would begin a 4-6-3 double play that erased a lead off walk by NNU.
One inning later, Northwest Nazarene would threaten to tie the game when the Crusaders put runners on first and second with no outs. A grounder to first base by Matt Lightfoot would get NNU's lead runner at home when Etheridge connected with Oliver for the first out of the inning. With runners on first and second now with one out, NNU's Glasgow would rip a single into left field that was scooped up by Taylor who proceeded to throw a dart to Oliver at home to get pinch-runner Nick Strange by two steps despite an attempt by Strange to hurdle Oliver and score the potential game-tying run. With the excitement still in the air, Domke would get the game's final out on a strikeout to help preserve the 1-0 win for the Wolves.
Hinkle, Taylor, Etheridge, and Harpole were the only WOU players to register a hit in Game #2.
Northwest Nazarene would get a two-hit effort from Thomson, while Glasgow and DeHaas collected the Crusaders only other hits in the finale.
Both teams will return to the diamond tomorrow – Saturday, May 2 – to close out the regular season with an afternoon double header beginning at noon on the WOU Baseball Field in Monmouth.
Prior to the start of the double header, Western Oregon will honor 14 seniors that will be suiting up for the final time during the regular season in front of the WOU faithful. The pregame ceremony will begin at 11:40 AM, as the Wolves will thanks this year's senior class for all their hard work with the program.
