ST. GEORGE, Utah  - Western Oregon opened play in the Dixie State Tournament with an 8-4 win over Western New Mexico on Friday morning before falling to the host Red Storm 4-1 in the afternoon.
 
With the split of the opening day, the Wolves moved to 2-4 on the season, with three more games waiting on their trip to the desert of southwestern Utah.
 
In the opener against Western New Mexico, the Wolves took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The first run scored when a ground ball to shortstop off the bat of Brandy Knowles was misplayed, allowing Kelsie Gardner to score. Consecutive doubles from Lexi Jennings and Zoe Clark brought in the final three runs.
 
Western New Mexico notched two runs in the first and third innings off Lizzet Dominguez. The pitcher allowed only one earned run and shut down the Mustang offense in her eight-hit complete game.
 
Two-out offense gave the Wolves the lead for good in the fourth inning. A Gardner triple was followed by an RBI double from Ryanne Huffman.
 
The WOU lead grew to 8-4 after a two-run single from Knowles and RBI hit from Jennings in the top of the sixth.
 
Western Oregon had 14 hits in the win. Clark went 4-for-4 with two RBI and Knowles went 3-for-4 (two runs, one RBI). The Wolves also got multi-hit games from Gardner (three runs), Knowles (three RBI) and Jennings (two RBI).
 
Against the tournament host and defending NCAA National Championship runner-up, WOU and Dixie State went scoreless for the first two innings. The Red Storm tallied single runs in the third with an RBI double from Janessa Bassett, last season's NFCA Freshman of the Year, in the third inning and an RBI single from Jessica Gonzalez in the fourth.
 
WOU got a run back on an RBI double from Knowles in the bottom of the fourth as the Wolves were the designated home team.
 
Dixie State plated two insurance runs in the fifth to build a 4-1 lead.
 
Alyson Boytz took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the year. In 5.1 innings, the senior allowed four runs on 10 hits. She walked one batter and struck out one. Stephanie Morgan struck out four batters in her 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
 
Gardner was the only WOU player to have two hits against DSU's Aryn Feickert, the Pacific West Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
 
The Wolves play a pair of games against PacWest teams on Saturday. At 10 a.m. Mountain, WOU takes on UH Hilo before facing California Baptist at 12:30 p.m. Mountain.