CARSON, Calif. – Nathan Etheridge delivered the game-winning RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning to clinch a Sunday single non-conference game, 7-6, over Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Wolves finish their opening road trip to Southern California with a 3-2 record.
 
In total, the Wolves totaled 12 hits, tying their highest output of the year. Joey Crunkilton (3-for-4, 2B,R,  2 RBI) led the offensive hit output while Etheridge (2-for-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI) joined him with a multi-hit game.
 
Jacob Fricke (1-0) pitched 1.1 shutout innings of relief to earn the win for WOU. Trey Smith allowed one run on two hits in five innings in his Wolves debut. Anthony Cortez (2-1) walked three and gave up the go-ahead run in one inning to take the loss for the Toros.
 
Western Oregon tallied the game's first run after three scoreless innings. Brock Pradere led off the visiting half of the fourth with a double and stole third base. After a walk to Trevor Podratz, Crunkilton bounced a ball through the right side to score Pradere. With two outs, Etheridge doubled to left to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills trimmed the lead to 2-1 scoring a fourth-inning run without the benefit of a base hit – three walk and an error.
 
WOU proceeded to tack on runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to go up, 6-1. Crunkilton's one-out double in the sixth culminated with an unearned run due to an error by the Toros' defense with two outs. In the seventh inning, a RBI double by Podratz preceded another run-scoring single from Crunkilton. Etheridge led off the eighth inning with a walk and moved in to scoring position off a single from Erik Long. A solid single to center by Cody Poznanski allowed Etheridge to score.
 
CSUDH broke through in the bottom of the eighth with five runs to tie the game at 6-6.
 
The Wolves wasted no time taking the lead in the ninth. Podratz and Etheridge each earned walks and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Cody Sullivan. The Toros decided to intentionally walk Kyle Vanderkin to load the bases. With a 1-2 count, Etheridge hit a fly ball to right field deep enough to plate pinch-runner Forrest Garcia.
 
Fricke allowed a two-out walk, but stranded the runner inducing the game-ending fly out to right field.
 
Western Oregon returns to action next Friday when they travel for another in-region series at Cal State East Bay. Game one is set for 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12 in Hayward. Live stats for all four games of the series will be available at WOUwolves.com.