PORTLAND, Ore. – Western Oregon baseball dropped both games of the Saturday doubleheader against Northwest Nazarene, 3-2 in the first and 4-2 in the second.
 
Western Oregon won one out of the four total games in the Northwest Nazarene series this weekend at Concordia's Porter Park.
 
Western Oregon is now 9-10 overall and 4-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders are 13-9 overall and 8-4 in the league.
 
GAME #1 – WESTERN OREGON 2, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 3
The first game started with four scoreless innings. It wasn't until the fifth inning when the Crusaders scored two runs in one play after a single to left field.
 
The Wolves responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Senior Kyle Vanderkin first tripled to left center, and he later came home as junior Brock Pradere reached on a fielding error. The second run came when redshirt sophomore Jay Leverett scored after Podratz walked and forced all three runners on the bases to advance.
 
Two more scoreless innings flew by, and Northwest Nazarene eventually attained the winning run in the eighth inning.
 
Western Oregon totaled three hits for the game, while the Crusaders recorded seven. Along with Vanderkin, seniors Nathan Etheridge and Brandon Oliver each had a hit.
 
Senior Gary Steindorf did most of the pitching in seven innings, allowing five hits and earning seven strikeouts. Freshman Jake Peloquin took the loss after pitching 0.1 of an inning, allowing the remaining Crusader hits and striking out one. Freshman Koty Fallon and junior Elias Bedolla also saw time on the mound.                   
 
GAME #2 –WESTERN OREGON 2, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 4
In the second half of the doubleheader, Northwest Nazarene came out with momentum from the first game as they earned a run in the first inning. The Crusaders added another run in the third and two more in the fifth.
 
Facing a 4-0 deficit, the Wolves got on the board with a homerun from junior Nick Snyder in the bottom of the fifth inning.
 
The Wolves used their last attempt at bat to score as Vanderkin came home on a fly out, but Northwest Nazarene held the lead for the victory.
 
Each team posted six hits, and Snyder as well as redshirt junior Erik Long were able to get two hits each for the Wolves. Pradere and senior Trevor Podratz each added one hit.
 
After pitching 4.1 innings with three allowed hits and two strikeouts, senior Cody Allison claimed the loss. Freshmen Jacob Fricke and Jordan Schiefer also stepped in as pitchers.