MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon baseball team opened a big Great Northwest Athletic Conference weekend series Saturday, splitting a pair of contests with Montana State Billings.
 
In the opener, the Yellowjackets held off a late Wolves rally to win 4-3. WOU rebounded in game two, getting solid two-out offense in support of senior pitcher Garrett Alvarez, who went the distance in a 6-1 victory.
 
Kyle Vanderkin had four hits and scored twice to the lead the Wolves. Trevor Podratz recorded a hit in each game, extending his hitting streak to a season-high 16 games.
 
GAME 1: MSUB 4, WOU 3
Montana State Billings went to work offensively in the first inning, scoring a pair of runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly against WOU starting pitcher Brady Miller. The Yellowjackets tacked on single runs in the third and fifth innings to build a 4-0 lead.
 

The Wolves struggled offensively in the opening four innings, accounting for one single by Vanderkin. In the fifth, an error on a groundball hit by Jay Leverett scored Joey Crunkilton from third.
 
Brock Pradere led off the sixth earning a free base after being plunked by a pitch. He would steal second base and advanced to third on a grounder to second base. During Podratz's plate appearance, a wild pitch brought Pradere home with the Wolves' second run.
 
A pair of doubles made the score 4-3 after Pradere lined a double into right field, scoring Vanderkin who hit a two-bagger to deep center.
 
The Wolves could not push across a tying run after MSUB brought in Adam Cox for the final two frames. Tanner Johnson fanned nine in seven innings, allowing three hits on six hits.
 
Miller (8-2) allowed 10 hits and walked three, but shined in striking out 11 batters.
 
The Wolves finished with seven hits to MSUB's 11. Vanderkin led WOU with three hits.
 
GAME 2: WOU 6, MSUB 1
Western Oregon scored six times and Alvarez cruised through the first three innings as the Wolves even the series with the nightcap victory, 6-1.
 
Pradere acted as the offensive catalyst in the first innings grounding a double down the third base line and scoring on a screaming single from Erik Long off the first baseman's glove for a 1-0 lead.
 
WOU added two runs during a two-out rally in the third inning. Long and Brandon Oliver each singled and advanced 90 feet on the first of two wild pitches from MSUB starting pitcher Jared Winslow. The second, during a Podratz at-bat, plated long. Two pitches later, Podratz bounced a run-scoring hit up the middle to make the score 3-0.
 

Alvarez retired the first eight batters he faced and did not allow a base runner past second base in the first six frames. He was aided twice by inning-ending double plays in the top of the fifth and sixth innings.
 
The Wolves broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth, starting with a pair of leadoff single from Vanderkin and Marcus Madden, each with the count at 0-2. Vanderkin advanced to third on a balk and scored via a wild pitch. RBI singles flowed from Leverett and Pradere for a 6-0 lead.
 
One mistake pitch from Alvarez was deposited over the right field wall by Tanner Watson in the top of the seventh inning. The right-hander bounced back from the home run to strike out the final two batters of the game.
 
Alvarez improved to 6-0 on the year giving up one earned run on three hits with one walk and seven punch outs.
 
The Wolves won the hit battle 13 to three, led by three hits from Long,
 
Western Oregon and Montana State Billings close out the weekend with a doubleheader Sunday, May 1 at 11 a.m.