BILLINGS, Mont. – The Western Oregon Wolves baseball team extended their winning streak to eight games with three victories against Montana State Billings Friday afternoon. WOU completed a halted game from March 6 with three insurance runs en route to a 10-0 win. The Wolves then came back with late-inning rallies in both games of the scheduled doubleheader for a 14-7 win in game one and edging MSUB in the nightcap, 8-7.
 
Western Oregon is now 18-8 overall and 17-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Yellowjackets fell to 13-23 with the two losses and 11-15 in the league.
 
HALTED GAME – Western Oregon 10, Montana State Billings 0
Western Oregon scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning in a game that was resumed from March 6 that the Wolves were leading 7-0 behind a solid start from senior pitcher Trey Smith. A two-out rally allowed freshman Torreahno Sweet to line a two-run double and senior catcher Boog Leach to add a RBI single.
 
Sophomore pitcher Jacob Fricke struck out two in the seventh to ensure the win. With the victory, Western Oregon capped off a series sweep of MSUB that saw games at Porter Park in Portland, Morse Athletic Complex in Newberg and Dehler Park in Billings.
 
GAME ONE – Western Oregon 14, Montana State Billings 7
The Wolves scored the first five runs of the game in support of junior Jake Simmons in his first start of the campaign. Junior Jay Leverett singled in the opening frame and scored when a throw from second base on a potential double play skipped past first base. Three innings later, senior Brock Pradere hit a two-run single to right center and later scored on a bouncing single from freshman Connor McCord putting WOU up, 4-0.
 
Western Oregon added another run in the fifth inning. After a one-out double from junior Nyles Nygaard, junior Garrett Anderson sent a 0-2 pitch back up the middle for a RBI single and a five-run lead.
 
Montana State Billings bunched up their runs in the middle of the game with single tallies in the fifth and sixth frames while grabbing a 7-6 lead after a five-run frame on four hits in the home half of the seventh.
 
WOU responded in the top of the eighth with their biggest inning of the game, a six-run retort capitalizing using two errors and four hits. McCord singled with one out and reached second on a wild pitch. Sweet plated McCord with the tying run with a single to left field. The Wolves loaded the bases when senior Joey Crunkilton was walked and sophomore Justin Wakem was plunked by a pitch. With a new MSUB reliever on the hill and ahead in the count 2-0, Nygaard split the left-center field gap with a double that plated three go-ahead runs. Sacrifice efforts from junior Cody Dykstra and Leverett plated the final tallies that gave the Wolves a 14-7 lead.
 
Senior Elias Bedolla earned the win in relief tossing 2.1 innings with three hits, moving to 4-3 on the season.
 
GAME TWO – Western Oregon 8, Montana State Billings 7
Each team plated an early run in what looked to be a pitcher's duel between WOU senior Brady Miller and MSUB's Tanner Watson. For the Yellowjackets, Zach Robinson was hit by Miller's first offering and then stole second base, third base and home for the first run of the game. The Wolves responded in the second inning after junior Erick Allegro doubled and later scored on a Leach RBI groundout.
 
Miller settled down and retired nine of the next 10 batters, but fell into a jam in the MSUB fourth inning. Robinson's two-run single highlighted a three-run frame pushing the Yellowjackets' lead to 4-1.
 
Western Oregon got a run back with a Leverett RBI infield single in the top of the fifth before MSUB answered with two runs in the bottom half.
 
Trailing 6-2, the Wolves put together some late-inning magic to take the lead in the sixth. A walk, an infield hit and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out. Nygaard brought home two runs with an opposite-field single while the bases reloaded following a Leach walk. Crunkilton swung on the first pitch and lined a two-run single to right field tying the game. On the same play, a throwing error after the cutoff from first base allowed Leach to score the go-ahead run in a 7-6 game.
 
Robinson capped off his great game hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to bring the game even for the final time.
 
In the top of the 7^th, Leverett led off with a single, but was forced out on a sacrifice bunt attempt. McCord reached on a fielding error at first and both he and Dykstra moved into scoring position on a subsequent throwing error. Sweet pushed across the game-winning run with a high-bouncing ball that backed up the second baseman enough for Dykstra to score.
 
Freshman Kade Mechals did allow a lead-off single in the bottom of the inning, but notched his fifth save striking out the side. The win for Western Oregon went to freshman Christian Hammerich after an inning of relief.
 
NEXT UP
Western Oregon will go for a series sweep tomorrow in Billings with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Mountain.