LACEY, Wash. – The Western Oregon baseball team took another step closer to securing its 15^th regular season championship in the last 16 years getting off to a quick start and finishing strong Tuesday afternoon at Saints Field, handing Saint Martin's an 8-3 loss in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader. The second game was halted in the top of the 5^th inning with WOU leading 5-0.
 
Western Oregon moves to 26-13 on the year with the victory and 25-10 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.
 
Connor McCord drove in the first run of the game with a RBI single to right field that plated Brock Pradere and Jay Leverett, sparking a four-run top of the first inning. Nyles Nygaard drove in the third run with a single to center and scored on a double by Justin Wakem.
 
Nygaard scored on a wild pitch in the third to extend the lead to 4-0. Joey Crunkilton made it a 5-0 lead crushing a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right field for a solo homer in the top of the fifth inning.
 
The Saints got on the board in the bottom half of the fifth using a pair of leadoff singles and producing a run with a one-out RBI groundout from Alec Hagerman.
 
WOU would answer immediately in the next inning though, scoring two runs, on a RBI double by Pradere and single from Jacob Martinez later in the frame.
 
Saint Martin's tallied single runs in the eighth and ninth to pull with five runs. The Wolves closed out a ninth-inning rally when relief pitcher Kody Kuhlman induced a game-ending double play.
 
Cam Walker (1-0) picked up the win throwing eight solid innings. He allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and three walks while striking out four. Kuhlman allowed a run on one hit closing out the game in the ninth.
 
Jacob Phipps allowed six runs on nine hits over five innings in a losing effort for the Saints to drop to 0-1 on the season.
 
Nygaard continued his hot hitting with a 3 for 5 performance with two runs scored and one knocked in. Wakem and Forrest Garcia matched Nygaard with three hits each while Pradere, McCord and Garrett Anderson each added two hits. The Wolves outhit the Saints 17-6 for the game.
 
The second game of the doubleheader got through four complete innings and began work in the fifth before rain made the field conditions unplayable in Lacey. Western Oregon was leading 5-0 when the game was halted. It is unlikely the game will be resumed or made up.
 
UP NEXT
 
The quest for a GNAC title will continue at home, yes we said at home, as the Wolves host Northwest Nazarene. First pitch at the WOU Baseball Field is scheduled for 1 p.m. under sunny skies and warm temperatures expected in Monmouth.