MONMOUTH, Ore.—Playing its first series at its on-campus home park this season, the Western Oregon University baseball team split a Friday doubleheader against Northwest Nazarene University.
Western Oregon (13-12, 13-5 GNAC) recorded its sixth shutout of the season in a 1-0 win in the opener while Northwest Nazarene (9-19, 7-11 GNAC) came back with a 7-2 win in the second game of the twinbill.
The two teams will resume the series with a Saturday doubleheader set for a 12 p.m. start.
Game 1 – Western Oregon def. Northwest Nazarene, 1-0
With hits at a premium, WOU used clever baserunning and a double by Jacob Martinez to score the lone run in the 1-0 win to open the four-game series against NNU.
Torreahno Sweet initiated the score by drawing a leadoff walk in the 5th inning.
Justin Spinner followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Sweet into scoring position, but using a good jump and a friendly roll Sweet took advantage of the slowly-developing play by making the turn and diving safely into third.
After a strikeout put two outs on the board, Jacob Martinez delivered the go-ahead run by planting a double to right field.
Armed with the lead, the Wolves turned to the bullpen for the final three frames where Nick Parr, Justin Dolezal and Jake Simmons continued the shutout started by Alex Roth. Roth tossed the first six innings and allowed just three hits. Roth struck out six batters, walked one and faced just one batter over the minimum during his stint with the aid of line-out double plays in the 4th and 6th innings.
Blake McFadden took the loss after allowing one run on three hits.
Game 2 – Northwest Nazarene def. Western Oregon, 7-2
Behind a 7-inning complete game by Greg Casper, Northwest Nazarene evened the series with a 7-2 in in the late afternoon at Western Oregon.
The Nighthawks jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the 2nd and tacked on two more runs in the 3rd to provide Casper all the support he needed against the Wolves.
WOU scattered six hits against Casper and could only muster singles scores in the 1st and 4th frames.
Jay Leverett and Griffey Halle scored WOU's runs while Hunter Johnson notched the team's lone RBI in the contest.
Zach Penrod went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI to lead the Nighthawks.
