BELLEVUE, Wash. – In their second meeting of the season, the Western Oregon and Central Washington baseball teams split their doubleheader Sunday afternoon with the Wolves winning game one 8-3 and the Wildcats taking game two 4-3 on a walk-off.
Western Oregon (6-2, 4-2 GNAC) got quality starts from each of their starting pitchers as both
Alex Roth and
Austin Crowson tossed six innings in their respective outings.
Roth (2-0) got the nod for game one and his second start of the year against Central Washington (7-6, 4-2 GNAC). The junior allowed three runs on four hits, walking three and striking out 12. It was both a season-high in innings and strikeouts for Roth who has now struck out 28 batters in 16.0 innings over three starts.
Mitch Lesmeister's two-run home run in the third gave CWU a 3-0 lead, but the Wildcats' offense went quiet the rest of the game.
Roth was backed up by three shutout innings of relief from
Connor McCord, which included another six strikeouts, for his second save of the season.
After trailing 3-0, the Wolves churned out eight unanswered runs between the sixth and the eighth innings. Four of those runs came in the top of the sixth to erase the deficit in one frame.
Joshua McIntyre doubled to center to highlight the inning, bringing in a run in the process.
Collin Runge went 3-for-4 at the plate, cranking a double, scoring three runs and adding on a walk. It was Runge's third three-hit game of the season, two of which have come against Central Washington.
Game two flipped the scoring for CWU as they got all four of their runs in the final inning to win on a walk-off.
Austin Crowson, getting the start on the hill, provided another impressive six-inning performance for WOU, striking out 11 in the shutout start. Crowson, however, would not receive a decision.
The Wolves spread their runs throughout the game, getting multiple RBI from freshman
Derek Maiben in the process. The shortstop doubled in the second inning to score
Griffey Halle and singled in
Jared McDonald two innings later. Maiben would not be retired at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
Halle capped the scoring for WOU with a solo home run in the sixth, his second of the year.
Leading 3-0 going to the bottom of the seventh and three outs from the win, the Wolves were unable to hold their lead. Eight batters came to the plate in the inning for Central Washington, collecting three hits, three walks and a hit batter. With one out and two batters aboard, Yi-Fan Pan singled to right field to score a run and tie the game, putting the winning run at third for the Wildcats.
With the bases loaded, Adam Fahsel was hit by a pitch to allow Lesmeister to score the winning run and give CWU their first win over WOU this season.
The two teams will face off again Monday in their second doubleheader played at Bellevue College. First pitch for game one of the twin bill is set for 1 p.m. PDT.
