MONMOUTH, Ore.—Following a four-game sweep at home last week, the Western Oregon Wolves will hit the road for a GNAC series at Northwest Nazarene on March 22-23.

LIVE VIDEO/STATS: Live video and stats at: gnac.tv

ABOUT NNU (9-11, 5-7 GNAC): NNU was picked to finish fifth in the GNAC Preseason Poll… NNU has dropped back-to-back GNAC series with MSU Billings and Saint Martin's taking three of four against the Nighthawks… NNU is ranked fourth in the GNAC with a .240 batting average and second in the league with a 4.36 ERA.

WOU vs. NNU: The Wolves and Nighthawks split both series in 2018 and 2017… WOU defeated NNU, 9-1, in the 2017 GNAC Tournament Championship game while NNU edged the Wolves, 9-8, in the 2016 edition… Since 2002, Western Oregon holds a 102-40 overall record against NNU… WOU is 48-22 while playing NNU on the road.  

NCBWA WEST REGION POLL: The Wolves climbed one more spot to a No. 5 position in this week's NCBWA West Region Poll… WOU collected a season-high 45 points in the poll and remains the only GNAC program in the West Region's top 10.
 

NCBWA NCAA DIVISION II WEST REGION
Rank	School	Record	Points	LW
1.	UC San Diego (8)	17-4	80	1
2.	Point Loma	17-8	70	2
3.	Azusa Pacific	16-9	65	3
4.	San Francisco State	12-1-1	56	4
5.	Western Oregon	11-3	45	6
6.	Cal State Monterey Bay	15-11	42	7
7.	Chico State	13-7	25	NR
8.	Stanislaus State	13-11	23	5
9.	Cal Poly Pomona	12-14	12	8
10.	Biola	12-9	8	10
WESTERN OREGON IN WEST REGION POLLS
Date	School	Rank	Points
1/23	Western Oregon	9th	18
2/25	Western Oregon	8th	20
3/4	Western Oregon	7th	30
3/11	Western Oregon	6th	30
3/18	Western Oregon	5th	45

RAKIN' WAKEM NAMED GNAC PLAYER OF WEEK: Hitting above .500 while leading Western Oregon to a 5-1 record, senior Justin Wakem was selected as the GNAC Baseball Player of the Week on Monday, March 18… Wakem went 10-of-19 at the plate (.526 batting average) and tied for the team lead with nine RBI and 10 runs over the six-game span… In all, five of Wakem's 10 hits this week went for extra bases.

WOU IN GNAC RANKS: The Wolves lead the GNAC with a .338 batting average and are 3rd in the league with a 3.30 ERA... WOU hitters occupy five of the top six spots in the GNAC's best batting averages with Derek Maiben (.543), Jared McDonald(.400) and Blayze Arcano (.378) going 1-2-3... Alex Roth (2.25 ERA) and Austin Crowson (2.37 ERA) hold the GNAC's top two earned run averages.

STREAKS: Entering the week, five Wolves are carrying hitting streaks of six games or longer... Griffey Halle and Derek Maiben have recorded hits in seven straight games while Jared McDonald, Collin Runge and Blayze Arcano have recorded a hit in six straight contests... McDonald has reached base in a team-leading 14 straight games, one more than Halle (13) and two up from Runge (12).

SAFE STARTS: WOU is a combined 8-0 in starts by Jacob Fricke and Alex Roth.

RECORD OFFENSE FOR WOU: The Wolves set a GNAC scoring record in a 32-14 win against Central Washington on March 11… Seven players finished with multiple hits in the game while Derek Maiben and Justin Wakem both had five-hit games… With the boost of two home runs, Wakem scored five runs and drove in five more… Patrick Chung went 4-for-6 with six RBI… The combined 46 runs in the contest was the most combined runs in a WOU game since a 25-22 win over CWU on May 10, 2002.

WOLVES TAKE MSUB SERIES: Playing at home in the conference opener, WOU used two walk-off wins en route to a 3-1 series win against MSU Billings on March 2-3… The Wolves posted back-to-back 8-6 wins to start the series before a wild 12-11 win to start the second day… MSUB won the series finale 7-3… Jared McDonald connected on a walk-off 3-run homer to complete a WOU comeback in game No. 2 while a dropped fly ball with the bases loaded provided the team's walk-off win in game No. 3.

OPENING WEEK: After seeing the first two series of the season canceled due to weather-related issues, the Wolves picked up two games in Portland and went 2-0 while playing at Concordia's Porter Park... WOU defeated Central Washington, 13-1, on Feb. 18 and Concordia, 3-2, on Feb. 21 in the mid-week contests... WOU pitchers combined to strike out 31 batters in 18 innings of work while sporting a 1.50 earned run average in the two games.  

PRESEASON HONORS FOR McCORD & McDONALD: Infielders Connor McCord and Jared McDonald were honored by the NCBWA after being named to the West Region Preseason Team on Jan. 23... McDonald started 46 of Western Oregon's 48 games a season ago and made an appearance in all but one contest for the GNAC Tournament champions... McDonald hit .349 on the season and had a team-leading 24 extra-base hits... McCord started all 48 games during his sophomore season and ended the year with a .306 batting average... McCord belted a team-high 11 home runs and paced the club with 48 RBI... McCord also logged eight appearances (four starts) from the mound.

2019 PRESEASON POLL: Western Oregon will wear the favorite's crown during the 2019 season as the Wolves were picked to win the GNAC according to the Preseason Coaches' Poll... WOU collected three of the six first-place votes to edge Montana State Billings in total points, 33 to 31… Central Washington (21 pts) and Concordia (17 pts) were picked in the third and fourth positions while Northwest Nazarene (13 pts) and Saint Martin's (11 pts) rounded out the poll.

GNAC GETS AUTOMATIC SPOT TO REGIONALS: For the first time since the league was formed in 2002, the GNAC will be awarded an automatic spot in the West Region Championship... The spot in the six-team postseason tourney will be given to the winner of the GNAC Tournament.

GNAC DOMINANCE: Western Oregon has captured 14 of the 17 regular-season GNAC titles since the inaugural season in 2002… The Wolves won 13 straight regular-season crowns (2002-14) before MSU Billings broke the streak with a one-game lead over the Wolves in 2015.

GNAC TOURNEY TITLES: Since the GNAC started a conference tournament in 2013, WOU has gone on to win four of the six chances at the postseason event... The Wolves have made it to the finals of the tournament every year with Central Washington stopping the Wolves in the championship round in 2014 and Northwest Nazarene winning the title in 2016.

COMBINED TITLES: WOU has combined to win 18 of the 23 total GNAC regular-season or tournament titles since 2002... MSU Billings is next up with three titles over that span while NNU and CWU have each earned one championship... The Wolves have won either a regular-season or tournament championship in all but one of the 17 seasons of GNAC play with 2016 the lone outlier.

GNAC HISTORY AT WEST REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS: Western Oregon remains the only GNAC team to ever play in the NCAA DII West Region Tournament... The Wolves have advanced to regional play on seven occasions with the most recent occurrence in the 2012 season... WOU hosted the West Region Championships in 2006, 2009 and 2012.

WOU at West Region Championships
2003: 0-2 (Hays, Kan.) #3 seed
2005: 2-2 (Grand Junction, Colo.) #3 seed
2006: 2-2 (Salem, Ore.) #1 seed
2008: 0-2 (Chico, Calif.) #5 seed
2009: 1-2 (Keizer, Ore.) #2 seed
2011: 0-2 (San Diego, Calif.) #2 seed
2012: 0-2 (Salem, Ore.) #1 seed

2019 RETURNING PITCHERS: Western Oregon returns 25 players from last season, including 11 pitchers from a staff that led the GNAC with a 4.64 ERA last season... The Wolves return three of its four pitchers that logged at least 50 innings of work last season with Alex Roth (2.77 ERA, 57.1 inn.), Jacob Fricke (4.01 ERA, 51.2 inn.) and Gabe Benavides (4.45 ERA, 58.2 inn.) returning to the rotation.

2019 RETURNING HITTERS: Three players that hit over .300 last season will return to the lineup this season, including All-GNAC catcher Jared McDonald... McDonald went .349 at the plate last season with a team-leading 15 doubles... Griffey Halle (.312) and Connor McCord (.306) also return after successful 2018 campaigns.

2018 RECAP: Western Oregon compiled a 27-21 overall record in 2018 with a 24-16 mark in conference play... MSU Billings went 29-11 in league competitions to win the GNAC title by 5.0 games over the Wolves... As the No. 2 seed, WOU went on to win the GNAC title with an 8-4 victory over the Yellowjackets... The Wolves hit .299 as a team for No. 2 in the conference... Starters Alex Roth and Jacob Fricke posted the leagues's top two ERA's in the GNAC with Roth edging his teammate 3.77 to 4.01... 13 players earned All-GNAC honors for the Wolves, including four first-team members and four second-team picks.. Roth was joined by junior catcher Jared McDonald, senior infielder Jay Leverett and senior outfielder Jacob Martinez on the All-GNAC First Team...  Fricke was a second-team selection along with senior pitcher Craig Grubbe, sophomore infielder/pitcher Connor McCord and senior infielder Nyles Nygaard.