MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon baseball team opened their Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule at home on Saturday, topping the MSUB Yellowjackets 8-6 in game one of a scheduled doubleheader before game two was suspended due to darkness with the same score through five innings of play.

Game one pitted 2018 co-GNAC Pitchers of the Year Alex Roth and Steen Frederickson against each other in the respective starts. Roth, making his second start of the year, went five innings of shutout baseball, leaving in position for the win. He struck out seven, walked three and allowed only two hits in the no decision. He has now struck out 16 batters in 10 innings of work this season.

Western Oregon (3-0, 1-0 GNAC) struck first with a run in the bottom of the fourth off Frederickson. Collin Runge tripled off the right field wall to lead off the inning, scoring on a wild pitch a batter later.

The lead lasted into the sixth when MSUB (0-9, 0-1 GNAC) did a majority of their scoring. The Wolves needed three pitchers to get through the frame, giving up three hits and walking four to allow five runs across the plate. Two of the five MSUB runs in the inning scored on back-to-back bases loaded walks.

Trailing 5-1, WOU recouped three of the runs immediately with a big bottom of the sixth inning. Derek Maiben's two-RBI single rounded out the scoring to bring the Wolves back within a run at 5-4. Maiben, a freshman shortstop, went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored in the first game of the twin bill.

MSUB added an insurance run in the eighth to extend their lead back out to two at 6-4, an advantage they took into the bottom of the ninth.

Maiben again contributed a crucial hit, doubling down the left field line to lead off the ninth for the Wolves. Patrick Chung grounded out to second two batters later to score Maiben to pull WOU within a run and bring the tying run to the plate.

With two outs and nobody aboard, Western Oregon found themselves down to their final out and in need of a rally just to tie the game. WOU rattled off three consecutive hits off Sam Muskat (0-1) to finish the game.

Down to their final strike, Runge singled to center on a 2-2 count to keep the inning alive and put the tying run aboard. Griffey Halle followed with a single to left to set the table for catcher Jared McDonald.

McDonald wasted no time in the at-bat, attacking the first pitch he saw and driving it over the right-center field fence for a walk-off three-run home run. It would not be the last the catcher hit on Saturday. After being mobbed at home to keep the winning streak alive, the Wolves reset for game two looking for their fourth straight win to start the year.

The Wolves again overcame a deficit in game two, riding the momentum of another McDonald three-run home run to an 8-6 advantage through five innings before play was suspended due to darkness.

The Wolves and 'Jackets will resume play in the sixth inning of the seven-inning affair Sunday at 11 a.m. The game resumption will be followed by the originally scheduled doubleheader at WOU Baseball Field.