MONMOUTH, Ore.—After closing out the home slate with a four-game sweep, the Western Oregon baseball team will look to continue its momentum with a road series at Concordia University on April 25-26.

Western Oregon (22-10, 19-10 GNAC)
Thursday, April 25, 2019 (DH) • at Concordia • 3 p.m.
Friday, April 26, 2019 (DH) • at Concordia • 12 p.m.
Live Video/Stats: Live stats at: gnac.tv
 

---

ABOUT CU (14-27, 12-20 GNAC): Concordia is coming off a four-game split at home against Saint Martin's... The Wolves enter the week in fifth place in the GNAC standings but just 1 1/2 games back of the fourth and final tournament qualifying spot... CU is last in the GNAC with a .236 batting average but third in the league with a 5.69 ERA... Liam Knowles leads the team with a .287 batting average and 35 RBI while Damon Peters is right behind with a .285 clip... Peters leads the club with a .441 on-base percentage and 36 runs scored... Trevor Huddleston has been the team's ace with a 4.60 ERA and a 3-4 record on the bump... Huddleston has struck out 50 batters in 45 innings.

WOU vs. CU: The Wolves hold a 29-11 record against CU since 2002... WOU has won five straight in the series thanks to a four-game sweep at home against the Cavs on March 16-17.
 

---

NCBWA WEST REGION POLL: Western Oregon climbed one spot to a No. 8 position in this week's NCBWA West Region Poll... With 29 points, MSU Billings remained at No. 7 in the ranking to claim the top representation from the GNAC for the fourth consecutive poll… WOU collected a season-high 45 points in the poll on March 18 for the No. 5 position.
 

NCBWA NCAA DIVISION II WEST REGION (April 22)
Rank	School	Record	Points	LW
1.	UC San Diego (8)	28-9	79	1
2.	Azusa Pacific	31-10	73	2
3.	Point Loma	27-14	63	3
4.	Cal State Monterey Bay	28-18	52	6
5.	Stanislaus State	26-18	48	5
6.	San Francisco State	21-12-1	39	4
7.	Montana State Billings	22-18	29	7
8.	Western Oregon	22-10	25	9
9.	Chico State	21-17	20	8
10.	Biola	24-16	6	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
3/25	Western Oregon	8th	26
4/1	Western Oregon	9th	18
4/8	Western Oregon	9th	20
4/15	Western Oregon	9th	21
4/22	Western Oregon	8th	25

GNAC TITLE RACE: With two weeks to play in the regular season, Western Oregon and MSU Billings will be vying for the GNAC crown... MSU Billings holds a .688 winning percentage compared to a .655 rate for WOU...  MSU Billings will travel to face Central Washington this week before closing the regular season at home against Concordia...The Wolves currently sit 1.5 games back of first with eight left to play. Due to an uneven number of conference games played, the title will be decided by winning percentage.

LAST WEEK: The Wolves posted their second four-game sweep of the season by taking all four games at home against Central Washington on April 19-20... Despite two 6-5 wins out of the four games, the Wolves ended up outscoring the Wildcats 26-15 in the series.

GOES TO 11: The WOU offense has scored at least 11 runs on 10 occasions this year and is 10-0 in those contests... The team reached double figures in scoring one other time while losing to Northwest Nazarene, 11-10, on March 22.

WALKER REACHES 200: With a 23-10 victory over MSU Billings on April 13, Western Oregon head coach Kellen Walker notched his 200th career win... In his 7th season at the helm, Walker holds a 204-134 overall record... Walker is ranked second all-time in school history (NCAA DII era) in wins behind Jeremiah Robbins' 252 set from 2006-12... Walker's win total is also ranked fourth all-time in GNAC history.

ROTH SETS K RECORD: Notching 15 strikeouts, junior right-hander Alex Roth set the school's single-game record against Saint Martin's on March 30... In addition, Roth tied the all-time GNAC record with the effort...  Roth struck out seven consecutive batters early in the game and allowed just three hits in 7.0 scoreless innings of work... Following the performance, Roth was named the GNAC and the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week. 

WOU IN GNAC RANKS: The Wolves lead the GNAC with a .327 batting average and a 4.55 ERA... WOU hitters occupy three of the top 10 spots in the GNAC's best batting averages with Jared McDonald (.391) and Collin Runge (.354) going 1-4... Griffey Halle (.331) is ranked 9th in the GNAC, respectively... Alex Roth (3.09 ERA) holds the GNAC's top earned-run average.

FRICKE NOTES: Only three other Wolves have appeared on the mound more often than junior Justin Fricke… Fricke is ranked No. 4 all-time in WOU history with 49 appearances and is two appearances away from next on the list… Kirk Lind holds the school record with 56.

McCORD MARKS: Junior Connor McCord is tied for No. 2 on WOU's all-time RBI chart with 106 runs batted in… Only two other WOU players have reached 100 RBI during the school's NCAA DII era with Greg McCarthy holding the school record at 183 RBI… McCord is also in the school's all-time top 10 in home runs... His 18 roundtrippers is tied for second in the school's record books… Dillard holds the school mark with 26 homers.

ROTH RECORDS: Junior Alex Roth has already landed in the school's all-time top 10 list in several pitching categories… Roth currently holds the school record with 11.31 strikeouts per nine innings…. He is also ranked No. 3 in batting average against (.226) and No. 9 in strikeouts (152).

STREAKS: A pair of Wolves posted double-digit hitting streaks this season... Derek Maiben went on a 12-game hitting streak from March 10-30 to March 30... During that 12-game stretch, Maiben went 23-for-42 (.548) at the plate... Collin Runge recorded a 10-game hitting streak from March 11-23... Maiben had an 18-game stretch of reaching base snapped in the opening game against MSU Billings on April 13 where he recorded a single charged at bat.

SAFE STARTS: WOU is a combined 12-0 in starts by Alex Roth (8-0), Connor McCord (2-0), Cam Walker (1-0) and Kolbe Bales (1-0).

5X CLUB: Two Wolves recorded five hits in the same game against Central Washington on March 11... Derek Maiben went 5-for-7 with three RBI and four runs scored while Waken posted a 5-for-6 line with five RBI and five runs scored against the Wildcats.

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.

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.

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.