ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Alan Vasquez matched Logan Hatley's 13 strikeout effort from Saturday, while Joshua McIntyre provided the big hit with his grand slam in the third inning to help break open the second game in which the Western Oregon University baseball team claimed the 9-5 win over Central Washington. The Wildcats won the opener 9-1 as the teams split the four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series over the weekend.
WOU (6-6, 4-4 GNAC) used a two-run homer by Connor McCord to get things starting in the first inning of game two, before McIntyre helped break the game wide open with his grand slam in the third that was part of a five-run inning that left the Wolves with a 7-2 lead after three.
In the first inning with two quick outs recorded, Jacob Maiben drew an important walk in front of McCord who launched his two-run shot over the right-center field fence for a 2-0 lead. Central Washington (6-12, 3-5 GNAC) came back with a run in the home half to leave WOU with the 2-1 lead.
Same story again in the third. With two quick outs recorded, Jayden Hanna singled and after Jacob Maiben singled, McCord walked to load the bases. A wild pitch moved everyone up a base and brought home Hanna for the 3-1 lead. Justyn Herzog drew a walk to re-load the bases for McIntyre who delivered the clutch hit, a grand slam to left field to move WOU to a 7-1 lead.
"The grand slam I was just trying to make the at-bat count, I had some great at-bats in front of me with Jacob Maiben, Connor McCord and Justyn Herzog, so I was just trying to make the most of the opportunity and be easy like Coach Kellen Walker and Coach Trevor Podratz tell me. It worked out!" McIntyre said.
The Wildcats answered back with a run in the bottom of the third, but the Wolves came right back with a run in the fourth. Mitchell Hulse doubled, then moved to third on a wild pitch. On a walk to Blayze Arcano, a wild pitch on ball four allowed Hulse to score the eighth run for Western Oregon.
The Wolves added one more run in the seventh when Arcano was hit-by-pitch, stole second and then scored on an RBI single to right by Hanna for the 9-2 lead.
Central Washington made one last push in the home half of the inning plating three runs before Nick Parr came on to get a big double play to end the game with the 9-5 victory.
WOU held a 7-4 edge in hits, while the Wolves committed the only error in the game. Hanna and McIntyre led the way with two hits apiece, while McIntyre drove in four and McCord with two.
"The first game didn't go the way we wanted. The biggest thing was adapting and overcoming," McIntyre added. "The second game everybody checked back in, people we're positive and our dugout was outstanding! The second game started out hot with a big home run by Connor! We had them on the run all game and pulled out the win."
Cameron McGrath led the Wildcats with two hits and drove in two runs, while Mitch Lesmeister drove in a pair of runs as well.
On the mound, Vasquez picked up his second win (2-1) of the season allowing just the two earned runs with his 13 strikeouts. Michael Moore tossed a third of an inning before Parr came on in relief to get the final two outs for the win.
"I went into the game knowing my team was struggling to overcome our losses so far and so I took a little responsibility to getting them back on track, which is the most important thing to me," Vasquez said. "I felt well prepared and mentally ready for today's game and happy we got the win. Just continuing to feel like water while playing out there."
Hunter French started for CWU and took the loss (0-2) allowing seven earned runs in three innings. Ryan Marstiller went the next three innings allowing a run and Richie Alves tossed the final frame allowing a run.
In the first game, Central Washington had the bats going tallying 16 hits to take the 9-1 victory. The Wildcats opened the scoring with two runs in the first.
McIntyre got his day going with a solo home run in the second inning to trim the deficit in half.
CWU went back ahead by two adding a run in the third and then a three-run fifth inning moved the lead to 6-1. The Wildcats added two more in the sixth and another in the seventh to close the scoring.
WOU was held to just two hits as outside of McIntyre's home run, Jacob Maiben had a single. McGrath and Jason Hill had four hits to lead the Wildcats with Hill driving in two.
On the mound, Mike Peterson started and ended up with the loss (1-1) for WOU as he went the first 4.1 innings and allowed five earned runs, along with five strikeouts. Kolbe Bales, Joe Kinsky, Dylan Myers and Evan Kingma tossed the final 3.2 innings and allowed four earned runs. Brayde Hirai got the win (1-3) for Central Washington, tossing eight innings and allowing just one earned run. JJ Lemming went the final innings and didn't allow a run.
Results from around the GNAC had Northwest Nazarene sweep all four games from Concordia to move to 7-1 in conference play on the season. Saint Martin's took two of three from MSU Billings, with game four postponed with the teams tied at three through seven innings. Right now, outside of Northwest Nazarene at 7-1, WOU is second at 4-4, MSU Billings and Saint Martin's are tied at 3-4 and Central Washington and Concordia are tied at 3-5.
WOU returns home this week to face Concordia with a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 p.m. each day at the WOU Baseball Field.
