ELLENSBURG, Wash. – With three conference series left in the regular season, the Western Oregon University baseball team will travel to Ellensburg this week to face Central Washington in a four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series. The teams will open the series on Friday and then play another doubleheader on Saturday, both starting at 12 p.m.
WOU (21-14, 12-8 GNAC) is coming off of a split at Montana State Billings this past week winning the final two games of the series. The Wolves fought back on Saturday after suffering a pair of tough walk-off losses to start the series. WOU claimed game three of the series, 8-6, and then forced the split with the 10-6 win in the finale.
This will be the second trip to Ellensburg this year as WOU played at Central Washington on Feb. 26 with the Wildcats taking the non-conference doubleheader. The two teams then played again a few weeks later in Monmouth with WOU taking the series, 3-1. The Wolves cruised in the final two games of the series outscoring CWU, 17-5.
The Maiben twins enter the week once again leading the team in almost every category. Jacob Maiben is hitting .353 with 41 hits, 26 runs, four doubles, a triple, a home run, 12 RBI, 20 walks and 12 stolen bases. He leads the team in batting average, walks and is second in stolen bases, runs scored and hits. Derek Maiben is right behind wit ha .336 average, coming away with 42 hits, 29 runs, three doubles, a triple, a home run, 22 RBI, 12 walks and 17 stolen bases. He leads the team in hits, runs and stolen bases, while coming in second in RBI and is third in walks. Jackson Holstad is hitting .288 with 34 hits, 14 runs, eight doubles, a triple, two home runs, 23 RBI and eight stolen bases. He is tied for the team lead in doubles and leads the team in RBI. Levi Cummings has 16 hits, 17 runs, three doubles, a team-high two triples and 10 RBI on the season, along with four stolen bases. Anthony Zellner has 25 hits, 14 runs, is tied for the team lead in doubles with eight, a home run, 15 RBI and 11 walks. John Stark leads the team in home runs with five, while adding 19 hits, 12 runs, two doubles and 14 RBI. Spencer Weston has 25 hits, five doubles, 17 RBI, is second on the team with 15 walks and has five stolen bases. Logan Ho had a strong return to the lineup and is hitting .333 in seven games, adding three doubles and seven RBI. Sebastian Morales is also hitting over .300 at .313, coming away with 10 hits, three doubles and two RBI. Leighton Moniz is hitting .286 with 10 hits, three doubles, a home run and three RBI. Justyn Herzog adds three home runs and 16 RBI, coming in second on the team in home runs.
On the mound, Sebasten Boivin has a 1.74 ERA in 31 innings, going 2-1 with a save. He has 20 strikeouts and is holding opponents to a .204 average. Arturo Alvarez is 4-0 on the season in 41.2 innings, tallying 24 strikeouts and a 2.59 ERA. Matthew Dunaway leads the team with 36 strikeouts and is holding opponents to just a .120 average and 0.83 WHIP in 21.2 innings, posting a 3.32 ERA and a save on the year. Mike Peterson is 1-0 on the season in 35 innings, coming away with 34 strikeouts to just four walks, while holding a 3.34 ERA. Parker Johnson has a team-high six wins, going 6-2 on the season in 34.1 innings, holding a 3.41 ERA with 33 strikeouts. Dominic Miller is 1-0 on the season in 10.1 innings and has a 3.48 ERA. Bryce Bond was solid out of the bullpen in Billings this past week to go to 2-0 on the season in 25.2 innings, he has 31 strikeouts to just seven walks. Seth Kuykendall has three wins and two saves on the season and both Joe Kinsky and Michael Moore add the other wins on the staff. Chris Hardin and Moore also have two saves on the year.
Alvarez leads the GNAC and is 58th nationally in ERA, while Peterson ranks fourth in the GNAC. Alvarez is third in the GNAC in hits allowed per nine innings (7.56), while Peterson ranks fourth (8.23). Peterson leads the GNAC and is eighth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.50), leads the GNAC and is 39th nationally in WHIP (1.03) and leads the GNAC and is 10th nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (1.03). Alvarez is second in the GNAC and 86th nationally in WHIP (1.13) and is third in the GNAC in walks allowed per nine innings (2.59). Cummings, Jacob Maiben and Ryan Witt all are tied for third in the GNAC in sacrifice bunts (3). Cummings is third in sacrifice bunts per game (0.11). Derek Maiben is tied for first in the GNAC and 18th nationally in sacrifice flies (5). Derek Maiben leads the GNAC and is 49th nationally in stolen bases, while Jacob Maiben ranks second in the GNAC. Derek Maiben leads the GNAC and is 63rd nationally in stolen bases per game (0.50), while Jacob Maiben is second in the GNAC (0.35). Derek Maiben leads the GNAC and is 29th nationally in toughest to strikeout, while Jacob Maiben is second in the GNAC. Cummings is fourth in the GNAC in triples and Johnson leads the GNAC and is 34th nationally in victories.
Central Washington enters the week 11-26 overall and 5-15 in GNAC play. The Wildcats have lost seven straight after starting their series against Montana State Billings with a 28-3 win. After dropping the next three games of that series, CWU then fell to Northwest Nazarene in a four-game series in Nampa. The final two games of that series were close with NNU winning by scores of 2-0 and 3-1.
Adam Fahsel leads the team with a .359 average, tallying 13 doubles, four home runs and 29 RBI. Zach Berryman is hitting .351 with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 31 RBI. Tyler McClain is hitting .323 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI. Michael Copelan is at .314 with 18 RBI and Austin Ohland is hitting .307 with 20 doubles, seven home runs and 39 RBI.
Ryan Arredondo leads the pitching staff with a 4-1 record in 47.1 innings, holding a 4.75 ERA. Brayde Hirai has three saves in 18 innings. Josh Touhey has a pair of wins in 40.2 innings.
WOU has gone 55-28 in Ellensburg since 2002, but have lost the past three meetings on the road. The Wolves are 122-49 overall against the Wildcats since 2002.
Entering the week, Northwest Nazarene leads the GNAC standings with a 15-5 conference record. WOU is second at 12-8 and Montana State Billing sits third at 11-9. The top three teams will make the GNAC Championships that will be hosted by WOU May 12-13. Saint Martin's is fourth at 5-11, followed by Central Washington at 5-15.
Live video and stats will be available for all four games. Live video can be found here and live stats can be found here.
