LACEY, Wash. – The Western Oregon University baseball team earned a share of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season title after winning the series 3-1 at Saint Martin's this week. It's the 15th conference title for the Wolves. WOU nearly came back to win the opener on Saturday with the Saints hanging on for the 6-4 victory. The Wolves then needed a win in the series finale to gain a share of the conference title. Trailing by two early on, WOU fought back to tie and send the game into extra innings. Finally, in the ninth, Jacob Maiben's key hit broke it open to push WOU to the 6-4 win.
WOU finishes the GNAC schedule 21-11, tying with Northwest Nazarene. Due to tiebreakers, the Nighthawks will be the top seed in next week's conference championships. While the Wolves will be the second seed, Montana State Billings rounds out the field as the third seed. WOU will host the GNAC Baseball Championships this coming Thursday and Friday in Monmouth.
The opening game featured lots of early fireworks with the teams combining for nine runs over the opening three innings.
Saint Martin's (19-30, 14-18 GNAC) struck first with a pair of runs in the opening frame. WOU (31-17, 21-11 GNAC) came back to tie in the second. Anthony Zellner opened the inning with a double and quickly scored on another double, this time by John Stark, to right-center. After a sacrifice bunt moved him to third, Jackson Holstad picked up the RBI groundout to second to score Stark to tie the game at two.
Saint Martin's went back in front with three runs, all off the bat of Aaron Renaud's three-run homer for the 5-2 lead.
Justyn Herzog got the offense going for WOU in the third drawing a leadoff walk. Derek Maiben was hit-by-pitch and then a walk to Logan Ho loaded the bases. Zellner and Stark hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to trim the deficit to one at 5-4.
While there wouldn't be much offense after that, WOU threatened to tie or take the lead a couple of times. In the fourth. Levi Cummings walked and moved to third on a single by Herzog. A flyout to center ended the inning.
A throwing error by the Saints in the fifth had a runner in scoring position for the Wolves before a lineout to third ended the inning.
Ho hit a double in the seventh, but was left stranded after a lineout and flyout ended the inning. In the eighth, Zach Valdez walked and moved to second on a sacrifice. Cummings reached on a throwing error to put two on, but again the Saints were able to get out of it with a fielder's choice out and a groundout.
Saint Martin's tallied the final run of the game with an RBI double in the eighth for the 6-4 lead. Down to their last at-bat, WOU wasn't able to get a baserunner aboard in the ninth with the Saints hanging on for the 6-4 victory.
Saint Martin's held the 13-5 edge in hits and committed the only two errors in the game. Five Wolves had a hit, while Stark drove in two runs. Zellner and Holstad each added an RBI. On the mound, Seth Kuykendall started and took the loss (5-4) after allowing five earned runs in four innings of work. Sebasten Boivin went a strong 3.2 innings in relief allowing just one earned run with two strikeouts. Bryce Bond tallied the final out in the eighth.
Ty Matsunami led the Saints with three hits, while Ryne Oshiro, Renaud and Bryant Nakagawa all added two hits. Renaud drove in four runs. On the mound, Justice Yamashita started and went the first five innings to get the win (6-4) allowing four earned runs with three strikeouts. Troy McCormick was big in relief working four scoreless innings to get his second save of the season.
The second game and series finale started off similar to game one with lots of offense early.
WOU opened the scoring in the first. Jacob Maiben singled and later stole second. Twin brother Derek Maiben was hit-by-pitch before Zellner delivered the two-out single to center for the 1-0 lead. Zellner's at-bat came after a 20-minute rain delay.
The Saints answered right back in the home half scoring three runs on five hits to take the 3-1 lead.
It would remain that way into the fifth. With one out, Holstad walked and later moved up to third on a pair of wild pitches. Curran Mitzel was hit-by-pitch before another wild pitch brought in Holstad and moved Mitzel to second. A fourth wild pitch moved Mitzel to third and after Jacob Maiben walked, Herzog hit a sharp line drive to right that was caught, but turned into a sacrifice fly to tie the game at three.
After Parker Johnson went the first four innings, Michael Moore entered in the fifth and was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout to keep the game tied.
The game eventually went into extra innings and WOU was able to jump in front in the ninth and then hold off a late charge from the Saints. With one out, Valdez walked. Holstad added a single and after Leighton Moniz was hit-by-pitch, the bases were loaded for Jacob Maiben. He wasted no time coming through hitting the first pitch to center that turned into a double to clear the bases. Jacob was credited with two RBI, as the third run scored on an error by the center fielder that left WOU with the 6-3 advantage.
Saint Martin's didn't go down quietly in the home half of the ninth. The first three batters reached on singles, with the third hit bringing in a run to trim the lead to two. Bond was able to get a flyout and strikeout, before a walk loaded the bases. Bond preserved the win getting another strikeout for the 6-4 victory for the Wolves.
Again, Saint Martin's held the big 14-4 edge in hits and committed the only error in the game. While the Wolves had just four hits, they had nine baserunners reach either via walks or hit-by-pitch. Jacob Maiben led the way with two hits and two RBI. Zellner and Herzog also added an RBI. On the mound, Johnson started and went the first four innings to get the no decision allowing three earned runs. Moore worked a scoreless fifth. Chris Hardin was strong in relief going three innings, posting four strikeouts without allowing a run to collect the win (1-5). Dominic Miller faced the first two batters in the ninth before Bond came on to close out the game for his third save of the season.
Michael Yamaguchi led the Saints with three hits and Austin Schaler added two. Four players drove in a run. On the mound, seven pitchers saw time. Cole Hatton started and pitched two innings. Down the stretch, Colin Driscoll went two scoreless innings before Brock Wrolstad went the final two innings to take the loss (2-4) allowing three runs (two earned).
WOU will now prepare for the GNAC Championships that will start this coming Thursday at 10 a.m. at the WOU Baseball Field. There will be three games on Thursday.
