SPRINGFIELD, Ore. --- The Western Oregon baseball team scored two runs in the first and never trailed again - holding off a late Bushnell rally to win 6-5 Tuesday at Hamlin Sports Complex.

The Wolves (17-12) took a first-inning lead thanks to a Cedric Gatter RBI double and a John Oleson RBI single to make it 2-0. Bushnell cut the lead in its half of the first on a home run, but WOU scored two more in the third (John Stark RBI double, Owen Bischoff RBI on a safety squeeze)  and another in the fourth to take a on a Justyn Herzog RBI double to make it 5-1.

The score was 5-2 heading into the eighth before the Wolves scored an important insurance run in the top of the inning on a Gatter RBI single as Bushnell scored three in the bottom of the eighth to cut the WOU leads to 6-5. Devin Bell pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his team-leading fourth save of the season. WOU threw seven pitchers in the game with Curran Mitzel getting the start (two innings, one run, four hits) and Yuzo Ishioka pitching the longest (three innings, one run, three hits).

Gatter finished the game 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI, a run and two walks. Derek Maiben went 2-for-5 with a run and Stark finished 2-for-5 with a double, run and RBI.

The Wolves return home and open a four-game series against Central Washington starting at 1 p.m. Saturday. If you can't make it to the game, log onto the WOU Athletics YouTube channel as the series will have a full camera set up provided by WOU TV and football and basketball play-by-play announcer Matthew Palumbo calling the game.