Wolves baseball hosts Eastern Oregon in home-opening series starting Saturday

All-time: 62-40
Streak: Won 2
Last 10: 7-3
Last win: Feb. 19, 2023 - 9-0 in Monmouth
Last loss: Feb. 18, 2023 - 2-1 (8 inn.) in Monmouth

THE WOLVES ...
LAST WEEK: 0-2 vs. Westmont, 0-2 vs. San Francisco St.
STREAK: Lost 4 (Lost 6 dating back to 2023)
SPLITS: Home 0-0 | Road 0-2 | Neutral 0-2
TEAM STATS (GNAC Ranking):

Runs/Game: 4.25 (2nd) | AVG: .231 (3rd) | ERA: 7.83 (4th) | Fielding %: .972 (2nd)

The Western Oregon baseball team had a tough start to 2024 with four losses last weekend in the Bay Area - two to defending NAIA World Series champion and now NCAA D-II Westmont and another two at host San Francisco State.

Zach Valdez is off to a hot start for the Wolves, going 7-for-14 on the weekend and leads the GNAC with a .500 average. John Oleson went 5-for-17 on the weekend (.294) with a homer, double and four RBI while Owen Bischoff was also 5-for-17 (.294) with four runs driven in.

On the mound, Arturo Alvarez had a solid first start of the season, going 4.1 innings and giving up a run on three hits with four strikeouts. Jacob Memmott in his second career start after coming out of the bullpen primarily last season went five innings and gave up two runs on five hits with six strikeouts. Skagit Valley-transfer Owen Murdock punched out 11 batters in his first start as a Wolf, going five innings and giving up three runs on four hits. Out of the pen, Yuzo Ishioka was solid as he gave up just one hit and struck out three in two innings of work (two appearances).

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS ...
EASTERN OREGON (5-2)
LAST WEEK: Did not play
STREAK: Lost 1
SPLITS: Home 2-1 | Road 3-1 | Neutral 0-0
TEAM STATS

Runs/Game: 8.4 | AVG: .261 | ERA: 4.81 | Fielding %: .941

The NAIA Mountaineers hasn't played an official game since wrapping up a three-game series on Feb. 3 at home against Saint Martin's where EOU won the series 2-1 - winning the first two games 9-8 and 10-0 before dropping the finale 7-6.

The Mounties have three players batting above .300 in Youhyeon Choi (.364, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 8 R), Joey Freitas (.357, 3 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBI, 7 R) and Chase Nett (.346, 1 HR, 2 2B, 10 RBI, 10 R). On the mound, Will Seslar has been solid in his two starts with a 1.13 ERA with six strikeouts, five hits allowed and 10 walks in eight innings of work. Jake Herrera out of the bullpen has picked up a pair of saves in his two appearances, going four scoreless innings and striking out six while allowing just one hit in four innings of work.

WOU NOTES ...
WOLVES PICKED TO WIN GNAC, SIXTH IN REGION | GNAC RELEASE / NCBWA RELEASE
The two-time defending GNAC champion Western Oregon baseball team has been picked to win the conference when the GNAC released its preseason coaches poll on JAN. 25. The Wolves, who have won both the regular-season GNAC title and GNAC postseason tournament the last two years, picked up two of the five first-place votes and finished with 21 points, a point ahead of Northwest Nazarene - who had one first-place vote. Central Washington and Montana State Billings each received a first-place vote as well and tied for third with 13 points while Saint Martin's finished last with eight points. The rankings are the same order the conference finished last season with the Wolves atop the conference with a 20-9 record (30-15 overall) - 4.5 games ahead of second-place NNU.

In the National College Baseball Writer's Association NCAA Division II West Region Preseason Poll released Jan. 22, the Wolves were picked sixth in the conference. WOU was one of two GNAC teams in the rankings along with Northwest Nazarene at No. 9.

CHALMERS, SHIPLEY NAMED NCBWA PRESEASON WEST ALL-REGION | RELEASE
Western Oregon pitchers Dylan Chalmers and Ryan Shipley were selected to the NCBWA NCAA DII Preseason West Region Team on Jan. 23. Chalmers is coming off a 2023 where he was named the GNAC Co-Pitcher of the Year and was named to three different all-region first teams (ABCA/Rawlings, NCWBA and D2CCA) after going 7-1 with a 3.13 ERA - striking out 36 and holding opponents to a .245 average in 63.1 innings of work. Shipley was named the regional reliever selection after going 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA and five saves. The senior had 23 strikeouts and a held opponents to a .160 batting average in 29 innings of work.

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