ELLENSBURG, Wash. --- The Western Oregon baseball team split a doubleheader with Central Washington, winning 10-9 and losing 4-2, Saturday at CWU Baseball Field.
The Wolves (20-18 overall, 14-10 GNAC) remain a game ahead of the the Wildcats (18-20, 13-11) for second plance in the GNAC - though both teams lost ground to idle NNU.
In hte first game, WOU trailed 2-1 after three before an RBI double by
John Oleson and an RBI groundout by
Collin Irwin gave WOU the lead. The Wildcats regained the lead in the fifth inning 5-3 before
Owen Bischoff hit an RBI single in the sixth to get the Wolves within one.
The game remained 5-4 heading into the eighth inning before
AJ Cortese led off the inning with a home run. The next two Wolves were retired before WOU got a little help from CWU thanks to a hit by pitch, an error and a walk to load the bases.
That's when
Curran Mitzel turned on a 1-0 pitch for a grand slam and give the Wolves a 9-5 lead as the Wolves held on from there.
Mitzel finished 3-for-5 with a hoem run, five RBI and a run while Cortese went 3-for-4 with a homer, four runs and an RBI. Bischoff went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run.
Arturo Alvarez got the win, going 6.1 innings and giving up five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts.
In game two, the Wolves took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a Wildcat error that scored Cortese and an RBI single from
Emiliano Alarcon.
But the lead was short lived as CWU scored three runs in its half of the fourth and tacked on another in the sixth for the 4-2 win.
The Wolves had four hits by four different players in the contest.
Jacob Memmott picked up the loss, going five innings and giving up three runs on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
The Wolves return to action Saturday against Saint Martin's as they start their final home series of the season.
