BILLINGS, Mont. --- The Western Oregon baseball team will need a pair of wins Saturday to claim its third consecutive GNAC Championships title after the Wolves defeated Central Washington 9-5 before falling to Northwest Nazarene 5-4 Friday at Pirtz Field.

With it being a double-elimination event, WOU (28-20 overall) will need to beat the Nighthawks (34-12-1) twice Saturday to win the title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals for the fourth year in a row. The first game is set for 11 a.m. (PT).

In the first game against Central Washington (21-29), which was eliminated after falling to NNU as well, WOU fell behind quickly 2-0 behind back-to-back homers by the Wildcats in the first inning. WOU answered with a pair of runs of its own in the first to tie the score before Randy Stultz hit a two-run homer to left in teh third inning to make it 4-2 Wolves.

The score remained that way until the seventh when CWU scored three to retake the lead 5-4. But like the first inning, the lead wouldn't last long as WOU's Zach Valdez hit his first career homer for the Wolves in three seasons (his 293rd career at-bat) to tie the game before an AJ Cortese RBI single later in the inning gave WOU a 6-5 lead. John Oleson then blew it open with a three-run homer to left to make it 9-5 Wolves and WOU hung on from there.

The Wolves got a strong start from Jacob Memmott as he didn't allow a run after the two runs in the first inning - going six innings and giving up five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Bryce Bond picked up the win in relief, going two scoreless innings before Devin Bell pitched the final inning to close it out.

Curran Mitzel led WOU at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs. Valdez finished 2-for-4 with a homer and double while Owen Bischoff was 2-for-3 with a run and a stolen base.

In the nightcap against NNU, the Wolves again fell behind 2-0 - this time in te third inning on a two-run homer by the Nighthawks. Again, WOU bounced right back as back-to-back solo homers from Justyn Herzog and Bischoff tied the game 2-2 heading to the bottom of the fourth.

NNU answered with three runs in the fourth - capped by a two-run homer - to make it 5-2. The Wolves in the next half inning once again scored - picking up a two-run single from Mitzel - but that's as close as the Wolves would get.

Bischoff went 3-for-4 with a homer, Herzog went 2-for-5 with a homer while Mitzel finished 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI as the trio accounted for all four RBI and seven of the team's eight hits. Dylan Chalmers got the loss, giving up five runs (four earned) on 10 hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Shane Bailey came in and tossed three innings of scoreless relief - giving up just one hit.