BILLINGS, Mont. --- The Western Oregon baseball team overcame a five-run deficit against Montana State Billings in the ninth inning and eventually won it 9-8 in 15 innings in the longest GNAC game in conference history before falling in game two 4-2 on Thursday at Dehler Park.

With the loss and Northwest Nazarene winning both of its games against Central Washington - the Nighthawks clinched the GNAC regular season title and WOU will be the No. 2 seed at the GNAC Championships held May 9-10 in Billings.

In game one, the Wolves (25-19 overall, 19-11 GNAC) trailed the Yellowjackets (17-31, 11-19) 8-3 heading into the ninth inning before a rally that saw WOU score all five runs before recording an out.

Collin Irwin led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on an Emiliano Alarcon single. Danny Alvarado came off the bench and hit an RBI single to left to score Irwin to make it 8-4. Curran Mitzel followed with an RBI double to make it 8-5 and put runners on second and third with no outs and Justyn Herzog coming to the plate. The senior shortstop took the first pitch he saw and deposited over the right field fence for a game-tying three-run bomb to tie the game 8-8.

The score remained that way until the 15th inning when a lead-off error and a sac bu nt put a runner on second with one out. Herzog was intentionally walked before a fielder's choice put runners on the corner. AJ Cortese on the first pitch singled to left to score the go-ahead run as the Wolves held on for the win.

The game was the longest conference game in GNAC history - surpassing three GNAC games that went 14 innings (two of those games WOU was involved in). It's tied for the second-longest game in GNAC history and WOU history. It's the longest game the Wolves have played since setting the school record with a 17-inning contest against Biola in 2001 (an 8-7 win).

Four WOU players finished with three hits - Mitzel, Cortese, John Oleson and Alarcon - while three others had two hits (Herzog, Owen Bischoff and Irwin).

The WOU bullpen was clutch in the win, giving up just one run in 11 innings of work - including no runs in the final 9.2 innings. Owen Murdock picked up the win, going four innings and giving up no runs on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Devin Bell picked up his third save of the season - giving up a lone hit and picking up a strikeouts in an inning of work.

In game two, WOU fell behind 4-0 after four innings and cut the lead in half with an Alarcon homer in the fifth and an Irwin RBI single in the sixth - but there was no final inning magic for the Wolves as they had their five-game winning streak snapped.

Randy Stultz went 3-for-3 for WOU with two doubles and a run. Arturo Alvarez got the loss, going 2.1 innings and giving up two runs on five hits with a strikeout and no walks.

These two teams conclude the series and the regular season with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. (PT) Friday.