May 6, 2026 | Isaac Garcia | Sports Editor
Wolves baseball concluded its regular season with back-to-back doubleheaders against the Saint Martin’s University Saints on April 30 and May 1.
The Wolves were fighting for their postseason chances going into the weekend and needed to not only win all four games against Saint Martin’s, but for Central Washington to lose all four games against Northwest Nazarene. After the Wolves took care of business on Day 1 — a day that included a staggering 19-0 win — and Central Washington lost both games, a GNAC tournament berth was in sight. Still, there was more to do. Day 2 started with Western in a 2-0 hole after six innings before a clutch RBI by junior outfielder Jayger Baldwin tied the game in the seventh. Sophomore infielder Zane Garvey would eventually follow that up with an RBI of his own, putting the Wolves ahead by a run and giving them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Western took that momentum into the second game of the day, scoring nine runs in the first seven innings and multiple players getting involved in the scoring, such as Collin Irwin with two runs and Baldwin adding another run and an RBI. Jason Olsen added a run and Robby Shepherd had two RBI and two runs. Defensively, Wyatt Rosales had six strikeouts and Hunter Lutman held the line as the closer, allowing no runs and getting a strikeout. All efforts culminated in a 9-2 win for Western.
Eight hours away in Nampa, Idaho, Central Washington was taking on Northwest Nazarene, where Central would lose the first game 25-2 and the second game 21-5, putting Western in the third-place spot and booking a trip to the GNAC tournament.
The Wolves conclude the regular season with an overall record of 22-25 and a 14-15 record through conference play, which is an improvement from last year, when they finished with an 18-26 overall and a 14-18 conference record. Western has been strong defensively this season, coming in second in the GNAC for both fielding and pitching. Ayden Holker and Shane Bailey have both earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors this season and first-year Rosales has emerged as a strong member of the rotation. Three different Wolves — Irwin, Olsen and Zane Garvey — are also in the top ten for putouts, with Olsen, Irwin and Robby Shepherd in the top ten for fielding percentage. Offensively, junior infielder Chris Arce has been a standout and is top ten in the conference for multiple offensive statistics and ranks as high as second in on-base percentage. All-GNAC honorees included Benny Nazario as an honorable mention, Holker and Garvey on the second team and Arce on the first team.
The GNAC Baseball Championships will be held in Nampa starting May 7 and will begin with Western playing Montana State Billings at 12 p.m. Pacific time. Western will then face off with Northwest Nazarene afterwards in a doubleheader. The tournament is a round-robin format and will have Montana State Billings taking on Northwest Nazarene as well. After the round-robin portion, the team with the lowest record will be eliminated and the top two teams will play each other May 8 for the championship in a double-elimination format, meaning that the second-ranked team will have to defeat the top-ranked team twice in order to claim the championship. In the event all teams are tied at 1-1 after Day 1, the number one seed — Northwest Nazarene, in this case — will automatically advance to the championship game, whilst Western and Montana State Billings would play a win-or-go-home game to advance. The championship will then be a single-elimination match.
Contact the author at howlsports@mail.wou.edu
