By RACHEL SHELLEY
Sports Editor

Wolves’ baseball defended home plate this past weekend, hosting a four-game series against Great Northwest Athletic Conference Central Washington, only giving
up one game to improve their conference record to 6-2.

The first game of the series began Saturday, March 7, starting off in the second inning with two runs by the Wildcats. CWU scored again in the third, leaving the
Wolves scoreless until the fifth when infielder Marcus Hinkle singled to left field to bring in infielder Jake Whisler. The Wolves did not score for the rest of the game, giving the Wildcats a 4-1 advantage after nine innings.

Saturday’s loss “was a combination of not sticking to our plan offensively and then having some very timely hitting,” Whisler said. “They might not have hit balls
hard, but they got base hits with runners in scoring position, and that’s something that we couldn’t do from the offensive side of the ball.”

In game two of the double-header Saturday, CWU got on the board quickly with three runs in the second inning. Pitcher Jesse Pratt was on the mound for the Wolves and did not give up another run for the rest of the game.

The Wolves went into a seven-run inning in the bottom of the third with just seven hits, using CWU’s errors. Outfielder Matt Taylor brought home the first Wolf to score on his infield single.

Catcher Michael Sherwin tied the game 3-3 with a single before first baseman Nathan Etheridge ripped a two-run double. Infielder Garret Harpole added a RBI double, extending the lead to 6-3. CWU committed its third error of the inning, to bring home the Wolves’ final run. Pratt held CWU without a hit over the last
five innings, allowing just one runner to first in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.

Sunday, March 8, the Wolves swept CWU in their double header, 17-6 and 5-3 with a combined 5-for-7 performance at the plate with seven runs batted in by Harpole.

“Offensively we committed to our approach at the plate,” said head coach Kellen Walker. “Even when we weren’t rewarded with results, our guys didn’t waiver from our plan. We got some quality outing from our pitchers as well that gave our hitters a chance to settle in.”

Western put 17 runs on the board during game one Sunday, starting the bottom of the first with eight – the second time this season the Wolves have scored 17 runs. Outfielder Cody Sullivan went 4-for-8 with four other Wolves, infielder Austin Hamilton, Taylor, Etheridge and outfielder Cody Poznanski, all adding three hits during the two victories of the day.

“Guys are starting to understand the importance of every pitch and also the ability to move on to the next pitch no matter the previous result,” said Walker.

“We are getting closer to putting together complete competitive weekends, which is challenging when you are playing four games in two days against quality opponents.”

The Hamilton and Poznanski duo drove in nine of the 22 runs on the day. The pair, along with Harpole also accounted for 73 percent of the RBIs during both victories.

“We all really worked on staying committed and bought into the plan; when we did that, good things happened,” Harpole said. “I was just thinking about seeing the
ball and trusting all the work we put in during the week.”

The Wolves will welcome Montana State University Billings March 13 at 1 p.m. for a double header and continue the series through Sunday, March 14 at 12 p.m.