Simson Garcia | Sports Editor
The Wolves’s baseball action commenced as the team started out their 2018 season with four games. The Wolves were left 0-4 after three days of cross-conference play from Feb. 8-10 in Azusa, California. Having lost 8-1 to the Biola University Eagles to start, they followed that up with a three game slide against the Azusa Pacific University Cougars, 7-1, 4-3 and 7-6.
The Wolves versus Eagle game on Feb. 8 was slow to begin as both teams were left scoreless after two innings.
But it was the Eagles who finally got things going in the third and kept it going from there. Western found themselves in a bevy of defensive mistakes that cost them three runs in the frame. The Wolves got familiar with Biola’s Colton Worthington, a senior infielder, who run batted in two to score, off a single up the middle, and then ran himself in off of junior outfielder Jerron Largusa’s RBI to make it 4-0.
After two innings, the score was 8-0 following Worthington’s score off a Largusa RBI.
The Wolves got their only score of the game from senior infielder Jay Leverett in the eighth, to avoid a shutout.
Western forwarded to a three game series with the Cougars on Feb. 9 that concluded on Feb. 10.
Azusa kicked things off in game one, home running to put up three in the first and looked to defend the homefield throughout the weekend. The adversarial Wolves fought back by scoring two, but a succession of two more homers from Azusa followed by two more runs tacked on by hit-by-pitches put the game in jeopardy for Western.
Western was serviced by three pitchers but couldn’t get by the Cougars’s offense, who locked in on the strike zone. Sophomore Wolf pitcher Connor McCord was dealt the loss following five innings while allowing two earned runs.
Game two switched gears and was tightly contested until extra innings. Both teams home-runned by the sixth, putting the score at 1-1. Azusa followed up with another homer propelling them up by two at the home-half.
Senior infielder Nyles Nygaard made sure the Wolves didn’t go quietly. He scored the first home-run, RBI singled in the seventh and then tied it up after scoring himself off a single from first-year outfielder Griffey Hall.
After three more innings, the score was nil and the game went into extras. Going three and out in two extra innings, Western gave up a double to Azusa in the final frame.
Game three finished off the series in what was a game of five lead changes. With a bit of trickery in the first, the Wolves got the first run via an attempted steal from first to second base, which abled senior outfielder Jacob Martinez to score from third. After falling behind 4-2, the Wolves got back in front, 5-4, with back-to-back homers by Nygaard and junior catcher Jared McDonald.
The Cougars got a two run homer of their own to nudge ahead again but the Wolves resiliently fought back to tie it again and 6-6. But it was a home run by Azusa’s outfielder Sean Aspinall to end matters and get the sweep.
Martinez had a batting average of .417 in 16 at-bats in the four games while McDonald hit 6/16 in the contests.
Next up is two games at California State-Monterey Bay from Feb. 16-17. Opening pitch for the first game is set for 2 p.m.
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
Photo by: wouwolves.com
