Men's Baseball- Wolves Claim Two From NNU, 4-3, 8-0

Corrigan hits walk-off homer in first game as WOU continues roll.

Salem-News.com Sports

MONMOUTH - Western Oregon`s Kevin Corrigan hit a walk-off home run in the first game and Matt Skundrick pitched five shutout innings in the second contest as the host Wolves won 4-3 and 8-0 over Northwest Nazarene on Friday.

The victories were WOU`s 17th and 18th in their last 20 contests, and they improved to 29-13 on the year. They are now 11-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, with a four-game lead over NNU who fell to 16-20 overall and 6-6 in league play.

The Wolves, ranked No. 1 in this week`s NCAA Division II west region poll, had to come from behind in game one. The Crusaders scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings and carried that 3-0 lead into the fifth before WOU finally got on the board (3-1). The Wolves then tied it with a pair of runs in the seventh inning.

In the ninth, the first batter of the bottom half of the inning ended the game. Corrigan`s ninth home run of the season sailed over the left-centerfield fence, which also allowed Andrew Renyer to pick up the victory in relief for the hosts. Renyer went three innings, allowing only one hit and no runs.

Corrigan had three hits in the game for WOU, while Boo Christenson, Aaron Sutton and Brent Mertens had two each. Harold Schulz and Dean Peters had two hits for NNU.

In the second game, the Wolves scored two runs in the first inning and then put matters to rest with a six-run fourth inning. Meanwhile, Skundrick picked up his third win of the season, allowing five hits in five innings of work, walking one and striking out two.

Corrigan had two more hits to pace the offense, making him 5-for-8 on the day. Evan Krause also had two hits in WOU`s 11-hit attack.

The two clubs will complete the four-game series on Saturday, with the doubleheader start time slated for noon.

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