Wolves Hold on For Region Baseball Win

Western Oregon fights off Colorado State-Pueblo for 5-4 victory.

Salem-News.com Sports

KEIZER - Reliever Andrew Renyer got the final three outs in the ninth to save the game for starter Nick Waechter as Western Oregon escaped with a 5-4 win over Colorado State – Pueblo Thursday to complete the opening day of the NCAA Division II West Regional baseball tournament at Volcanoes Stadium.

The Wolves (39-14) will now play Mesa State Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the second round. Colorado State-Pueblo (35-23) will take on Fort Hays State at noon in a loser-out game. Chico State and Cal State L.A. will complete Day 2 of the tournament with a 7:00 PM contest.

Earlier today, Chico defeated Fort Hays State 5-3 on a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th by designated hitter Aaron Demuth, and Cal State L.A. ripped Mesa State 10-2.

Renyer replaced Waechter in the ninth after third baseman Nick Enciso doubled home pinch hitter Jason Fobes, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. The WOU lefthander then retired catcher Justin Parker and second baseman Drew Hirshon on strikes with a healthy dose of breaking pitches.

Leadoff hitter Doug Hurst, who had homered in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3, then lined a ball to the right side where second baseman Matt Skundrick made a leaping grab to end the contest, earning the host Wolves their 28th win in the last 31 games.

“That`s kind of what I do,“ said the senior left-hander. “I throw breaking stuff, working backwards. That was as big of save as I have ever had.“

After Hurst`s home run in the seventh, WOU used a pair of triples to gain the upper hand. Skundrick led off the bottom of the seventh with a three-base hit to left center, then scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Coubi Jiles to put WOU back on top 4-3.

Then in the eighth, Boo Christenson`s two-out triple drove in Joe McCormick, who had earlier reached on an error, for what turned out to be the winning run.

Waechter improved to 12-0 with the victory, allowing seven hits and all four runs in eight innings. He had eight strikeouts, all after the third inning. Waechter has now won 13 straight decisions dating back to last year`s regional tournament.

“I had a few jitters early, but settled in after that,“ said the GNAC Pitcher of the Year, who had not thrown since May 6th.

Colorado State-Pueblo jumped to a early lead in the top of the first as Nick Wagner singled, advanced to third on a double by Mike Martinez and scored on a ground out by designated hitter Austin LeSage. Shortstop Kevin Meadows then singled to plate Martinez and make it 2-0.

Western Oregon, however, pulled even in the bottom of the second on a long single to right center by shortstop Paul Fisher, which scored Aaron Sutton from second and McCormick from first, who had both walked. Fisher only got one base on the hit after missing first base and having to retrace his steps.

The Wolves then took the lead in the fifth as Kevin Corrigan and Jiles singled and Corrigan scored when Brent Mertens` hard hit ball went off third baseman Enciso`s glove for an error. Mertens earned an RBI on the play.

But CSU-P pulled back even in the seventh on Hurst`s home run.

Western Oregon outhit CSU-P 9-7 for the contest. Hurst and Enciso had two hits each for the ThunderWolves, while shortstop Paul Fisher and Skundrick had two each for WOU.

“We kept the pressure on them, and didn`t panic when things weren`t going our way,“ said Wolves coach Jeremiah Robbins. “But we will have our hands full tomorrow with Mesa. They are hardly a team that should be in a loser`s out game. They are an excellent squad.“

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