Apr. 18, 2018
Baseball Hosts Nighthawks For Final GNAC Home Series
The Central Washington University baseball team hosts Northwest Nazarene University in a four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series. The Wildcats will host Senior Day on Saturday (Apr. 21) prior to first pitch. Friday and Saturday games begin at noon.
"We've got our final regular season home series this weekend," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said. "It's a chance for us to get back on the right path before we head out on the road. We need to get back to doing what we do well."
SCOUTING NORTHWEST NAZARENE
The Nighthawks enter the week in fifth place in the GNAC standings. At 11-17, they are still well within playoff contention.
The Nighthawks are coming off a four-game series against Montana State Billings. The Yellowjackets took game one 5-6 in twelve innings, before the Nighthawks captured game two 4-2. On day two, the Yellowjackets took game one 18-10, before squeaking the nightcap out 3-2.
Parker Price leads the Nighthawks with a .364 batting average. In 38 games, Price has an on-base percentage of .443, 12 doubles, 23 runs batted in, one triple, and scored 33 times.
Bennett Tabaracci has an average of .342. Casey Sheehan is tied for the team lead in homeruns (6) with Justin Folz and Jesse Hilyard. Sheehan is hitting .324, while Folz is at .315.
Zach Penrod is the last Nighthawk with a batting average of .300, at .301.
On the mound, the Nighthawks have a team ERA of 6.00. Opponents have an average of .291 against NNU. The Nighthawks have used eight different starting pitchers with varied success.
Ryan Mets, Brennan Patterson, and Ross Clevenger have made at least four starts each, but each has an ERA of over 10.90. They have combined for a record of 0-11.
Meanwhile, Cooper Webster, Greg Casper, and Adam Paulson have all made at least five starts. Each has an ERA below 5.00. They have combined for a 8-11 record. Penrod and Blake McFadden have made seven total starts, but each has an ERA under 3.00. They have combined for a 3-2 record.
GNAC STANDINGS UPDATE
Montana State Billings (21-7) holds a five and a half game advantage over Western Oregon (15-12) for the top spot in the conference. The Wildcats (15-13) are third, just half a game behind the Wolves. Concordia (14-13) sits in the final playoff spot.
Northwest Nazarene (11-17) and Saint Martin's (7-21) are currently outside the picture. The Nighthawks are just three and a half games behind the Cavaliers for the final playoff spot.
LAST TIME OUT
The Wildcats split the weekend with Saint Martin's University. The Saints bookended the series with wins, while CWU took the middle games.
Seth Pedersen was lifted after pitching a six-inning gem in game four, before it all came unraveled in the seventh. He struck out six of the first seven outs and totaled 10 punch outs on the day.
Griffin Davis picked up his fourth win of the season in game two. In 5.1 innings, the right-hander allowed five hits and two unearned runs. Jacob Forrester picked up his first save of the year.
Mackenzie Gaul and JJ Asinas combined in game three to hold the Saints to two runs on nine hits.