April 22, 2015
Contact: Nathan Webber
(503)305-8756/[email protected]
Wolves Clinch Playoff Berth, SMU Snaps Slide
PORTLAND, Ore. – With two wins last week, Western Oregon
became the first team in the conference to clinch a spot in the
2015 GNAC Baseball Championship May 7-8.
The 13-time regular-season champions captured the last two
games in its five-game series at Montana State Billings,
improving the Wolves record to 18-10 in the conference.
With four games remaining, WOU will have to wait until the
last day of the season to find out whether it won a 14thstraight regular-season title.
Montana State Billings, which won three of the five games
over WOU at home, sits in second place at 15-9 with eight
conference games to go. The Yellowjackets need just one win
to clinch a berth to the championship for the second time
ever.
Northwest Nazarene, which split a four-game series against
Central Washington last weekend, needs three wins to earn
its first-ever trip to the championship. With eight games
remaining that feat sounds very achievable, but the Crusaders
travel to second-place MSUB and to first-place Western
Oregon the last two weeks making it a harder task.
The Crusaders have been playing well in April, winning seven
of their 10 games. NNU also swept the GNAC awards last
week with center fielder Josh Hatfield earning Player of the
Week honors while freshman Ross Clevenger was the Pitcher
of the Week. Clevenger, who came within two outs of a nohitter last week, was also named the National Collegiate
Baseball Writers Associations West Region Pitcher of the
Week.
Central Washington holds the tiebreaker over NNU, so if the
Wildcats win at least two of their last four games the
defending champions can still reach the tournament.
Saint Martin’s is still alive for a playoff berth as well, although
it would have to win six of its last eight games and at least
three verse CWU. The Saints might have luck on their side as
they play their last two series at home.
They also carry over momentum from last week’s split against
the nation’s 15th-ranked team, Dixie State. The seriesopening 4-3 win over the Red Storm snapped the Saints eightgame losing streak. SMU would also go on to win the series
finale 4-3 thanks to a four-run fifth inning.
Standings and Schedule
GNAC
Team
W
x-Western Oregon
18
MSU Billings
15
Northwest Nazarene
13
Central Washington
11
Saint Martin’s
7
x-Clinched GNAC tournament
L
10
9
11
17
17
Overall
W
23
20
25
20
15
L
22
20
20
23
27
LAST 8
W L
5 3
5 3
6 2
3 5
2 6
UPCOMING GAMES
FRIDAY, April 24
Northwest Nazarene at Montana State Billings (DH), 1 p.m./4 p.m.
SATURDAY, April 25
Northwest Nazarene at Montana State Billings (DH), 1 p.m./4 p.m.
Central Washington at Saint Martin’s (DH) 1 p.m./4 p.m.
SUNDAY, April 26
Central Washington at Saint Martin’s (DH) 12 p.m./3 p.m.
Around the GNAC
With Clevenger’s selection on Tuesday, GNAC baseball
players have been selected as the NCBWA West Region
Player/Pitcher of the Week in four of the past five weeks.
SMU’s Carl Svanevik and NNU’s Tyler Davis won back-toback Player of the Week awards while MSUB’s Brody Miller
was selected last Tuesday. Clevenger is the first GNAC
pitcher to be honored this year.
Six complete games were thrown by GNAC pitchers this
week. Two were seven-inning shutouts from CWU pitcher
Mitch Yada and WOU pitcher Garrett Alvarez. MSUB’s
Brady Muller also threw seven-complete innings in the
‘Jackets make-up game Friday, but did not receive credit for
the complete game as he was not the penciled starter on
the original start of competition.
Northwest Nazarene completed the first sweep of the
GNAC weekly awards this season as Hatfield was named the
Player of the Week and Clevenger was the Pitcher of the
Week. The pair helped the Crusaders to two wins. Hatfield
reached base on 10 hits while slugging three home runs
while Clevenger threw 6.1 innings of no-hit ball. He allowed
just two hits in his two wins last week.
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