MONMOUTH, Ore.—Northwest Nazarene's Nick Slonaker came off the bench to save his Crusaders on the mound and at the plate, salvaging a doubleheader split for NNU at Western Oregon on Saturday afternoon.
Slonaker pitched two innings of scoreless relief and was also credited with the winning RBI after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 11th inning of the second game, giving NNU a 2-1 win. Western Oregon cruised to a 10-3 victory in the first game and won three of the contests in the four-game series.
The Wolves are now 30-14 on the season and are 18-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Crusaders moved to 25-19 overall and to 9-15 in the GNAC.
Slonaker's solid relief work wasn't a surprise, as he improved to 5-2 on the season and dropped his ERA to 1.56. But his first trip to the plate of the season in the 11th inning certainly came in a pressure cooker situation, with the bases loaded and two outs. With a 2-1 count, WOU reliever Matt Hilgers threw too far inside and nicked Slonaker, giving him his first RBI of the year, still without an at-bat in the books in 2008.
Cole Smith had gotten the 11th started for the visitors with a double, and he moved to third base after a wild pitch. Walks to Severo Rodriguez and Zach Aakhus (intentional) set the table for Slonaker's surprise result.
The game wasn't without drama prior to the 11th either. NNU had scored the first run of the game on Ryan Bailey's RBI-triple in the sixth inning, and the Crusaders then loaded the bases in the seventh inning with one out. A fly ball to WOU rightfielder Ryan Lewis looked to bring in another run, but Lewis gunned down the runner at home to keep the Wolves alive heading into the seventh.
WOU tied the game in their final chance, after Travis Fox singled to start the inning and then moved two bases via a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Drew Humphrey then brought Fox home with a single. The Wolves loaded the bases in the ninth, but NNU reliever Tyler Liebolt worked his way out of the jam. In the 11th, Eric Renander doubled with one out, but Slonaker induced a pair of fly balls to end the game.
Rodriguez had three hits in the game for NNU, as did Bailey. Tyler Moore and Fox had a pair of hits each for the Wolves, who stranded 13 runners in the game. The Wolves wasted a solid starting pitching performance from Greg Bobnick, who pitched 4.1 scoreless innings and Jared Neyens, who gave up just two hits and fanned four in 3.2 innings out of the bullpen.
The first game lacked any drama as the hosts built a 5-0 lead after just two innings of play. Tyson Nelson and Taylor Mieras had home runs for Western, while Mieras and Dylan Bruck had two hits each for the GNAC leaders. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Mike Cusick gave up just two earned runs in eight innings of work to get the win, scattering nine Crusader hits. Bailey had three of those base knocks to lead his team.
Western Oregon, first in the GNAC and ranked sixth in the NCAA Division II west region poll, will step outside of conference play next weekend, hosting Cal State Monterey Bay in a four-game series Friday through Sunday.
Game Summaries
Game One
NNU 000 010 110 3 9 4
WOU 320 002 30x 10 8 1
Van Oeveren, Liebelt (2), Fields (8) and Aakhus.
Cusick, Morris (9) and Mieras.
WP-Cusick (4-4) LP-VanOeveren (5-3) SV-None.
2B-None. 3B-None. HR-Aakhus (NNU), Nelson (WOU), Mieras (WOU).
Game Two
NNU 000 001 000 01 2 12 1
WOU 000 000 100 00 1 8 3
Pottenger, Liebelt (7), Slonaker (10) and Aakhus.
Bobnick, Shivers (5), Neyens (7), Hilgers (11) and Verstegen, Mieras (7).
WP-Slonaker (5-2) LP-Hilgers (0-1) SV-None.
2B-Smith-2 (NNU), VanBeek (NNU), Renander (WOU). 3B-Bailey (NNU) HR-None.
Records: Western Oregon 30-14 (18-6), Northwest Nazarene 25-19 (9-15)
