Wildcats earn walk off victory in high scoring battle against Eastern Oregon
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 3 weeks AGO
The Wildcats in the dugout pop off as they celebrate a walk off victory after Lance Mittleman ripped a liner up the middle and Conrad Henkel scored.
COURTESY PHOTO/DANNY ROMINGER JR./VALLEY SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY
ELLENSBURG — The Central Washington University Wildcats (9-15) completed their high scoring battle against the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (8-20) in the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk-off single from Lance Mittelman Tuesday afternoon to win 15-14, according to a statement by CWU Athletics.
“It always feels good to win a game,” said Wildcats Head Coach Desi Storey. “To be able to come home for the first time, and put together some positives, and come away with the W is good.”
The Wildcats came out strong in the bottom of the first inning with six runs off the bats of Ethan Buckley, Conrad Henkel, Jake Lockwood and Lance Mittelman after holding the Mountaineers scoreless. EOU responded in the second with hits from Kai Brown, Lucas Perez and Jake Sauceda to score four points of their own, according to EOU Athletics.
CWU added another run off Henkel in the bottom of the second and then in the bottom of the fourth with Ethan Swenson hitting a sacrifice fly to score Buckly to lead 8-4. The Mountaineers made a deep cut in the fifth inning as they scored three runs which the Wildcats quickly responded with two runs to stay in the lead.
The Mountaineers tied the game in the top of the seventh after capitalizing on two wildcat errors before Andrew Demianew delivered a three-RBI triple. EOU gained the lead in the seventh as they scored four runs and scored three to be behind by one point in the ninth inning.
The Wildcats held the Mountaineers scoreless at the top of the ninth inning, leaving everything in the hands of CWU to close out the game.
Central got off to a good start in the bottom of the ninth as Jonathan Rominger, Swensen and Henkel loaded the bases and Max Bledy hit a single to score Rominger to tie the game 14-14. Finally on a 3-1 pitch, Mittleman ripped a liner up the middle and Henkel scored to walk off the game.
Logan Thompson pitched an inning where he struck out one, followed by Camdyn Martindale, who pitched three with two strikeouts. Zachary Reynolds pitched 1.1 innings striking out one, Kyler Malnar pitched a part of an inning striking out one and Drake Anderson closed out the final inning, allowing zero runs and two hits.
“Obviously, we had our ups and downs on the mound today, and a little bit in the field,” Storey said. “But, offensively we had a really good day, so I was pretty proud of the guys to just keep doing what (they’re) doing and understand the game."
The Wildcats remain home this weekend to play Northwest Nazarene in two doubleheaders Friday and Saturday with both days beginning at noon. EOU returns to conference play as they travel to Klamath Falls to face Oregon Tech on Saturday at noon.
BOX SCORE
EOU: 0-4-0-0-3-0-3-4-0: 14
CWU: 6-1-0-2-0-0-3-2: 15
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