By JARYD CLINE, staff reporter
After moving into a first-place tie with Great Northwest Athletic Conference-leader Western Oregon, no one expected that the Wildcats would lose six of their final eight games.
Central (28-22 overall, 19-13 GNAC) lost three games to Montana State Billings University and Western Oregon University over the final two weeks of the regular season.
Because only five schools in the GNAC have baseball programs, the conference tournament only allows the top three teams to compete in the round-robin bracket, unlike other GNAC postseasons.
The Wildcats will now voyage to play in the inaugural GNAC tournament on Thursday, opening against Montana State Billings, followed by playing Western Oregon.
“Our goal is for Western Oregon to beat them [MSUB] in Game 1 and for us to come out and beat them Game 2,” head coach Desi Storey said. “And that takes any doubt out of who’s going to be in the championship game.”
The tournament will be held on the campus of Western Oregon. The Wolves won the regular season title, giving them right to host.
“I think everybody is a little bit disappointed in the last few weeks,” Storey said. “Some of the games we haven’t won that we probably should have.”
Central comes into the tournament as the No. 2 seed, followed by Montana State Billings.
Each team plays each other on the first day and the team that loses twice is eliminated.
The final two teams battle it out on the second day to see who is named the tournament champion.
“They’re a good club, they swing it,” Storey said. “But if we play just baseball like we’re capable, I’m pretty confident we can win that game.”
Billings has had a successful season against the Wildcats, winning five out of eight games against Central. It wasn’t too long ago that the Yellowjackets claimed GNAC team of the week after beating the Wildcats in three out of four games.
Montana State and Central boast the top two slugging teams in the GNAC, respectively. Central has the top batting percentage while the Yellowjackets lead in runs scored, RBIs, homeruns and triples.
“I’m feeling pretty good about Montana State,” said senior catcher Kyle Sani, who leads the GNAC in homeruns and RBIs. “As long as we go out and play our baseball, field it, throw it and hit it alright we should be fine.”
Sani has crushed the Yellowjackets as a designated hitter. He has combined to go 14-29 with 14 RBI, and six home runs in eight games versus Montana State.
Junior shortstop Justen Weigel has also had success against the Yellowjackets, hitting seven of 19 with two homeruns and 3 RBIs in four games this season.
Right after the Wildcats battle the Yellowjackets, they will meet the top-seeded Wolves.
Western Oregon finished off its regular season by defeating the Wildcats in three out of four games in Ellensburg.
The Wolves have the best pitching staff in the GNAC and it has showed against the Wildcats. They have shut the Wildcats out once and had three pitchers combine to strike out 18 batters.
WOU also leads the conference earned run average and strikeouts.
The GNAC tournament kicks off Thursday at 10 a.m. with Montana State taking on Western Oregon in Game 1. That’s followed Central’s matchup with the Yellowjackets.
The Wildcats then face Western Oregon at 4 p.m. Whichever team loses two games on the first day will be eliminated, and the two remaining teams will battle on Day 2 for the right to be named GNAC tournament champions.
The Wildcats had a few days to work out the kinks before their last games of the season.
“We’re just gonna practice hard,” junior right fielder Ethan Sterkel said. “We have a great team, talented group of guys, just a good couple days of practice and we’ll be back at it.”
