[Box score]
SALEM-KEIZER, Ore.—Western Oregon had a double dose of mound excellence on Thursday at Volcanoes Stadium during a 3-1 win over Sonoma State in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Region baseball championships.
Starter Blake Keitzman gave up just three hits and one run through nearly eight innings of work, and Mike Eisenhauer followed with a rare bullpen appearance to nail down the save to help the Wolves advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. winner’s bracket game against #1 seed UC San Diego.
The Wolves moved to 34-12 on the year and Keitzman remained unbeaten at 9-0 as the #2 seed topped the #3 seed. Sonoma State, now 32-15, will play Cal State Dominguez Hills in a loser’s out game at 2 pm. UC San Diego survived a CSUDH upset bid earlier on Thursday, 11-10.
Keitzman, the 2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference pitcher of the year, fanned five batters in the first five innings of play, but suffered his first adversity in the fourth inning when the Seawolves scored its only run of the game. Joe Slater laced a double down the leftfield line and Ian Bridges would single him home a batter later to give Sonoma State first blood.
But the Seawolves would be held hitless the rest of the way. Eisenhauer, a senior who has 10 starts on the season, picked up his first career save by striking out three of the four batters that he faced upon entering the game with two outs in the eighth.
Meanwhile, SSU had a pitching surprise of its own when Keith Thompson started the game on the hill. The Seawolves chose to save CCAA pitcher of the year Gary Moran for day two, and sent Thompson to the mound for just his third start of the year. But Thompson was effective, allowing just one hit and one run through four innings.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the Wolves put runners on second and third for catcher Garrett Breda, who then drilled reliever Taylor Lewis’ pitch off the left-center wall for a two-run double. That would prove to be all the runs the hosts would need.
While Sonoma State rolled the dice to save their ace, WOU coach Jeremiah Robbins had no doubt all along as to what direction he would go.
“Winning this game gives us the best chance to win this tournament, so going with Blake puts in a good situation,” Robbins said. “We are now guaranteed to be playing on Saturday.”