Baseball | 4/21/2010 7:27:23 PM

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What's happening…
The Western Oregon University baseball team rides a 16-game winning streak into a critical four-game series with Chico State, Apr. 23-25. WOU is currently ranked No. 6 in the NCAA West Region poll, while Chico State sits at No. 4 (The top four teams from the poll will advance to the regional champions). The Wolves and Wildcats will play a single game on Friday at 6:00 p.m., a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon and a final single game Sunday at noon.

Regionally ranked…
The second official NCAA regional poll was released Wednesday, Apr. 21. The Wolves remained at No. 6 for the second straight week, while CSU San Bernardino moved to No. 3 with Chico State dropping to No. 4. Only four teams from the region will qualify for the playoffs, including the California Collegiate Athletic Association champion. The GNAC does not receive an automatic bid.

 

                                                     Overall Record                       In-Region Record

West Region

1.     UC San Diego                                          37-6                                             35-5

2.     Cal State Dominguez Hills                        33-9                                             28-9

3.     Cal State San Bernardino                       25-13                                           24-13

4.     Cal State Chico                                       27-15                                           26-14

5.     Hawaii Pacific                                         28-10                                            24-9

6.    Western Oregon                                      25-10                                           25-10

A look at the Western Oregon team…
The Wolves (26-11, 21-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) have won 16 straight games and 23 of their last 26 to take a 6.5 game lead in the GNAC with eight games remaining. WOU is 13-9 in road games this season, but just 2-7 against non-conference DII opponents on the road.

WOU pitchers lead the GNAC in ERA (4.57), opponent batting average (.281) and shutouts (five). Wolves' batters lead the conference in home runs (48), sacrifices (26), on-base percentage (.414) and slugging percentage (.518). Western Oregon also leads the league and ranks 12th in the country with 73 total hit by pitches. The Wolves also ranks among the national leaders in home runs per game (23rd, 1.3), total home runs (29th, 48), fielding percentage (26th, .967), slugging percentage (38th, .518) and earned run average (47th, 4.57).

Run on weekly honors…
For the second straight week, two Western Oregon University student-athletes were selected for GNAC weekly honors. This week it was Michael Ward capturing pitcher of the week honors and Devon Bouvier taking home the GNAC co-Player of the Week award.

Ward, a junior pitcher from Eugene, Ore. (South Eugene High School), was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season. He allowed two hits and one run in seven innings in a 22-2 win at Montana State Billings Friday. Ward walked two and tied his season high with 10 strikeouts. The WOU right-hander ranks second in the conference in ERA (2.24). In all nine of his starts, he has pitched six or more innings and he has allowed three or fewer runs in seven of the nine.

Devon Bouvier, a senior outfielder from Kennewick, Wash. (Kennewick High School/Yakima Valley CC) had 12 hits in 23 at bats, scored eight runs and drove in eight as the Wolves won six games to close in on their ninth consecutive GNAC baseball title. He had two or more hits in five consecutive games to extend his hitting streak to nine games before going 0-for-3 in Saturday's final contest at Billings.

WOU baseball student-athletes have now won GNAC weekly honors for seven straight weeks, in which they were eligible. Last week it was Jacob Pettit earning pitcher of the week honors and Grant Glover being selected as the co-player of the week. WOU student-athletes previously earning the GNAC weekly award include Jason Moseby (Mar. 29-Apr. 4), Blake Keitzman (Mar. 22-28), Michael Ward (Mar 8-14), Cesar Lopez (Mar. 1-7), Kyle Boe (Feb. 15-21) and Pettit (Feb. 8-14).

No WOU student-athlete was eligible for the honor Feb. 22-28 or Mar. 15-21, as the team did not play any games during those dates.

A look at Chico State…
Chico State is 27-15 on the season, 22-14 in the CCAA and 17-5 at home. As a team they hit .329 with a .404 on-base percentage and a .497 slugging percentage. Last week, Chico dropped three of four games at home to No. 2 regionally ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Michael Murphy leads the team with a .392 batting average. Johnny Hay is the team's leading home run man with nine. Starting pitcher Michael Gleason has put together a 2.71 earned run average to go along with 6-0 record and a .238 batting average against. Ian Waldron has a 6-1 record out of the bullpen.

Chico State leads the all-time series 47-10. These teams last met in the season-opening series in 2009 when the Wildcats took three of four from the Wolves.