LACEY, Wash. – The Saints' starting pitching returned to ace like form, throwing a shutout in game one, before
Tanner Inouye punched out 11 Wildcats as the Saints swept Central Washington 7-0 and 5-2 to earn two critical wins in the playoff race.
Aaron Shoup got the ball rolling in the game one, throwing seven lights out innings, striking out six, and only allowing four hits.
Robbie Shineman came to complete the shutout with two innings and two strikeouts. The Saints' offense came alive with 14 hits, resulting in seven runs, including three in the sixth. In the second bill, Inouye broke the single season strikeout record, set back in 2003.
Mickey Walker picked up his fourth save of the year with a clean seventh inning.
Colton Peha connected on his team-leading fourth home run of the year, a two run blast to right to put the Saints on top.
"We got off to a great start to the weekend today," said head coach
Kelly Gau. "It was great to see us click in all three phases. We continued to get dominating performances from our starters with Aaron (Shoup) and Tanner going deep into games. Offensively, Aaron (Renaud) came up with a couple huge knocks today, and we are confident he can continue to provide in the middle of the order. Colton (Peha) has delivered the dagger in a few games this season, and his homer in game two really got us going. We can really see this group continuing to build confidence and look forward to getting after it again on Sunday."
The Saints slowly started building a lead against Central Washington, adding one run in each of the first three innings.
Austin Feist drove in
Ryne Oshiro on a RBI single to left in the first.
Cody Chavis delivered a sac fly in the second, and Peha recorded a RBI groundout in the third.
The score held 3-0 until the sixth inning when Chavis singled down the right field line for a RBI. Later in the inning,
Bryant Nakagawa scored on a wild pitch, and
Aaron Renaud drove in Chavis on a groundball to second. The final dagger came in the eighth on a single to right center from
Isaac Hegamin capped off the 7-0 victory.
Inouye's day did not start how he wanted it too, giving up a first pitch home run. However, the day ended exactly how he wanted, with a victory, a school record, and a sweep.
After the home run, Peha responded in the bottom of the first with a two run blast of his own, clearing the right field fence. Peha later added to the lead in the second with a RBI single to right field to round out his four RBI day.
Aaron Renaud doubled later in the second, scoring both Peha and
Ryne Oshiro to extend the lead to 5-1.
Central Washington was able to add a run in the fifth on a RBI single to right; however, it was all Inouye allowed after the first pitch home run. Walker was called on to get the save in the seventh, and sat down all three batters he faced, including one strikeout.
The Saints moved to within one game behind Central Washington for the final GNAC playoff spot. The two teams wrap up the four game series with a doubleheader on Sunday, starting at 1:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.
