ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Saint Martin's baseball team (12-19, 9-9 GNAC) had the bats swinging at the right time on Friday, as the boys powered to a comeback win 7-6 before dismantled the Central Washington Wildcats (12-22, 8-10 GNAC) in game two to the tune of a 7-1 victory to complete the sweep.
 
Through the first five innings of game one, the Saints offense was sputtering, and despite a strong 4.2 inning start from Finnley Butler, the Wildcats scraped three across to take the lead. In the bottom of the fifth, a huge pitching moment came for Kameron Richards when he got a big strikeout to strand CWU runners on second and third.
It was in the next half inning when the Saints got their offense kickstarted. Reid Little started it off with a walk before Dylan McLaughlin singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Braeden McNally then came up clutch for the first time in the day with a high fly ball into center field that allowed Little to scamper across on the sac fly. Then when McLaughlin got to second on a passed ball, it was Alohi Arrechi's turn to flip in a big run, ripping a single to make it 3-2 CWU. One inning later, the score was tied on a single by Little that got Mark Steward across.
Brady Bean made do of some sloppy defense for a "little league" home run in the eighth when an error at third allowed him to reach first safely, which he was also able to scamper to third due to. When the throw from the Wildcat right fielder to attempt to get him out at third was off target, Bean just sprinted on home to end his exhausting flight around the diamond. The Saints had a lead going into the bottom of the eighth.
"It was great that we were able to pick each other up when a mistake happened," said Head Coach Kelly Gau, "We did not play the cleanest game, but had many clutch moments where guys stepped up to pickup a teammate. [Finnley] Butler gave us a great start and kept us in the game up until he exited. Our bullpen wasn't perfect but competed at a very high level to avoid the 'big inning.'"
The Wildcats would not trickle away that easy, however, and they answered the call when they needed to. Two runs in their half inning and CWU was back in front 5-4. The last chance inning for SMU started with Little getting aboard with a single and Hunter Sasaki entering as a pinch runner for him. McLaughlin dropped down a sac bunt to get the tying run into scoring position, but then a fly out pushed the Saints to their last out. On the second pitch of his at-bat, McNally came through once again, launching a double into right and getting Sasaki home to tie the game. On the next pitch, Arecchi followed suit with a two-bagger to give SMU the lead. Finally, Bean got Arecchi home on an RBI single.
The drama was not over in the bottom of the ninth when a solo Wildcat bomb made the margin as narrow as possible, but Mattingly Milledge locked down the first win of his SMU career grabbing the final three outs the Saints to come out on top of the wild contest.
"The ninth inning was special with clutch two out knocks by McNally, Arecchi, and Bean in a row," added Gau, "The guys kept the belief in each other and able to get a team win in the end."
FINAL: Saint Martin's 7, Central Washington 6
 
Justice Yamashita was on the mound for game two and turned in the performance that we've come to expect from him, going the distance, allowing just one run to give the Saints a huge opportunity to grab the win. He never threw a pitch without the lead either, as the offense kept the ball rolling from game one and tallied three in the top of the first. Bean scored in a flash off a Steward single, then Michael Yamaguchi scored on a Damon Ingram sac fly and McLaughlin ripped an RBI single to score Steward. In the third, Little got aboard for Ingram, who launched SMU's only moonshot of the day with a powerful whack over the right field fence. In the same half inning, McNally had an RBI double to score Austin Schaler and Arecchi brought home McNally with a base hit to make it a touchdown lead for the Saints.
Yamashita finished out the contest with three strikeouts, but only gave up one free pass on the day. The second to last batter he faced broke his shutout with a triple, but Arecchi squeezed the final out in center field to ensure the complete game for his starting pitcher.
"Game two was as complete a team effort as we've had this year," said Gau as he remembered the second contest, "Justice threw a gem after getting some early run support. Competing in the strike zone as a pitcher is much easier when you know the offense has your back. The defense was generally clean with a couple momentum killing double plays. We had some great situational hitting for RBI, as well as the big homer from Ingram and Doubles from Arecchi and McNally."
FINAL: Saint Martin's 7, Central Washington 1
 
"We're very pleased as a staff for how this team has come together, and are excited to see them overcome the challenges ahead," Gau concluded.
The Saints are back at it battling with the Wildcats at 12 PM and 3 PM tomorrow, April 8^th.