SPOKANE, Wash. – Kramer Ferrell went 4-4 with four RBIs and a home run to lead visiting Central Washington to a 10-8 victory over Whitworth in a non-conference baseball game on Tuesday afternoon at Merkel Field.

The Wildcats improved to 13-9 with their second win of the season over the Bucs.  The Pirates dropped to 9-9-1 despite Jeremy Druffel's second home run of the season.

Ferrell's two-run single highlighted a three-run third inning that gave CWU a 3-0 lead.  But Whitworth scored five runs in the fifth to go ahead 5-3.  Nick Motsinger had a two-run double and Druffel followed with his home run.

Ferrell led off the top of the sixth with his first home run, leading to another three-run inning for the Wildcats.  Joel Johnson added an RBI single in the frame, which put CWU back ahead 6-5.

Thomas Wakem singled home Josh Davis to tie the game 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth and the Pirates took their final lead later in the inning on Marlowe Peter's sacrifice fly.

Central's third three-run inning of the game turned the tide back in the Wildcats' favor for the final time in the seventh.  Johnson's two-run single was the hit that put CWU ahead for good at 9-7.

Whitworth got within 9-8 in the bottom of the seventh on a run-scoring double by Davis.  But Ferrell added his final RBI in the top of the eighth – a sacrifice fly – for a key insurance run and the final tally of the game by either team.

In addition to Ferrell's big day, Johnson finished 2-3 with three RBIs and Eddie Malone was 2-4 with an RBI for Central.

Druffel went 3-5 with two RBIs for the Pirates, while Davis and Wakem each had a pair of hits.

Both teams burned through plenty of pitchers.  CWU used seven arms out of the pen and Jeff Gonzales (1-2)  was credited with the win after throwing 1.2 innings and allowing one run on two hits.  Skye Adams, normally a regular in the starting rotation, finished up with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for his first save of the year.

Four pitcher saw action for the Pirates.  Zach Shuholm and Michael Woodkey each allowed three runs in three innings of work, but Michael Renner (0-1) was tagged with his first loss of the year after giving up four runs (three earned) in two innings.

Whitworth will open a key three-game Northwest Conference series against Linfield at Merkel Field on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at noon.