TURLOCK — A third game was decided in the eighth inning or later Sunday, the second time in extra innings, and the fourth in four games was decided by only three runs, as visiting Western Oregon eeked out a series victory by scoring three runs in the top of the 11th to beat the Stanislaus State baseball team, 7-4.
 
The Warriors (2-3) held two leads in the game, at 2-0 through two and 4-2 through five, but each time, Western Oregon (5-3) answered the very next half-inning with two runs to tie. And like the first three games of the series, the teams stayed locked in a tight battle for multiple innings late, after most of the run scoring had been done in the early frames.
 
Ryan Leonesio came through in the clutch in the second inning to put Stanislaus State up early. Facing a 2-2 count with two outs, he blooped an RBI single to shallow right field that scored two runs, one coming in on WOU's right fielder overrunning the ball. The Wolves answered right back in the top of the third. They put two runners in scoring position with no outs after a leadoff double from Leighton Moniz and a walk to Ryan Witt, followed by a passed ball. Derek Maiben singled them both in to tie it at 2-2.
 
Stan State gave itself another two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth with a long two-out rally. The first two batters of the inning both struck out, but a hit-by-pitch, bunt single and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position. A balk scored Joseph Hauck to make it 3-2, and another clutch, two-strike, two-out RBI hit – this time from Grant Bunker – put the Warriors up, 4-2.
 
Western Oregon copied the Warriors with their own two-out rally in the top of the sixth to tie the game again. Back-to-back two-out walks on nine total pitches set them up, then the nine-hole hitter Sebastian Morales singled home a run, and Maiben came through again with another game-tying RBI single – part of a three-RBI, 4-for-6 day for him at the plate.
 
Stanislaus State went three-up, three-down for the next three innings, while Western Oregon stranded runners in scoring position in both the seventh and the eighth, but couldn't get them in. The Warriors had their chances to win the game in both the bottom of the ninth and 10th. They got a one-out single Jonluke Goldman in the ninth but stranded him. And they stranded the game-winning run on third base in the 10th after a leadoff walk.
 
WOU took advantage in the 11th, getting consecutive two-out RBI hits from Jackson Holstad and Anthony Zellner. Zellner's hit was the big one, scoring two and turning a one-run game into a three-run WOU advantage on a double that landed just inside the right field foul line and rolled all the way into the visitors' bullpen.
 
The Warriors take a week off before traveling to Los Angeles on Feb. 25-27 to open up California Collegiate Athletic Association play at Cal State LA. Fans can find all live coverage links on WarriorAthletics.com.