Offense produces big in DH sweep of Saint Martin’s Sunday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Sunday, April 23, 2017 Offense produces big in DH sweep of Saint Martin’s Sunday

MSUB secures a 3-1 series win over Saint Martin’s on Sunday, scoring 25 runs on 33 hits in the doubleheader sweep to inch closer to locking up a berth in the GNAC Championships.

BILLINGS, Mont. – Six home runs cleared the fence among the 33 hits by Montana State University Billings Sunday at Dehler Park, as the Yellowjackets swept a doubleheader against Saint Martin’s University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

Just over 12 hours after taking off the catcher’s gear after Saturday’s late-night win, Matt Dillon hit his first two career home runs in Game 1 to help the ‘Jackets to an 18-5 win on a season-high 20 hits. The sophomore caught both games of the doubleheader, which started at 10:57 a.m., as the teams played all four games of the series within a span of 24.5 hours. Tristan Shockley tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings out of the bullpen in the 7-3, series-clinching victory in Game 2. “I was a little tired, but it’s just something you have to grind through,” Dillon commented when asked about the quick turn-around between games. “This week in practice was a lot of getting my momentum going forward with my leg kick, and I finally figured it out to get off my back foot and get it going forward.”

Senior Casey Merritt got on base in 8 of 10 plate appearances Sunday, including five hits with two doubles, a triple, three walks, a stolen base and five runs scored. Adam Cox, Ryan Myers, Jalen Garcia, and Caje Golden each also homered for MSUB, which posted a .901 slugging percentage as a team in 71 at bats. “The offense was tenacious, and they didn’t throw at-bats away,” said MSUB head coach Aaron Sutton. “They had a good approach getting it to the next guy, and it was really good to see our offense build its confidence. Tristan threw tremendously today, with three pitches for strikes, and he lived at the bottom of the strike zone. All the things we talk about as a pitching staff, he went out and did.”

MSUB moved five games clear of Saint Martin’s in the win column, and further strengthened its grip on the fourth-place spot in the standings at 15-17 in GNAC games. The Yellowjackets are now 17-25 overall on the season. The Saints meanwhile slipped to 13-23 overall, and are 10-18 in the GNAC as they remain in fifth place.

Game 1 – MSU Billings 18, Saint Martin’s 5 For the second weekend in-a-row, MSUB hung 18 runs on its opponent and had 12 different players record a hit, to back the best outing of sophomore Steen Fredrickson’s career.

The right-hander had a career-best seven strikeouts against just one walk, earning his third win of the season with five strong innings in the start.

Though Fredrickson departed with MSUB leading just 5-4, the flood gates opened as the ‘Jackets began to pull away with a six-run fifth inning. MSUB added two more in the sixth, four more in the seventh, and a final run in the eighth to tally at least one run in each of the final seven innings just as it did in last week’s 18-2 thumping of Western Oregon.

Golden temporarily tied himself for the team lead in home runs, launching his eighth of the year well over the fence in left field for MSUB’s first run of the day. Dillon followed with a long blast over the fence in right-center to make the score 3-1.

Casey Merritt got on base in 8 of 10 plate apperances in Sunday’s doubleheader, posting a runs-created mark of 8.24 among the team’s 25 runs scored.

The Saints battled early however, as Adam Eskil drilled a two-run home run off the gate above the center-field fence in the third, evening the score after Trevor Young’s solo shot in the top of the second.

RBI-doubles by Cox and Garcia gave MSUB one run each in the third and fourth, but SMU again responded and pulled within a run on Young’s RBI-double to left field in the fifth.

After Cox’s leadoff home run in the fifth however, the Yellowjackets out-scored the Saints 13-1 the rest of the game.

Dillon’s second homer, a three-run shot to left, came in a four-run seventh inning that put away any hope of a comeback for the Saints.

Garrett Helfrich and Jacob Foley helped finish off the ballgame, combining to scatter four hits and strike out three while allowing no runs over the final 3 2/3 innings.

Zach Stevenson took the loss for the Saints, and was one of five pitchers used in the opening game of the doubleheader who each allowed no fewer than three runs.

Eskil, Young, and Shaan Kothari each had two hits for SMU in the opener, while Cox went 4-for-5 and was just a triple shy of the cycle for MSUB. Game 2 – MSU Billings 7, Saint Martin’s 3 (7 Innings) The Saints quickly forgot about the lopsided Game 1 score, as Austin Feist and Eskil hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the first inning to make the score 3-0.

Garcia helped MSUB respond immediately however, driving his second home run of the series out to left field and pulling MSUB within one, down 3-2.

Shockley was summoned into a dangerous situation in the top of the second, taking the ball with the bases loaded and two outs. The junior coaxed a ground ball to Max Hartgraves at short however, and Myers scooped up a low throw to end the threat. MSUB’s first baseman then gave his team the lead in the bottom of the third, sending a towering tworun homer over the wall in right for his team-high ninth of the year.

Shockley again showed grit in the top of the fourth, when the Saints put runners on second and third with two outs. He once again called on Hartgraves as he produced another routine grounder on a 3-2 pitch to the third-place hitter Feist. “I was just trying to throw strikes, and our defense played great behind me,” said Shockley. “I went in there with the confidence to put the ball in play and let my defense back me up.”

Tristan Shockley earned the win in the series finale, with 5 1/3 stellar shutout innings out of the bullpen.

Shockley and SMU reliever Luke Hare traded zeroes into the sixth inning, and the former posted a 1-2-3 frame to make MSUB’s one-run lead hold up with only three defensive outs left to get.

MSUB’s final offensive breakthrough of the series came in the bottom of the sixth, when Hartgraves led off with his second single to right field of the game. An RBI-triple by Merritt was surrounded by RBI-doubles from Robinson and Myers, as the ‘Jackets plated three to take the pressure off Shockley.

Conner Linebarger dove to his left and snagged a sharp line drive for the final out of the game in the seventh, as MSUB completed its second 3-1 series win over the Saints this season.

THE BUZZ: Dillon was picked as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…Robinson stole his 15th base of the year in the nightcap, moving just two steals away from the MSUB single-season record of 17 held by Kyle Pryor…Merritt’s triple was his fourth of the year, the most in the GNAC this season…Fredrickson’s previous career high in strikeouts was five,

on March 19, 2016 against Concordia‌Shockley was coming off his previous season-long outing, with 3 2/3 innings of relief last week against Western Oregon.

COMING UP: A short week awaits MSUB, as the Yellowjackets will be back on the diamond on Thursday at Concordia University in Portland, Ore. 9-inning/7-inning doubleheaders are scheduled for 4 p.m. next Thursday and 1 p.m. next Friday at Porter Park, and live video and live statistics will be available through MSUB’s Stretch Internet portal here.

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