‘Jackets clinch GNAC tourney berth with wins on Senior Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Friday, May 6, 2016 ‘Jackets clinch GNAC tourney berth with wins on Senior Day

MSUB holds on for a 6-5, extra-inning win in Game 1, and blows Saint Martin’s away with a 17-2 win in the regularseason finale to earn a berth in the GNAC Championships.

BILLINGS, Mont. – For the second straight year, Montana State University Billings ended the regular-season with a fourgame sweep of Saint Martin’s University, as the Yellowjackets picked up 6-5 and 17-2 wins over the Saints on Senior Day Friday at Dehler Park to clinch a berth in the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.

The Yellowjackets set a new program record for wins in a season as they improved to 29-18 overall and 23-15 in league play with the sweep, topping last year’s mark of 27 wins. Saint Martin’s finished the season 15-35 overall and 12-28 in league play.

Cody Cooper had 10 strikeouts and pitched 8 1/3 innings in the opener, as he pushed his GNAC-leading strikeout total to 99 on the season. MSUB had to hold on for an extra-inning win however, as SMU scored three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 5-5. Tanner Watson’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th ended the game however, and sealed MSUB’s berth in the conference tournament.

Luke Reinschmidt went 4-for-11 in his final two games at Dehler Park, while Kyle Durbin was 4-for-6 with seven runs scored. Adam Cox went 3-for-7 with four RBIs, and Corey Morris was 4-for-4 with his first career home run and six RBIs in Game 2. Brett Christina also hit his first career home run in the blowout, and Colter Sternhagen added his fifth of the season.

After Friday’s action in the GNAC, MSUB sits in a three-way tie for first place with Northwest Nazarene (28-20, 23-15 GNAC) and Western Oregon (28-20, 23-15 GNAC). Central Washington is still alive in the hunt for the third and final postseason berth, at 26-22 overall and 22-16 in league play. The top-three teams advance to the GNAC Championships, hosted by the regular-season champion. With NNU and MSUB having already clinched berths, a final doubleheader between WOU and CWU on Saturday will determine not only the third team into the tournament, but the location of the event.

Game 1 – MSU Billings 6, Saint Martin’s 5 (10 Innings) Cooper was set up for his seventh win of the year, handing the ball off to Cox with one out in the ninth inning. The Saints found a late rally however, as Shane Kurihara delivered a huge pinch-hit, two-run double to right center that made the score 5-4. Adam Eskil followed with an RBI-single to right to even the score with two outs.

The ’Jackets nearly won it in the bottom of the ninth, but Sternhagen was stranded on third base and the Saints forced extra innings.

Cox took care of business with two strikeouts and a ground out in the top of the 10th, and Durbin drew a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the frame. A two-out walk to Sternhagen loaded the bases, and Watson was called upon to pinch hit. The junior took four balls in-a-row, ending the game on a walk-off walk for the second time this year at Dehler Park.

The Saints were the first to score, as Cooper found himself in trouble in each of the first two innings. After Cooper got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, Alec Hagerman roped an RBI-single to left center in the second to make it 1-0. MSUB’s ace walked the next batter but then got himself into a groove.

Junior Cody Cooper had 10 strikeouts in Game 1 to push his GNAC-leading total to 99 on the season.

Cooper struck out Trevor Young looking and got Eskil to fly out with the bases loaded, before striking out the side in the third

and fourth innings and retiring eight in-a-row.

Meanwhile, the ‘Jackets evened the score on an RBI-ground out by Cox in the third, and took a 2-1 lead on an RBI-single

by Reinschmidt in the bottom of the fourth.

A wild pitch allowed SMU’s Brandon Witherspoon to score the tying run in the top of the sixth, but a Kevin Toon RBIsingle in the seventh once again put the lead in the hands of the ‘Jackets.

SMU put runners on first and second with a pair of walks and one out in the top of the eighth, threatening to tie the score. Working a full count to Ben Warner, Cooper got a swing through for strike three and watched as Landon Peterson threw out a would-be base stealer at second for a momentum-shifting, inning-ending double play. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Morris picked up a huge two-run single on an 0-2 pitch that gave Cooper a three-run cushion up 5-2.

Cameron Mosier started SMU’s rally with a one-out double in the ninth however, driving Cooper from the game and ultimately preventing him from his seventh win of the year.

Cooper allowed three runs on eight hits with six walks to go with his 10 strikeouts. Cox earned the victory as he pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and had three strikeouts.

Aaron Shoup started and allowed just two runs on six hits with a strikeout and two walks through five innings, and SMU used three different pitchers out of the bullpen. Hagerman went 3-for-5 for the visitors in the leadoff spot in the lineup.

Game 2 – MSU Billings 17, Saint Martin’s 2 (7 Innings) Morris became the fifth player in MSUB history with six RBIs in a game, as he had three singles to go along with his first career home run in the exclamation point win for the ‘Jackets.

Morris nearly cleared the fence in the second inning, as he drove a deep fly ball off the wall in left center field that plated a pair of runs. His towering blast to straightaway left followed in the fourth, and put the game well out of reach at 14-1.

Jake Huskey homered in the top of the first for Saint Martin’s, but MSUB scored five times in the bottom of the inning and four more times in the second to take a 9-1 lead. Another five spot in the fourth and three more runs in the sixth completed the scoring for MSUB, while the Saints got their second and final run in the sixth inning.

Matt Hape had a stress-free outing on the mound with the big lead, posting five strikeouts and just two walks and one run allowed on four hits in five innings. Senior Drew Christina threw the final two frames, finishing with one strikeout, one walk, and one run allowed on two hits with 32 pitches.

Senior Corey Morris was 4-for-4 with six RBIs and his first career home run in MSUB’s 17-2 win over Saint Martin’s in the regular-season finale Friday.

Cox had three more RBIs on a bases-loaded double that came right before Morris’s home run in the fourth. Sternhagen’s three-run homer was part of the big rally in the first inning, and Brett Christina’s first career long ball iced the scoring in the bottom of the sixth to make it 17-2.

The Saints used five different pitchers, with starter Torin Dooley allowing nine runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks. Six different Saints had one hit apiece in Game 2.

SENIOR SALUTE: MSUB’s 10 graduating seniors were honored in a ceremony between games. The families of Lee Busto, Brett Christina, Drew Christina, Kyle Durbin, Dylan Goldsack, Tanner Johnson, Corey Morris, Luke Reinschmidt, Colter Sternhagen, and Kevin Toon were in attendance to watch the final home games in the players’ careers.

THE BUZZ: Goldsack was picked as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…Cooper’s 99 strikeouts are tied for thirdmost in GNAC single-season history…Durbin is now batting .387 and has a chance for the GNAC batting title…Durbin leads the league with a .487 on-base percentage NEXT UP: The GNAC Championships start next week, with the location being determined after Saturday’s games in Monmouth, Ore. MSUB will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed depending on how the series between Central Washington and Western Oregon finishes.

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