Cooper breaks Ks record, ‘Jackets fall 4-2 in GNAC tourney opener

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Wednesday, May 10, 2017 Cooper breaks Ks record, ‘Jackets fall 4-2 in GNAC tourney opener

Cody Cooper breaks the career strikeouts record and tosses a complete game in his final career start, but Western Oregon’s Cam Walker out duels the ace to pitch the Wolves to a tight 4-2 win in the GNAC tournament Wednesday.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Cody Cooper broke the Montana State University Billings career strikeout record in his final start as a Yellowjacket, but Western Oregon University’s Cam Walker set a Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships record with 10 strikeouts as the Wolves edged MSUB 4-2 in the opening round of the tournament Wednesday evening at Porter Park.

Cooper broke Brady Muller’s career mark of 232 strikeouts with a fifth-inning, three-pitch strikeout of Jacob Martinez.

He went on to finish with seven strikeouts in his seventh career complete game, and finished his career No. 3 in GNAC history with 237 strikeouts as he fanned the final batter he faced to end the eighth inning. “I thought we had a really good chance to win that ballgame until the very end, and we put good swings on balls,” Cooper commented. “It’s always a fun game to pitch in when it’s a pitcher’s duel. The atmosphere was great, both dugouts were in it the whole game, and there’s not much you can be upset about.”

“It was a really clean game of baseball, and those are the fun ones to be a part of,” said MSUB head coach Aaron Sutton. “Unfortunately it didn’t come out in our favor, but I was really impressed with how Cody carried himself all day. For him to get the strikeout record with that type of outing is well deserved.”

GNAC Career Strikeout Leaders Rk. Name Strikeouts 1.

Nick Waechter 269 2.

Roger Evenson 246 3.

Cody Cooper 237 4.

Brady Muller 232 5.

Steven Schutte 231

School WOU NNU MSUB MSUB NNU

Seasons 2004-06 2003-05 2014-17 2012-15 2002-04

The stellar effort by the senior wasn’t enough against a dominant Walker, who surrendered just four hits in nine innings and made just a pair of mistakes over the plate. With two outs in the fourth inning, Jalen Garcia roped a single into center field, bringing junior slugger Ryan Myers to the plate. Jumping on a 1-2 breaking ball, Myers drilled a towering two-run home run over the fence in left field to give MSUB a 2-1 advantage. “Those guys are all-conference for a reason,” Sutton commented on the second-team all-GNAC selections in Garcia and Myers. “They have really put this team on their back all year long. We put ourselves in good positions, but we just couldn’t find a way to get it done. I thought (Cam) Walker threw an outstanding game.”

Ryan Myers hit his team-high 11th home run of the year in the fourth inning on Wednesday.

It was one of two hits in the game for the GNAC’s leader in on-base percentage, and Myers was also hit by a pitch to up his OBP to .473 on the season.

The Wolves responded immediately with a three-run fourth inning however, which was highlighted by a two-run home run by Joey Crunkilton. The screaming line drive that just cleared the fence in right center proved to be the gamewinning hit. “Props to Crunkilton, and I threw him what I felt like was a good pitch and he smoked it out of the park,” Cooper said.

The two right-handers matched one another zero-for-zero over the final four innings, as the two offenses combined for just four hits the rest of the game.

MSUB had the leadoff man in both the sixth on a single by Max Hartgraves, and in the seventh when Myers was plunked.

The runner stayed at first each time however, as Walker wasn’t phased and retired the next three hitters in order.

MSUB brought the tying run to the plate again in the ninth after Myers’ two-out single, but Jay Leverett snagged a sharp ground ball up the middle off the bat of Tanner Watson and tossed to second just in time to end the game.

Walker surpassed former Wolves AJ Burke and Spenser Watkins, who each had nine strikeouts in a conference tournament game during the 2013 season. He did not walk a hitter, retired the first 11 hitters he faced into the fourth inning, and threw 106 pitches.

WOU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, when Garrett Anderson punched a two-out single up the middle to score Crunkilton. Forrest Garcia added the fourth and final game during WOU’s fourth-inning rally, as he lined a sacrifice fly into the right-center gap to plate Justin Wakem.

Cooper relied on his strikeout ability and defense to thwart a fifth-inning rally, as Connor McCord advanced to third with only one out. After his record-breaking strikeout, Cooper watched as Caje Golden made a long throw from the deep hole at shortstop on a backhanded pickup, to nab Nyles Nygaard by half a step and prevent another run from scoring.

“We have to bounce back tomorrow,” Sutton said. “With all the adversity we’ve faced this year, we have shown resiliency as a group.”

THE BUZZ: Cooper was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…the home run was the 11th of the year for Myers…Central Washington edged Northwest Nazarene 7-6 in the opening game of the day.

NEXT UP: The ‘Jackets face No. 3 seed Northwest Nazarene University in an elimination game starting at noon Pacific time on Thursday. Live video with play-by-play commentary and live statistics will be available online through GNAC.tv.

The winner will play again at 7 p.m. Thursday, against the loser of No. 1 WOU vs. No. 2 Central Washington.

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