Yellowjacket baseball begins GNAC title defense in season-opener Friday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, February 11, 2016 Yellowjacket baseball begins GNAC title defense in season-opener Friday

The reigning GNAC champion MSUB baseball team opens its 2016 campaign on Friday, with five games in St. George, Utah on tap this weekend.

ST. GEORGE, Utah – The 2016 season starts on Friday for the reigning Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball champion Montana State University Billings, as the Yellowjackets are at Dixie State University this weekend for five games against two different opponents.

The Yellowjackets will play Holy Names University at 3:30 p.m. on Friday before a 7 p.m. night game against Dixie State University. The ‘Jackets will play a single neutral site game on Saturday against Holy Names at 3:30 p.m., before another doubleheader against HNU and DSU on Sunday at noon and 3:30 p.m. Select games throughout the series will feature live statistics. Friday’s game against Holy Names will take place at Dixie High School, with the Yellowjackets other four games this weekend being played at Bruce Hurst Field.

This weekend marks the first of nine nonconference games on MSUB’s schedule this season, as the ‘Jackets will head to Denver, Colo., next week for a four-game series at Metro State University. After that, the Yellowjackets will begin their 40-game GNAC schedule, with plans to defend last year’s regular season title which came down to the final day of the

season. As in years past, the regular-season champion this year will earn hosting privileges for the 2016 GNAC Baseball Championships, which were housed at Dehler Park in Billings last May. MSUB, which finished last year at 27-23 overall and 22-10 in league play, will play its first 17 games of the year on the road before opening at home against Concordia University (Ore.) on March 19 at Dehler Park. All home games this season will feature live video with commentary and statistics available through MSUB’s Stretch Internet portal here.

Select road games will feature live video and statistics throughout the season.

To view the full MSUB baseball 2016 season preview report, follow this link.

THIS WEEKEND at Bruce Hurst Field in St. George, Utah Holy Names University Hawks Friday, 3:30 PM (at Dixie High School) Saturday, 3:30 PM Sunday, 12 PM – Live Stats Available Here 2016 Record: 1-4 Head Coach: Esteban Contreras, 2nd season The Hawks opened their 2016 season on Jan. 29 with a doubleheader loss at Cal State Monterey Bay. HNU played a three-game series against San Francisco State last weekend, winning the middle game for its first victory of the season.

Fellow GNAC team Northwest Nazarene awaits HNU as its first opponent in this weekend’s series, as the Hawks and Crusaders will square off at noon on Friday before the 3:30 p.m. game against the Yellowjackets.

Seniors Trent Carrier and Chris Gnos each homered in the first series of the year for the Hawks, with the latter driving in four runs in his first five games of the season. Dusty Zeisler and Matthew Smith each stole three bases last week, as the Hawks will rely heavily on their core of seniors for leadership this season.

Doubling as a pitcher, Carrier tossed 9 2/3 innings in two appearances over the first two weeks of the year.

The Hawks finished in seventh place in the PacWest conference standings last season, completing the year with a record of 22-28 overall and 12-20 in league play.

The Series: Friday’s game will mark the first-ever meeting between MSUB and Holy Names.

Dixie State University Red Storm Friday, 7 PM - Live Stats Available Here Sunday, 3:30 PM - Live Stats Available Here 2016 Record: 4-0 Head Coach: Chris Pfatenhauer, 4th season Friday’s matinee game will feature a matchup of reigning conference champions, as the Red Storm rolled to a 24-8 record in PacWest Conference play last year to capture their second straight crown.

DSU picked up right where it left off last season, sweeping Cal State San Bernardino in a four-game series to open the 2016 last weekend.

The Red Storm out-scored the Coyotes 37-9 in the four games last week, with eight different players driving in multiple runs. Trey Kamachi and Samuel Hall each had home runs and combined to knock in 11 runs in the four-game set last week.

Reigning PacWest Newcomer of the Year and second-team National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association all-west region shortstop Tanner Morache picked up eight hits and stole a pair of bases, while handling all 25 of his chances without an error against CSUSB. Hall, who has transitioned from pitching last season into a catcher/first-baseman role this year, matched Morache with a team-high eight hits last week and racked up a dozen total bases.

On the mound, DSU utilized 11 different arms, seven of which threw at least one full inning and did not allow a run.

Dylan File struck out eight batters in five innings, while Chance Abrath fanned seven in his start over five innings. Sean Hardman and Jeremy Alderman each earned a save out of the bullpen for DSU, which held the Coyotes to a .168 batting average last week.

The Red Storm will play Northwest Nazarene on Friday at 3:30 p.m. before the night game against the Yellowjackets.

The Series: MSUB is 3-16 all-time against the Red Storm, with all 19 meetings coming on the road in Utah. The Red Storm has won 11 of the last 12 meetings dating back to the 2012 season.

Last Time Out: DSU swept MSUB last year in a three-game set in Utah, out-scoring the ‘Jackets 19-7 in the nonconference games. Kyle Durbin went 4-for-12 with two RBIs and Kevin Toon hit 4-for-6 and drove in one in the series.

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