MSUB baseball Portland bound for GNAC series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Wednesday, April 26, 2017 MSUB baseball Portland bound for GNAC series

MSUB’s baseball team heads to Portland, Ore., for a four-game series against GNAC opponent Concordia University this weekend.

BILLINGS, Mont. – After playing four Great Northwest Athletic Conference games within a 24-hour period, the Montana State University Billings baseball team is on the road this week for another conference series against Concordia University.

Playing at the site of the upcoming 2017 GNAC Baseball Championships, the Yellowjackets will play their final road series of the regular season at Porter Park in Portland, Ore. Doubleheaders against the Cavaliers are scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. Mountain time, and Friday at 2 p.m. Mountain time, and live video and live statistics will be available online through MSUB’s Stretch Internet portal here.

With only eight more games on the regular-season calendar, MSUB is currently in fourth place in the GNAC standings at 17-25 overall and 15-17 in league play. MSUB is five games ahead of fifth-place Saint Martin’s in the win column, and the top-four teams in the final conference standings earn a berth into the GNAC Championships.

The Yellowjackets will host Central Washington University next weekend, and will head back to Portland the following week should they maintain their current top-four spot over the final two series. “This is a quick turnaround for us, and we are trying to get the bodies healthy,” said MSUB head coach Aaron Sutton. “We are just going to try and accomplish what we did this weekend, and play our style of baseball. We’ll have a good game plan going into it again, and hopefully we can come out of it with a series win as well.”

MSUB is coming off a 3-1 series win over Saint Martin’s University at home, recovering from a Game 1 loss and winning three in-a-row over the Saints last week at Dehler Park.

MERRITT SHINES AT PLATE: Senior Casey Merritt went 8-for-15 at the plate, and got on base in 11 of 19 plate appearances overall in the series against Saint Martin’s last week. Merritt had four doubles and a triple, as five of his eight hits went for extra bases. He scored five runs and drove in four, leading the team with 14 total bases. Merritt also drew three walks and laid down a sacrifice bunt, and was a perfect 2-for-2 in stolen bases. In left field, he made six catches without an error. The senior remained No. 2 in the GNAC in hits with 53 this season, and he now leads the league in triples with four and ranks fourth in stolen bases with 11.

In the scope of his career, Merritt moved to a tie for fifth place with 134 hits over his four seasons, matching the total of 2016 senior Kevin Toon.

Merritt also needs four more runs to move to No. 3 in MSUB history, and 11 more to become just the third Yellowjacket ever to reach 100 in a career.

MSUB Baseball Career Hits Leaders Rank Name Hits 1 Brody Miller 249 2 Matt Schoonover 213 3 Luke Reinschmidt 192 4 Colby Robison 168 5 Kevin Toon 134 Casey Merritt 134 7 Colter Sternhagen 131 Jeff Ridgeway 131 9 Kyle Durbin 111 10 Ausin Rue 105

Seasons 2012-15 2007-10 2014-16 2011-13 2014-16 2013-17 2013-16 2008-11 2015-16 2011-13 Senior Casey Merritt is tied for fifth-most hits in MSUB

DILLON LEADS POWER MOVEMENT: Clubbing the first two home runs history at 134. of his college career last week, sophomore Matt Dillon highlighted a series in which MSUB totaled eight home runs and 33 total runs scored in four games. Dillon’s blasts came in MSUB’s 18-5 win in Game 3, and he drove in a career-high five in the ballgame. The Billings native also caught three games in the series, and added a double, a walk, a steal, and four runs scored.

SHOCKLEY PERFORMS UNDER PRESSURE: Entering the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the second inning Sunday, reliever Tristan Shockley took care of business and got out of the jam to keep MSUB’s deficit at a manageable 3-2. He went on to pitch 5 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, striking out three and walking none while giving up just four hits in sealing a 7-3, series-clinching win for the ‘Jackets. It was Shockley’s longest stint of the year, and his fourth appearance in which he did not surrender a run.

STEEN’S START EARNS A WIN: Though the Yellowjackets won comfortably 18-5 in Game 3, they led just 5-4 when sophomore Steen Fredrickson exited after five strong innings. The bats came alive with 13 runs the rest of the way, backing Fredrickson’s career-high seven strikeouts and 91 pitches on the mound. MSUB has won two of Fredrickson’s three starts this season, and he leads the team in appearances with 11 more out of the bullpen as well.

GARCIA AN RBI MACHINE: With at least one RBI in each of his last six games, and at least one in 12 of his last 13 games overall, sophomore rightfielder Jalen Garcia has been steady in the third spot in MSUB’s lineup. He hit his third home run of the year last week, and maintained his lofty batting average at .327 with a team-third best 23 RBIs on the year. Garcia is also tied for third on the team with nine doubles.

Sophomore Steen Fredrickson had a career-high seven strikeouts in his last outing against Saint Martin’s.

COX FINDS GROOVE: Junior Adam Cox broke out of a slump with a four-hit performance in Game 3 of the series, which included three of the four legs of the cycle. Cox hit his second home run of the year and the 11th of his career, while adding two doubles, two RBIs, and two runs scored in the four games overall. Cox also nudged his batting average north of .300, as he sits at .305 going into this weekend. “It was definitely good to come back after that first loss, which was tough,” Cox commented on MSUB winning the final three games against the Saints last weekend. “It was great coming out and feeling like myself again, and being able to contribute.”

MYERS MASHES: Multiple deep flyouts at the wall prevented junior slugger Ryan Myers from a handful of home runs last week, but he settled for a big one in MSUB’s 7-3, series-clinching win in the finale. With MSUB trailing 3-2 in the third inning, Myers gave the ‘Jackets the lead for good with a two-run blast over the fence in right-center. The drive helped Myers keep pace with the GNAC power leaders, as he stayed in third with nine long balls on the year and fourth with a team-best 31 RBIs. PURE GOLD(EN): Nearly matching Myers in the power department is freshman shortstop Caje Golden, who hit a pair of home runs in the SMU series and now ranks second on the team with eight in his first year with the ‘Jackets. Golden also had a pair of doubles and is fourth on the team with a .510 slugging percentage. Since March 31, Golden has raised his batting average 66 points, hitting .295 (13-for-44) over the last month of games.

HARTGRAVES HEATS UP: Like Golden, freshman second baseman Max Hartgraves has found himself in an upward trend hitting wise over the last several weeks. Hartgraves has added 31 points to his batting average in the last two series, with hits in all but one game and a mark of .333 overall in that span (9-for-27). Defensively, he played error-free defense against SMU, handling 17 chances up the middle.

ROBINSON SETS THE TABLE: Leadoff man Zach Robinson extended his modest hitting streak to seven games, with knocks in all four games against SMU last week. His tally included four doubles, as he now leads the team with 13 on the season.

Robinson continues to rank among conference leaders with a .447 on-base percentage to sit third. He is also on the verge of MSUB’s single-season steals record, with 15 so far to rank No. 2 in the GNAC. Robinson needs just two more steals to tie the MSUB single-season record of 17 held by Kyle Pryor (2007), and three more to set a new base-stealing standard for the ‘Jackets.

MSUB Baseball Single-Season Steals Leaders Rank Name SB Season 1 Kyle Pryor 17 2007 2 Kyle Pryor 16 2006 3 Colby Robison 15 2012 Willie Crtalic 15 2006 Zach Robinson 15 2017 6 Nick Hoskyn 14 2007 7 Cole Pryor 13 2008 8 Colby Robison 12 2011 9 Luke Reinschmidt 11 2015 Luke Reinschmidt 11 2016 Luke Sansaver 11 2006 Willie Crtalic 11 2007 Casey Merritt 11 2017 Senior Zach Robinson needs three more steals to break the MSUB single-season record of 17.

WINSLOW RETURNS TO HILL: Pitching for the first time in nearly a full month, sophomore Jared Winslow posted two shutout innings in relief during MSUB’s 6-2 Game 2 victory. Winslow had one strikeout, while walking one and giving up just two hits and throwing 34 pitches.

COOPER Ks 5 MORE: Cody Cooper ate up six innings in his start last week, and struck out five Saints to up his career total to 217. He needs seven more to move to No. 5 in GNAC history, and 15 more to match the MSUB career record of 232 held by 2015 graduate Brady Muller.

Concordia University Cavaliers Thursday, April 27 – 5 PM MTN – 9-Inning/7-Inning Doubleheader Friday, April 28 – 2 PM MTN – 9-Inning/7-Inning Doubleheader 2017 Record: 11-31, 9-23 GNAC (6th Place) Head Coach: Rob Vance, 18th Season 2016 Record: 15-35, 13-27 GNAC (5th Place) Last Meeting: MSUB 3, CU 1 (March 18-19 at Billings) | CU 11, MSUB 6 | MSUB 10, CU 4 | MSUB 6, CU 3 | MSUB 5, CU 4

The Cavaliers split a four-game series with GNAC-leading Western Oregon University last week, taking the first two contests before falling twice to close the set.

CU has won three of its last five games overall, and is preparing for its final home series of the regular season this weekend against the ‘Jackets.

After missing all but two games in March, Thomas Martin has returned and is the team’s leading hitter at .333 in 42 atbats this season. Cole Crosby is another top batting average man for the ‘Cavs, hitting at .299 with six doubles and 15 RBIs while getting on base at .400.

Mitch Bevaqua leads the team with 18 RBIs, and Tanner Williams’ three home runs are tops on the squad. Offensively, CU averages 3.9 runs per game and is batting .246.

On the mound, Scott Schepige, Tyler Charlton, and Jake Brewer have been the top regular starters, with seven, eight, and 11 starts respectively. Gerhett Moser has emerged as a solid arm as well, recently making five starts and holding a 4.85 ERA in 26 innings.

Brewer is the staff’s strikeout leader with 53 in 71 1/3 innings pitched, and James Brooks is the top man out of the bullpen with a 4.65 ERA in 13 relief appearances.

CU has a staff ERA of 6.47 overall, and has 195 strikeouts against 163 walks in 335 1/3 innings pitched.

The Series: MSUB is 9-6 all-time against the ‘Cavs, and has won six of the last seven games between the two dating back to last year.

Last Time Out: Cox, Merritt, and Kade Hall each had six hits in the last series between the teams, and a walk-off base hit

by Andrew Schleusner in the bottom of the seventh in the finale secured the series win for the ‘Jackets.

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