April 26, 2008          
                                                                  

Jackets Salvage Split with NNU

     Game One
     Game Two 

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team earned a hard-fought split with Northwest Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Pirtz Field.  NNU won the opener 12-8, while MSUB took the nightcap 8-5.  The Yellowjackets improve to 12-32 overall and 3-19 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  With the victory, the Jackets snap a nine-game skid.

The Crusaders plated a run in the top of the first on three singles, but poor base running led to double play as the Jackets turned the 92456 twin-killing.  NNU added another run in the second with a RBI single up the middle by Cole Smith for a 2-0 score.  A double steal plated the third run of the game for the Crusaders.  NNU added another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead.

The Jackets got on the board in the fourth on a leadoff double by Matt Schoonover, followed by an error to plate Schoonover.  MSUB loaded the bases, but were unable to get any more runs in the frame.

Seven runs were scored by the Yellowjackets in the bottom of the fifth highlighted by back-to-back home runs as Tyler Nelson belted a grand slam and Jeff Ridgeway followed with a solo shot.  NNU committed three errors in the inning which led to five unearned runs as MSUB took an 8-4 lead.

The Crusaders scored a run on a bases loaded error in the sixth and could have had more, but the Jacket defense came up with a nice throw from Ridgeway in left to Nick Rupert to catcher Steve Larson gunning down a possible second run at the plate to end the inning with an 8-5 score.

NNU plated five runs in the seventh, including a solo home run followed by a two RBI single and helped by a Yellowjacket error for a 10-8 score.  In the eighth, the Crusaders added two runs on a Ryan Bailey home run for a 12-8 lead and went on for the win.

The Jackets scored first in the nightcap with a solo home run in the bottom of the second by Stefan Malkuch for a 1-0 lead.

After two nice bunts to begin the bottom of the third inning, the Jackets plated another run on a RBI single up the middle by Schlender for a 2-0 lead. 

The Jackets blew the game open in the sixth as they plated six runs, highlighted by the second grand slam of the day.  This time, Joe Via blasted the round-tripper to right field to give the Jackets an 8-0 lead.

The Crusaders made things interesting in the top of the seventh as they scored five runs and were helped out by one Yellowjacket error.  A RBI single, a two RBI double, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly scored the runs.

Brian Howe (2-2) had a masterful performance as he went six and two-thirds allowing eight hits, five runs – four earned, three walks and seven strikeouts.  Schlender and Malkuch led the team with two hits each.

The Yellowjackets will continue at home next Saturday against Central Washington in the final home series of the season.