Men's Sports

Women's Sports

Yellowjackets and Gosselin Pull Off Doubles

Game 1

Game 2

Photo Gallery

BILLINGS, Mont. -  The first double of the day came when Montana State Billings (19-5 GNAC, 28-10) swept Western Oregon (13-10 GNAC, 15-17) 2-1, 4-2 Friday afternoon.  Double number two came as Steph Gosselin hit two home runs on the day.  MSUB will close out the series, Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.

In game one, Western Oregon drew first blood.  In the third inning, Tyler Sutherland led off with a double to left center field.  Following a strikeout, Jessica Hallmark ripped a double to score Sutherland.

In the bottom of the third, Montana State Billings countered as Whitney Whittemore hit a double to dead center field.  Lisa Moore laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Whittemore to third.  Crystal Bentley then walloped a double over the left fielder’s head to score Whittemore.

In the sixth inning, the Wolves threatened as they had runners at first and second with one out.  The Yellowjackets got a sacrifice bunt and a pop up to end the inning.  In the bottom of the sixth, Gosselin jacked one over the left field fence to make it 2-1.  WOU was unable to get anything going in the seventh.

MSUB was held to just three hits in the game and gave up five in the first three innings.  The Wolves managed just two hits over the last four innings as defense and pitching shut them down.  Kasie Conder (10-3) gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two batters in two and two-third innings to gain the win.  She pushed her scoreless inning streak to 11 and 2/3rd innings.

In the nightcap, MSUB scored first in the second inning.  With two outs, Stevie Howard walked and stole second.  Bentley drew a walk to put two runners on.  Terina Stacks hit a grounder that deflected off the glove of the second baseman.  That error scored Howard and moved Bentley to third.  The Jackets pulled off the double steal with Bentley taking home and Stacks swiping second.

In the third inning, Jessica Wood walked and moved to second on a wild pitch.  Following a strikeout, Sutherland singled up the middle to move Wood to third.  Tierra-Lyn Cuba then struck out looking and Sutherland attempted to steal second.  Howard missed the throw and Sutherland ended up at third and Wood scored to make it 2-1.

In the fifth inning, Gosselin crushed another ball over the left field fence.  Lisa Moore came in to hit and singled through the left side.  Amanda Goings came in to run for Moore and scored on a double down the left field line by Leslie Davis.

Western Oregon did not go down without a fight in the seventh inning.  Kylee Hancock drove the ball over the left field fence to make it 4-2.  Following a strike out, Sasha Koki singled and Sutherland doubled up the middle to move Koki to third.  Cuba drew a walk to load the bases with one out.  MSUB got a fielder’s choice and a strikeout to preserve the win.

At the plate, Gosselin was two-for-three, scored a run and drove in a run while Davis had an RBI.  Moore (8-1) gave up five hits, two runs, one earned, walked six and struck out seven for the complete game win.

"It's difficult to lay off for 2 weeks offensively and come in and expect to put 10 or 12 hits on the board, " said head coach Anthony Stone. "That's when you look to your defense and pitching to keep you in the ball game. And that's exactly what we did. Our pitching was tremendous when we needed it to be along with some outstanding defensive play, particularly from our outfield. Our offense was small, but we made it count. We had a big double by Bentley to drive in Whitney to tie the game up and the bomb from Steph in the 6th, and that's all we needed. 3 hits, and they all made a huge impact. Both Bekah and Kasie, coming on in relief, kept a very tough Western Oregon team off balance."

In the second game, again, Lisa did a great job of keeping the game close and not allowing Western to do any serious damage," said Stone. "Our offense, although a little absent again, did enough to put a few more runs up and I think that allowed Lisa to pitch with a lot more confidence. Our toughness really came through in the 7th inning, when a solo home run plus a bases loaded jam could have brought Western back to tie it up. Lisa rose up to that challenge and made some great pitches to get the 2nd and 3rd outs of the inning resulting in the win. I think that last inning says a lot about how far we've come this year. We were protecting a 2-run lead with the bases loaded and only one out. We didn't panic. We remained calm and got the win. This is going to help us out in the next few weeks as we make our way toward the end of the year."