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Jackets Split Twinbill in Home Opener
(4/13/07)
Game
1 Box Score
Game
2 Box Score
Game
Photos
Coach Brown post game audio
BILLINGS, MT – Following three
weeks of idleness, the Montana State-Billings baseball team
split wins Friday with Heartland Conference opponent Lincoln
University to open the season at home. The Jackets hit the gap
consistently in the first game to win 8-5, but a determined
Lincoln team rebounded to win 4-1 in the late game. The
Yellowjackets are 17-15 overall and 10-12 in conference play.
The Blue Tigers improved to 12-29 and 8-18 in the league.
The Yellowjackets came up
empty-handed in the first inning while the Blue Tigers used two
unearned runs to take the 2-0 lead. In the top of the second,
Yellowjacket pitcher
Kyle
McBride (Billings, MT) left a Blue Tiger stranded on base
setting up MSUB for a big inning.
Seth Moir
(Cody, WY) opened up with a stand-up double to center field. A
sacrifice bunt by
Jordan
Shine (Great Falls, MT) advanced
Willie
Crtalic (Billings, MT) and Moir one base.
Pat
Smith’s (Flagstaff, AZ) single loaded the
 bases
setting up
Matt
Schoonover (Great Falls, MT) to poke a double for three
RBI. Before the Tigers put an end to the Jackets’ free-for-all
Kyle Pryor
(Billings, MT) dinked a double of his own, driving in Schoonover
for the 4-2 lead.
Lincoln kept the game
interesting using a three-run fourth inning to pull ahead by one
run. David Atkins’ sac fly brought Daniel Struemph across the
plate and a single by Mitch Rodgers through the left side scored
Tyrell Roseburrow and Mike Overman.
Schoonover turned Friday the
13th into a stellar day at the plate knocking a solo
home run to score the Jackets’ lone run of the fourth inning.
McBride shut the Tigers down in the fifth and sixth innings
while the Jackets went into cruise control scoring three
insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Doug
Longellow (Lewistown, MT) drilled his second triple of the
season off the right field fence to plate Pryor and Smith.
Jake
Samuelson (Helena, MT) singled up the middle scoring
Longfellow before the inning ended.
Closer
Mike Cease
(Deer Lodge, MT) stepped in for the Jackets in the final
inning. One wild pitch, two strikeouts, and a fly out to right
field sealed the conference win for MSUB.
Pryor went 3-for-3 with one
run, one RBI, and a double. Schoonover had a near perfect game
going 2-for-3 scoring two runs, four RBIs, a double, and one
home run. McBride picked up the win on the mound to improve to
2-3. McBride allowed five runs off eight hits and struck out
two. Cease threw to his sixth save of the season to keep him
atop the Heartland Conference standings.
Adam Patch took the loss for
the Blue Tigers allowing seven runs off nine hits in 5 1/3
innings of work. Struemph led the Tigers going 3-for-4 with a
run and one RBI.
Game two proved to be a
defensive struggle with the first run of the game coming in the
bottom of the fifth inning. The run came at the hand of
Schoonover who hit his second home run of the day.
In the top of the sixth, the
Yellowjackets stumbled allowing the Blue Tigers to plate four
runners. A long single by Troy Malesky advanced Phil Widel to
third after being walked to open the inning. The Tigers’ Mitch
Lickey singled up the center and advanced to second on the
throw. Malesky moved to third and Widel scored. Atkins drove
in two RBI on a single to right field.
Casey
Miller (Miles City, MT) stepped in to relieve
Brian Strom
(Littleton, CO) with the bases loaded. Miller threw a wild
pitch to give the Tigers one more run before finally stopping
the bleeding. That would prove to be enough as neither team
scored in the final inning.
Schoonover went 1-for-3
scoring the Jackets’ lone run. Strom took the loss to fall to
4-3 allowing four runs, all earned, in 5 2/3 innings. He struck
out three with the effort.
Ben Neuner earned the win for
the Blue Tigers scattering just three hits in pitching the
complete game. Neuner seated three Yellowjacket batters.
Atkins went 1-for-1 in the game scoring one run and two RBI.
The Yellowjackets and Blue
Tigers square off again on Saturday, April 14 for a Heartland
Conference doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 2:00 p.m. at
Cobb Field. The Jackets will have no rest before hosting the
Jamestown Jimmies for a four-game series April 15 and 16.
Sunday’s game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. with Monday’s first
pitch set for noon. |
