Yellowjacket Baseball Travels to Saint Martin’s for Key GNAC Series

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team plays its final series on the road this weekend as it travels to Saint Martin’s for a key Great Northwest Athletic Conference series.  The Yellowjackets and the Saints are scheduled to play a doubleheader Friday at 1 p.m. Pacific time, followed by another doubleheader Saturday at 12 p.m.

The Yellowjackets enter the week with a 20-20 record overall and a 14-10 mark in the GNAC.  MSUB took three of four versus Central Washington this past week.  Saint Martin’s enters the series with a 17-24 record overall and a 10-13 record in conference play.  The Saints have dropped 13 of their last 17 games, including three of four this past weekend at league-leader Western Oregon.

Leading the way for the Yellowjackets this season is Nick Harris who has a team-best .374 batting average, which is good for second in the league.  He leads the team with 46 hits and 25 runs scored.  Harris is second in RBIs with 24 and second in home runs with three.  Second on the team in hitting is Stefan Malkuch at a .364 clip.  Malkuch leads the team with 25 RBI and has a team-best eight doubles on the year.  Joe Via and Chris Round lead the team with four home runs apiece.

As a team, the Yellowjackets are hitting .295 for the year.  MSUB has 374 hits on the year, including 90 extra-base hits (60 doubles, 11 triples and 19 home runs).  The 11 triples also leads the conference.  The team is slugging .404 for the year and has an on-base percentage of .376.  The ‘Jackets are 22 of 35 in stolen bases (.629).  MSUB has committed 68 errors on the year, leading to 59 unearned runs.

On the mound, the Yellowjackets are led by Steve Scott, Brian Howe, Archie Smith and Brian Strom.  The starting rotation has a combined record of 15-14.  Scott (4-4) leads the team with a 3.71 ERA in a team-high 10 starts.  He has four complete games in 60.2 innings of work.  Howe is second on the team in ERA with at a 4.27 clip.  He also is 4-4 on the year and leads the team with 38 strikeouts in nine starts.  Strom ha the best record on the team among starters at 4-3.

As a staff, the ‘Jackets have a 5.31 ERA with 10 complete games, one shutout and five saves.  The Yellowjackets have 182 strikeouts on the year and 129 walks.  Opponents are hitting .289 against them in 301.2 innings. 

Saint Martin’s is led by Travis Jones who leads the team with a .361 batting average.  Shane Schoeneberg leads the team in just about every other area, including hits (43), doubles (10), triples (3), home runs (6) and total bases (77).  He is third in RBIs with 20 and has committed just two errors in 126 chances this season for a .984 fielding percentage.

As a team, the Saints really have struggled from the plate as they have a .246 batting average which is the lowest in the league.  SMU has 327 hits on the year, with 80 extra-base hits, including 54 doubles, six triples and 20 home runs.  The team is slugging .341 and has on-base percentage of .347.  SMU has 82 errors on the year (.947 fielding percentage) leading to 67 unearned runs.

Reliever Jeff Brooks leads the team with a 5-2 record and carries a 3.44 ERA in a team-high 26 appearances.  Casey Mitchell leads the team with a 3.30 ERA and has a 2-2 record in 20 appearances with three starts and one complete game.  Thomas DeBoer leads the starters with a 4.04 ERA in seven starts.  He is 2-1 on the year.  James Douglas (2-7) leads the team in innings pitched with 60 and carries a 6.90 ERA in 10 starts.

As a staff, the Saints have a 5.30 ERA in 41 games and 343.1 innings.  Opponents are hitting .316 against the Saints and SMU has one complete game and six saves. The Saints have 157 strikeouts on the year and 111 walks.

SMU leads the all-time series 10-1, including winning three of four in Billings earlier this year.  The Saints won all seven meetings last year, including one neutral site matchup.  MSUB hit .352 against the Saints in the first series this season, but only could come away with one win.  The Yellowjackets committed 12 errors leading to 15 unearned runs in the series which was costly in the losses. 

The Yellowjackets then return home to host Bemidji State, May 2-3 and Western Oregon the following week (May 7-8) to close out the regular season.  May 2 is Alumni Day and May 3 is Senior Day.