Yellowjackets Take Twinbill from Central Washington; Return to .500

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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team swept a doubleheader Sunday afternoon from visiting Central Washington, 9-3 and 11-9.  With the victories, the Yellowjackets returned to .500 for the year at 19-19 and 13-9 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  The two teams will play the final doubleheader in the series tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Dehler Park.

The Yellowjackets opened the scoring in the second inning as Jeff Ridgeway put down a nice sacrifice bunt to move Levi Johnson into scoring position.  Chris Round reached on the first of four Wildcat miscues, scoring Johnson for a 1-0 lead.

Central Washington (12-26, 8-14) tied the game at one in the third as Kevin Walkenhauer singled up the middle for the first Wildcat to reach base as MSUB hurler, Brian Howe, retired the first seven batters he faced.  Howe walked the next batter and A.J. Gosney singled to right for a 1-1 score.  Howe and the Yellowjacket defense got out of the jam as Richey McKinney grounded into an inning-ending 643 double play.

Daniel Myers doubled to center to open the CWU half of the fifth, followed by a hit batsman and an error on a sacrifice bunt, scoring Myers.  Gosney drove home his second run of the game as he put down a sacrifice bunt for a 3-1 lead.  Howe got out of the inning as he picked off Jordan Slesk at second and got a fly out. 

The Yellowjacket bats came alive in the fifth as another error by CWU proved costly.  MSUB loaded the bases and Johnson belted a bases-clearing, three run double to right for a 4-3 lead.  Ridgeway then singled up the middle scoring Johnson for a 5-3 advantage.

Two more errors in the sixth plated two more runs for the ‘Jackets and two runs in the seventh on a Cole Pryor triple to right pushed the lead to 9-3.

For the game, Howe (4-4) went seven innings, scattering five hits, three runs – two earned, three walks and three strikeouts.  Cody Clark pitched the final two innings in relief, allowing two hits and fanning one.  Derek Shoemaker (5-5) took the loss for CWU going 5.2 innings, allowing six hits, seven runs – four earned, six walks and he struck out seven.

Offensively, the Yellowjackets were led by Ridgeway and Pryor who both went 2 for 3.  Johnson led the way with three RBI and Pryor had two.

The nightcap picked up offensively where the opener left off for the Yellowajckets as Nick Harris belted a three run home run in the bottom of the first.  Pryor began the game with his second triple of the day. 

CWU got on the board in the second on a RBI double by Jake Millbauer for a 3-1 score.  A Ridgeway double and Harris reaching on an error pushed the lead to 4-1 in favor of the Yellowjackets in the bottom half of the inning. 

The big inning for MSUB was the third as it plated five runs on five hits, highlighted by a two RBI double by Pryor and a three run blast by Andrew Hernandez for a 9-1 lead. The Yellowjackets added two more runs in the fifth on a RBI ground out and a RBI single by Harris for an 11-1 lead.

CWU’s bats came alive in the sixth as it scored eight runs on seven hits as Millbauer hit a two RBI double, as did Frank Donangelo.  The Wildcats capped the frame with back-to-back home runs by Andrew Snowdon and Michael Johnson for an 11-9 score.

The Wildcats got the tying run to the plate in the seventh as McKinney began the inning with a single through the left side, but Yellowjacket reliever, Jeff Bjorklund, was able to get a fielder’s choice followed by a ground out and a strikeout to end the game.

Yellowjacket hurler, Brian Strom (4-3), went 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits, six runs – five earned, three walks and one strikeout.  Ridgeway led the team in hits offensively going 3 for 4, while Harris was 2 for 4 with four RBI and Hernandez was 1 for 2 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Robbie Grimm (0-3) takes the loss in 2.2 innings as he allowed nine hits, nine runs – eight earned, one walk and two striekouts.  Anthony Sanelli went 3 for 3 to lead the way, while Millbauer was 2 for 4 with three RBI.

MSUB ensured itself of its second winning series versus a conference opponent for the year.  The Yellowjackets took seven of eight games from Northwest Nazarene and lead the series with Central Washington 5-1 with two games tomorrow.