Baseball Travels to California and Begins Conference Play at Saint Martin’s

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team completes its 14-game opening road trip at Cal State Monterey Bay, versus Sonoma State and at Saint Martin’s to begin Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

The Yellowjackets come off a doubleheader split yesterday at Dixie State for their first win of the season.  MSUB (1-7) used a solid pitching performance from senior Archie Smith as he went the distance, allowing one run and one hit in a 2-1 victory over the Red Storm.  Smith was named GNAC Pitcher of the Week for his efforts in that game and in the season opener last week at Grand Canyon.  For the season he is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA.  He has allowed seven hits, two earned runs, five walks and has fanned eight in 12 innings. 

Offensively, the Yellowjackets are led by Ty Sobieraj and Matt Schoonover who lead the team with seven hits each and a .304 average.  Jordan Kessler leads the team in average at .500 in four games.  Kessler is second on the team in RBI with four, while Jaret Chatwood (.353) leads the team with five RBI.

Kevin Zukaitis and Sobieraj each have one home run on the year.

As a team, the Yellowjackets are hitting .292 on the year with 64 hits and 11 extra-base hits.  The Jackets have 24 RBI and 79 total bases and are slugging .361 on the year.  MSUB is 2 for 3 in stolen bases and has a .945 fielding percentage going 206 of 218 attempts with 12 errors.

As a staff, Smith leads the way with two starts and one complete game.  Ryan Pollock (0-1) has a 4.50 ERA in six innings and one start.  He has five strikeouts on the year which is good for second on the team.  As a team, the Jackets have a 10.08 ERA and opponents are hitting .329.  MSUB has allowed 70 hits, with 71 runs and 56 earned.

Cal State Monterey Bay enters the week with a 2-15 record overall and a 1-11 record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.  The Otters are led by Jacob Flores who is hitting .406 on the year with a team-high 26 hits, five doubles, three home runs and 40 total bases.  Brent Sargenti is second on the team in average at a .367 clip.  He leads the team with 16 RBI.

As a team, the Otters are hitting .268 on the year with 145 hits and 37 extra base hits.  The team is slugging .362 and has an on-base percentage of .343.  CSUMB is 12 of 16 in stolen bases with a .948 fielding percentage and 31 errors.
On the bump, the Otters are led by Scott Tully who has a 5.03 ERA with a 1-2 record in 19.2 innings of work.  He is second on the team in strikeouts with 14.  Justin Aguilera has a 1-3 record on the year with a 5.48 in 23 innings. He leads the team with 18 strikeouts.

As a staff, the Otters have an 8.93 ERA in 136 innings.  They have allowed 161 runs and 135 earned, with 98 walks and 93 strikeouts as teams are hitting .349 against them.

Sonoma State enters the week with a 7-6 record overall and a 1-3 mark in the CCAA.  Max Shupe leads the team with a .439 average.  He is second on the team in hits with 18 and leads the team with five doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI.  Shupe is slugging a team-best .854 on the year.  Kyle Jones (.396) leads the team with 19 hits and has three doubles and two home runs. 

Nine Seawolves are hitting .300 or better for the year as the team is hitting .305.  They have 135 hits, with 46 extra-base hits, including 27 doubles, two triples and 17 home runs.  The team in slugging .491 on the year and has an on-base percentage of .410.  Sonoma State has just 10 errors on the year for a .978 fielding percentage leading to just eight unearned runs.

On the mound, the Seawolves are led by Scott Alexander who has a 3.21 ERA in four starts and 14 innings.  He is second on the team in strikeouts with 13 as opponents are hitting just .212 against him.  Brian Bordagaray leads the team with a 2-0 record and boasts a 3.86 ERA in seven relief innigs of work.  Jarrod Dumont (0-1, 3.75 ERA) leads the team with 15 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched.

As a staff the Seawolves have a 5.62 ERA in 104 innings.  They have allowed 109 hits, with 73 runs and 65 earned. The staff has allowed 49 walks and has fanned 90 as teams are hitting .272 against it. 

The Yellowjackets are scheduled to play two nine-inning games against CSUB and Sonoma State Wednesday beginning at 11 a.m. local time in Seaside, Calif.  MSUB then opens conference play at Saint Martin’s Saturday in Lacey, Wash., at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader, followed by a doubleheader against the Saints on Sunday at 12 p.m.

The Saints enter the week with a 3-9 record overall and have dropped three of their last four.  Leading the way for SMU this season is Travis Jones who leads the team with a .390 average.  He also leads the squad with 16 hits.  Two-time GNAC Player of the Week, Aaron Johnson, is second in average at .375 and leads the team with six doubles and four home runs to go along with 16 RBI.  Johnson leads the team with 33 total bases and an .825 slugging percentage. 

As a team the Saints are hitting .282 on the year with 114 hits and 26 extra-base hits highlighted by five round-trippers and one triple.  The team is slugging .374 on the year and has an on-base percentage of .398.   SMU has committed 17 errors on the year, leading to 16 unearned runs.

On the mound, Michael McIver leads the team with a 4.09 ERA in four starts.  He has two complete games in 22 innings of work.  He is third on the team in strikeouts with eight and has surrendered just one walk.  Thomas DeBoer is second on the team in ERA at a 4.22 clip.  He leads the team with a 2-1 record in 21.1 innings, while Casey Mitchell leads the team with 10 strikeouts on the year.

The Yellowjackets really have struggled with Saint Martin’s since MSUB joined the GNAC.  SMU owns a 13-2 record all-time, including a 7-1 record in Lacey.  SMU won the first eight in the series and 13 of 14, before the Yellowjackets won the season finale, 8-3 in Lacey on Apr. 25, 2009.