BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team opened the 2011 home season with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Minot State Wednesday afternoon at Dehler Park.  The Jackets tallied three runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings in a 7-6 win in the opener, and won the nightcap 4-2. 

“It was a great way to start the home season,” MSUB head coach Rob Bishop said.  “I'm glad with how our guys battled back in the first game and how we pitched today as a whole.  Jordan (Kessler) came up big with the game tying hit in the bottom of the seventh and had the game winning at bat in the ninth.”

The Yellowjackets improved to 14-13 overall with the wins, while the Beavers fell to 7-14.  Minot State is transitioning from NAIA to Division II and will join the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2012-2013. 

Sophomore Colby Robison led the way for the Jackets Wednesday as he returned to his early season form going 4 for 7 with two runs scored, two doubles, one triple and four RBI as he hit .571 for the doubleheader.  Robison came into the game in a bit of a slump hitting just 5 for his last 29.  Senior Jordan Kessler hit .429 as he was 3 for 7 with three RBI.

The Yellowjacket staff dominated the Beavers as they held Minot State to a .186 average for the doubleheader, allowing just 11 hits in 59 at bats.  MSUB hit .285 on 15 of 53. 

Minot State jumped on the board in the fourth inning of the opener as it plated three runs on three hits.  The Beavers used a lead-off single, followed by a sacrifice bunt and a walk setting up Caleb Heilman, who doubled off the wall in left scoring the first run off Yellowjacket junior starter Kyle Gieselman.  Moments later, Mitch Olson just missed a two run blast to dead center as he hit just under the tape above the 410 mark for a two run double and a 3-0 lead.

MSUB came right back in the bottom of the frame as senior Jeff Ridgeway singled through the left side moving junior Riley Rosvold to third.  Robison singled home Rosvold, while Kessler later singled home Robison for a 3-2 deficit.

The Jackets then tied the game in the fifth helped out by a passed ball scoring sophomore Austin Rue for a 3-3 score.

Minot State plated two more runs in the sixth on a fielder's choice RBI and a single for a 5-3 lead.  The Beavers added another run in the seventh courtesy of a Yellowjacket miscue for a 6-3 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rue started things off with a walk, followed by a RBI single from freshman Dillon Ness.  The Jackets were down to their final out when Robison legged out a triple, his team-leading fourth of the year, for the second score of the inning.  Kessler then singled home the tying run.

Neither team did anything in the eighth setting up the Jackets to win it in come-back fashion in the ninth as they loaded the bases with nobody out.  Ness led off the inning with a double to right, followed by two walks.  Kessler reached on a fielder's choice as Ness scored on a fielding error for the winning run.

Gieselman went four innings allowing four hits, three earned runs, one walk and he fanned four in the no decision.  Senior Brian Howe (1-0) earned his first win of the season as he pitched the ninth.  Clay Kallias (0-2) took the loss in the ninth. 

MSUB plated four runs in the first three innings of the nightcap as Robison doubled home a run in the first, followed by a score on a wild pitch in the second.  Robison hit another RBI double in the third and a sacrifice fly by Kessler for a 4-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Beavers scored two runs on a Nolan Jago pinch-hit, two RBI single for a 4-2 score.

Yellowjacket junior pitcher, Brian Hutchings, didn't allow a hit through the first three innings and surrendered just three during his six innings of work.  Hutchings allowed two earned runs, walked two and struck out one as he improved to 3-2 on the year.

Howe pitched the seventh inning and earned his team-high fifth save of the season.

The Yellowjackets host league-leading Saint Martin's in a key, four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. at Dehler Park.