BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings baseball team opened their Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule this past weekend with a four-game series against the Saints of Saint Martin's University, and this weekend they will continue deeper into their conference slate with a four-game series against the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene University now on Saturday, March 17 and Monday, March 19.
 
The Yellowjackets (4-8, 1-3 GNAC) went 1-3 against the Saints of Saint Martin's last weekend in Lacey, Wash. falling 9-8, 9-7 and 4-3 in 10 innings before optaining a 7-4 victory in the series finale. MSUB was leading all three losses until the very end and the Yellowjackets managed to out-hit the Saints 42-34 over the series with several players stepping up in each game when called upon to perform.
 
Freshman Ty Gilmore, who is one of just two players to start all 12 games for MSUB, is one of the younger players on the Yellowjackets' roster who has stepped up when called upon to fill some big shoes. Gilmore has slid into the shortstop position after star-player Colby Robison went down with an injury and currently boasts a .429 batting average in 42 trips to the plate. Gilmore also boasts team-highs in hits (18), runs scored (10), doubles (3), total bases (21), slugging percentage (.500) and on-base percentage (.529).
 
Senior Matt Comer is second on the squad in batting average (.313) while Brody Miller, the only other Yellowjacket to start all 12 contests, has made a team-high 44 trips to the plate. Trevor Wilson leads all players with two home runs this season as well as nine RBI.
 
Bobby Ragasa currently leads the Yellowjackets' pitching staff with a 3.00 earned run average. The junior right-hander has made a team-high four appearances but MSUB has turned to leftie Brady Muller to carry the biggest load with 19.1 innings pitched for a 4.19 ERA. Muller is also second on the squad with 13 strikeouts.
 
Head skipper Rob Bishop and staff will now turn their attention to this weekend's series with the Crusaders who enter the weekend 11-9 overall and 0-4 in the league. NNU is also 4-2 at home this season.
 
The Crusaders are currently led at the plate by Charlie Gorzo, Kaleb DeHass and Sean McDonald. Gorzo, who has started 17 of the 18 contests he has appeared in, leads the team with a .370 batting average, a slugging percentage of .704 and an on-base percentage of .507. In 54 trips to the plate, he has recorded four home runs which has him second to Zach Steele on the team.
 
DeHass and McDonald feature .359 and .349 batting averages while Steele, who brings a .313 average to the dish, leads the team in home runs and RBI (17).
 
On the mound, Patrick Patterson boasts the lowest ERA for NNU with a 1.94 in 28.1 innings of work and six appearances. Behind Patterson, Zeb Sneed has fanned 32 batters this season which is a team-high while Aaron Vaugh has made the most appearances with 11.
 
Due to the threat of inclement weather, the series has been moved back from its original starting day of Friday. The four-game series will now commence on Saturday and will then be completed on Monday. Action will get started at 12 p.m. on Saturday with Monday's first pitch now scheduled to be thrown out at 11 a.m.