BILLINGS, Mont. – The field is set for the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championships, with regular-season co-champion Montana State University Billings set to play Western Oregon University at noon Thursday and host Northwest Nazarene University at 7 p.m. Thursday in Nampa, Idaho.
 
The Yellowjackets finished their regular season by winning 11 of their final 12 games, and enter the tournament on a six-game winning streak. Live video with play-by-play commentary, and live statistics will be available for all tournament games via GNAC.tv here.
 
"I don't think there's a favorite coming into this tournament, as we are all within a game and have beaten each other," commented MSUB head coach Rob Bishop on the tournament field. "It's going to come down to who brings their A-game this weekend."

Last week, MSUB swept Saint Martin's University in four games at Dehler Park to clinch a second-straight regular-season championship title.
 
TOURNEY TALK: The round-robin, double-elimination tournament will conclude Friday with the championship game scheduled for 1 p.m. Co-champion NNU (28-20, 23-15 GNAC) will host the tournament at Elmore Vail Baseball Field, by virtue of holding the tiebreaker over MSUB (29-18, 23-15 GNAC), the No. 2 seed. Western Oregon (29-21, 24-16 GNAC), last year's GNAC champion, enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed.
 
Schedule
Thursday, May 12 – Noon: #3 WOU vs. #2 MSUB. 3:30 PM: #3 WOU vs. #1 NNU. 7 PM: #2 MSUB vs. #1 NNU.
Note: If all three teams finish Day 1 with 1-1 records, the No. 1 seed will automatically advance to Friday's championship game.
Friday, May 13 – 1 PM: 2-0 team vs. 1-1 team (deciding game to follow 30 minutes later, if necessary)
OR
Friday, May 13 – 1 PM: #3 WOU vs. #2 MSUB. 4:30 PM: Game 1 Winner vs. #1 NNU (Championship Game)
 
History
Western Oregon won the 2013 and 2015 GNAC Championships tournaments, and Central Washington won the title in 2014. This is the second straight year MSUB, NNU, and WOU will comprise the field of participating teams.
 
KYLE A CUT ABOVE THE REST: Through the conclusion of the regular season, senior third baseman Kyle Durbin leads the GNAC in batting average (.387) and on-base percentage (.487). The senior's big weekend against the Saints earned him his second career GNAC Player of the Week honor, and was highlighted by his second five-hit game of the year, in which he homered, doubled, and drove in five runs.
 
Also playing stellar defense at third base, Durbin has made just two errors in his last 14 games and 32 chances at the hot corner. "This year there is definitely some unfinished business that we want to go out and take care of," Durbin commented on MSUB losing its first two games and being eliminated on the first day of last year's championships. "We just need to remember that we have to play loose, and when we are relaxed is when we play our best baseball."

A career .330 hitter, Durbin has a chance to break the MSUB record for batting average in a season which sits at .392 (Brody Miller, 2014). His 109 career hits are eighth-most in program history, and in just two seasons he is ninth at MSUB in career RBIs with 52.
 
MSUB Single-Season Batting Avg. Leaders

Rk.	Name	Avg.	Year
1.	Brody Miller	.392	2014
2.	Kyle Durbin	.387	2016
3.	Matt Schoonover	.378	2007
4.	Ty Gilmore	.373	2012
5.	Luke Reinschmidt	.370	2015
6.	Brian Dukart	.366	2009
7.	Stefan Malkuch	.364	2009
8.	Kevin Zukaitis	.362	2010
9.	Luke Reinschmidt	.359	2014
10.	Patch Wirtzberger	.357	2008

 
TANNER GARNERS GNAC RECOGNITION: Tossing his first complete game of the season, senior Tanner Johnson earned the GNAC Pitcher of the Week award for the second time this year and third time in his two seasons with the 'Jackets.
 
Johnson threw his first complete game of the season, posting 11 strikeouts and zero walks in a dominant Game 1 performance against the Saints. Johnson allowed just one run and eight hits in nine stellar innings, as he posted his fourth double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Johnson allowed just two runners past second base in the game, and retired the final 11 batters he faced as he did not allow a baserunner in the seventh-through-ninth innings.
 
Johnson has 71 strikeouts in 71 innings pitched on the year and holds a 4.31 earned run average. The senior ranks fourth in MSUB history with 125 strikeouts in just two seasons.
 
MSUB Single Season Strikeout Leaders

Rk.	Name	Ks	Year
1.	Cody Cooper	99	2016
2.	Brady Muller	79	2015
3.	Tanner Johnson	71	2016
4.	Brady Muller	64	2013
5.	Kody Kennedy	59	2011
6.	Kody Kennedy	54	2010
	Brian Howe	54	2009
	Tanner Johnson	54	2015

 
MSUB Career Strikeout Leaders

Rk.	Name	Ks	Years
1.	Brady Muller	232	2012-15
2.	Cody Cooper	157	2014-16
3.	Brian Howe	143	2008-11
4.	Tanner Johnson	125	2015-16
5.	Brian Hutchings	120	2010-12
6.	Kody Kennedy	113	2010-11
7.	Samuel Paterson	98	2012-13

COOPER ON VERGE OF GNAC HISTORY: With 99 strikeouts so far this season, not only does junior right-hander Cody Cooper lead the GNAC but he has a chance to become just the third player ever in the conference to reach 100 strikeouts in a single season. Cooper baffled Saint Martin's with 10 strikeouts on Friday, including a stretch where he struck out six in-a-row and seven of eight overall.
 
"I've been really comfortable on the mound this year and have wanted the ball in pressure situations," Cooper said. "I'm really excited to get out there with the great offense and defense behind me. Coach Bishop has

come into the school and turned this into a winning program, and we have really proven that by making the tournament in three of the past four years."
 
Cooper continues to lead the league in strikeouts and innings pitched (91.0), and he ranks third in earned run average at 2.87. He has had 10 or more strikeouts in five games this season and 40 total in his last four outings overall. His 157 strikeouts in his three-year career are the 16th-most in GNAC history.

GNAC Single-Season Strikeouts Leaders  

Rk.	Name	School	Ks	Season
1.	Roger Evenson	NNU	116	2005
2.	Nick Waechter	WOU	102	2005
3.	Gordon Chubb	CWU	99	2005
	Cody Cooper	MSUB	99	2016
5.	Blake Keitzman	WOU	92	2009
6.	AJ Burke	WOU	91	2013
7.	Grady Wood	WOU	89	2012
	Brandon Williams	CWU	89	2014
10.	Tyler Levin	CWU	88	2008
	Spenser Watkins	WOU	88	2013

GNAC Career Strikeouts Leaders

Rk.	Name	School	Ks	Seasons
1.	Nick Waechter	WOU	269	2004-06
2.	Roger Evenson	NNU	246	2003-05
3.	Brady Muller	MSUB	232	2012-15
4.	Steven Schutte	NNU	231	2002-04
5.	Mike Ward	WOU	223	2007-11
6.	Mike Eisenhauer	WOU	185	2007-09
7.	Kirk Lind	WOU	179	2009-12
8.	Neil Elder	NNU	175	2000-03
9.	Spenser Watkins	WOU	171	2013-14
10.	Josh Moss	SMU	169	2012-15
11.	Blake Keitzman	WOU	168	2009-10
12.	Aaron Vaughn	NNU	166	2011-14
	Grady Wood	WOU	166	2011-12
	Zeb Sneed	NNU	166	2010-12
15.	Charles Pollock	NNU	165	2009-12
16.	Cody Cooper	MSUB	157	2014-16

 
MORRISAURUS REX: Putting together the biggest weekend of his season, senior shortstop Corey Morris had a monster series and picked up 10 RBIs and hit his first-career home run on Senior Day in the cleanup spot in the lineup. Morris went 4-for-4 with four runs scored and six RBIs in the series finale, and moved to No. 10 in MSUB history with 95 career base hits.
 
Morris continued his torrid hitting last weekend, as he is now batting .362 (25-for-69) with 23 RBIs, 15 runs scored, and an on-base percentage of .452 since April 3. Morris has also converted 87 of 91 chances at shortstop during that time span, and leads the conference in being hit by a pitch 17 times. After batting .353 a season ago, Morris is a .313 career hitter for the 'Jackets.
 
MSUB Career Hits Leaders

 

Rk.	Name	Hits	Year
1.	Brody Miller	249	2012-15
2.	Matt Schoonover	213	2007-10
3.	Luke Reinschmidt	187	2014-16
4.	Colby Robison	168	2011-13
5.	Kevin Toon	133	2014-16
6.	Jeff Ridgeway	131	2008-11
7.	Colter Sternhagen	127	2013-16
8.	Kyle Durbin	109	2015-16
9.	Austin Rue	105	2011-13
10.	Corey Morris	95	2015-16

 
LUKE HOMERS TWICE: For the second time this season, senior center fielder Luke Reinschmidt had a multi-home run game as he twice left the yard on Thursday in Game 1 against the Saints. Reinschmidt hit 6-for-16 with two doubles and five RBIs to go along with his homers, and also scored seven runs, stole a base, and threw out two runners from the outfield.
 
Reinschmidt leads the GNAC in RBIs with 43 on the season, and ranks second in doubles with 14 and home runs with nine, third in runs scored with 46 and total bases with 105, and fourth in stolen bases with 10. Reinschmidt is now sixth in GNAC history in career RBIs with 126, eighth in doubles with 43, fourth in triples with 12, ninth in home runs with 21, 10th in runs scored with 125 and total bases with 317, 15th in hits with 187, 17th in stolen bases with 30, and 18th in at bats with 531. 

GNAC Career Runs Batted In Leaders

 

Rk.	Name	School	RBIs	Years
1.	Greg McCarthy	WOU	183	2002-05
	Jamie Nilsen	CWU	183	2005-08
3.	Bryce Gardinier	WOU	165	2000-03
4.	Brody Miller	MSUB	158	2012-15
5.	Chandler Tracy	SMU	138	2012-15
6.	Luke Reinschmidt	MSUB	126	2014-16
7.	Sean McDonald	NNU	125	2009-12
8.	Matt Lowe	NNU	124	2000-03
9.	Adam Siler	SMU	118	2004-07
10.	Colby Robison	MSUB	111	2011-13

 
COX LOCKED IN: After reaching base in all nine of his plate appearances in Thursday's doubleheader, sophomore Adam Cox finished the weekend going 8-for-12 at the plate and getting on base in 15 of 19 plate appearances in the series against the Saints. Cox was hit by five pitches, and totaled a dozen bases, seven RBIs and five runs scored.
 
The big weekend pushed Cox to No. 5 in the GNAC in hitting at .362, and in on-base percentage at .451., No. 3 in slugging at .597, and No. 2 in RBIs with 42 right behind Reinschmidt. Cox enters the GNAC Championships with a modest six-game hitting streak.
 
WATSON WALKS HOME WITH A WIN: Called upon to pinch hit with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, junior Tanner Watson watched four straight pitches miss out of the strike zone to draw a game-winning walk in a tough 6-5 win on Friday. As a pinch hitter this season, the left-handed hitting Watson is batting .333 (7-for-21) with nine RBIs, five walks, and two doubles.
 
STERNHAGEN CONNECTS FOR 3-RUN SHOT: Senior Colter Sternhagen homered in his final career game at Dehler Park, launching a three-run shot over the fence in right-center field in the series finale. It was Sternhagen's fifth home run of the year, and 19 of his 43 hits this year have gone for extra bases. Sternhagen also had a dozen more plays at second base without an error, and he has had just four miscues in 191 chances for a fielding percentage of .979 on the year.
 
MSUB Career Assists Leaders

 

Rk.	Name	Asts	Year
1.	Brody Miller	477	2012-15
2.	Matt Schoonover	377	2007-10
3.	Colby Robison	359	2011-13
4.	Kyle Pryor	296	2006-07
5.	Colter Sternhagen	250	2013-16
6.	Corey Morris	246	2015-16
7.	Cole Pryor	218	2008-09
8.	Kyle Durbin	136	2015-16

 
BRETT BOMBS ONE: Brett Christina was the third senior on Senior Day to hit a home run, as his first-career long ball was a no-doubter to left-center field that brought home three runs. Christina also had a pinch-hit, RBI-single on the previous day, as he drove in four of his five runs on the year last weekend. Entering the game as a defensive replacement at first base, Christina had several nice scoops on low throws across the infield as he impacted the game with his glove as well.

PETEY TRIPLES, LEADS LEAGUE IN RUNNERS CAUGHT: Picking up his first career triple in Game 1, sophomore Landon Peterson drove a ball off the wall in right-center field to bring home a run for the 'Jackets. Peterson also caught his 19th runner attempting to steal on the season, a total that leads all catchers in the GNAC. In just two seasons, Peterson is fifth in MSUB history with 365 career putouts and is more than halfway to Kevin Toon's record of 657.
 
WINSLOW SHUTS DOWN SAINTS: Earning his third straight start, freshman Jared Winslow gave up just one run in six strong innings, and had four strikeouts to earn the win against the Saints in Game 2 on Thursday. In his last six appearances, the right-hander has 16 strikeouts and just three walks with 21 2/3 innings pitched.

Western Oregon University Wolves
Thursday, May 12 – 12 PM (9 Innings)
2016 Record: 29-21, 24-16 GNAC (3rd)
Head Coach: Kellen Walker, 4th season
In Billings (March 26-27): MSUB 2, WOU 1 | Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box | Game 3 Box
In Monmouth (Apr 27-May 1): MSUB 4, WOU 1 | Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box | Game 3 Box | Game 4 Box | Game 5 Box
 
MSUB captured 4 of 5 games between the teams in Monmouth, Ore., during its hot run to end the season, and won the season series 6-2. After going on a 14-game winning streak, the Wolves won just two of their final 13 games to slip out of contention for a regular-season title.
 
Trevor Podratz, the third-leading hitter in the GNAC behind MSUB's Durbin, is batting .381 with a team-best 15 doubles on the year to lead the offense. Podratz has also hit five home runs and driven in 37, and holds a .471 on-base percentage and .569 slugging percentage.
 
Third baseman Kyle Vanderkin leads the team with seven home runs and 40 RBIs, and has 11 doubles, six triples, and a .601 slugging percentage. Senior Cody Sullivan has also been an offensive threat, with six home runs, 14 doubles and 27 RBIs. In total, the Wolves have seven players with three or more home runs and 10 with at least 16 RBIs.
 
On the mound, Brady Miller has been the top starter on the team with 82 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings and a 9-2 record with a 3.27 ERA. Darrien Moran has been another solid starter, with 61 strikeouts in 79 2/3 innings with a 2.82 ERA. Garrett Alvarez has yet to take a loss this season, holding a 6-0 record with 54 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings pitched and a 3.46 ERA. Elias Bedolla leads the team with three saves and has a 3.58 ERA in 27 2/3 innings pitched out of the bullpen.
 
The Series: MSUB is now 18-57 all-time against the Wolves after winning 6 of 8 in the regular season, and MSUB has won nine of the last 14 overall between the teams. MSUB is 1-0 all-time in neutral-site games played between the two.
 
Last Time Out: Reinschmidt batted .423 (11-for-26) against WOU this season, with four doubles and four RBIs in eight games. Two of Sternhagen's home runs came against WOU, while Durbin, Cox, and Peterson all hit .375 or better against WOU. Cooper had 17 strikeouts in 14 innings pitched, allowing just three runs in his two starts against the Wolves.

Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders
Thursday, May 12 – 7 PM (9 Innings)
2016 Record: 28-20, 23-15 GNAC (T-1st)
Head Coach: Rocke Musgraves, 3rd season
In Nampa (March 11-12): MSUB 2, NNU 2 | Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box | Game 3 Box | Game 4 Box
In Billings (April 16): MSUB 1, NNU 1 | Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box
 
The 'Saders swept Concordia University in four games on the final weekend to claim a share of the GNAC title and hosting rights for the tournament. The sweep came after four straight losses at Central Washington University the previous week, as NNU finished the regular season 4-4 its last two weeks.
 
Ryan Johnson has been the team's leading hitter all year, batting .376 with 12 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 29 RBIs, and a GNAC-best 19 stolen bases. Tyler Davis is the league leader in home runs with 14, and he also has a dozen doubles and 40 RBIs to lead the team. Andrew Helmstadter is the other Crusader batting above .300, with a .331 average and 16 doubles, four triples, three home runs, and 35 RBIs.
 
Colton Loomis has been one of the top starters in the league this year, holding a 2.98 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings pitched. Loomis has thrown eight complete games and two shutouts, including a preseason no-hitter against Azusa Pacific.
 
Ross Clevenger has started 11 games, and Jaramy Jacobs has started 13 as the other top arms for NNU. Clevenger holds a 4.87 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings, while Jacobs sits at a 5.66 ERA and has a team-best 73 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings.
 
Closer Ryan Nyborg leads the GNAC with eight saves on the year, and has an ERA of 4.11 with 30 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings pitched in 17 relief appearances.
 
The Series: MSUB continues to narrowly lead the all-time series 40-39 after the split in six games played during the regular season. The final two games between the teams scheduled to be played in Billings this year were cancelled due to weather.
 
Last Time Out: Reinschmidt batted .391 with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs, while driving in eight in his six games against the Crusaders. Durbin was the other Yellowjacket to hit above .300 (.381), and he also homered while driving in three. Cooper totaled 23 strikeouts and allowed just three earned runs in 17 innings pitched against the 'Saders in his two starts.