LACEY, Wash. – Steen Fredrickson struck out a career-high 11 batters and out-dueled Aaron Shoup to highlight a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep for the Montana State University Billings baseball team at the Saint Martin's University baseball field.
 
Fredrickson threw a career-high 7 2/3 innings and 121 pitches, before handing the ball off to Brooks Zimmer for his fourth consecutive game with a save in the 2-0 Game 1 win. The Yellowjackets then had their backs against the wall down 2-0 in the top of the seventh in Game 2, before scoring four times and eventually winning 5-4 in an eight-inning affair.

"It was exactly what you'd expect and what you'd want out of an outing," said Fredrickson after the doubleheader. "We knew that they have a great staff and they were going to bring their all, and our team put together some great at-bats and scraped across a few runs. We were able to put together two wins today, and now it's on to tomorrow."
 
MSUB jumped to 9-13 on the season and is now 9-5 in conference play, while pushing its winning streak to five straight games. With Western Oregon dropping a pair of games at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, the Yellowjackets leapt into first place in the conference standings.
 
"It was really fun, and a big knock at any point could turn the tide," said junior outfielder Tyler Detloff after the two close games. "It's a good environment to be in."
 
Saint Martin's slipped to 9-14 overall and is now 5-9 in conference play. The Saints wasted one of Tanner Inouye's best career outings, as the righty struck out a career-high 10 in 6 1/3 innings of Game 2.
 
"It was good baseball on both sides today," said MSUB head coach Aaron Sutton. "Both teams pitched it extremely well, from starters to relievers, and those are the fun games to be a part of. These are the kind of games where you walk away saying you got two wins, but also that you got a lot better today."
 
Game 1 – MSU Billings 2, Saint Martin's 0
 
Fredrickson started the game off with four no-hit innings, before Hunter Holmason punched the Saints' first hit of the day into left field in a 3-1 count. That snapped a string of eight straight batters retired by the Yellowjacket righty, and Landon Peterson quickly negated the knock by throwing out Holmason attempting to steal second.
 
Shoup matched Fredrickson pitch-for-pitch, keeping the Yellowjackets off balance with just one run allowed in eight complete innings and a career-high 11 strikeouts. MSUB had a scoring chance in the third after a leadoff double by Caje Golden, but Shoup retired the next three batters to get out of trouble.
 
It proved to be the best scoring chance for either team through the middle innings, as the game remained scoreless through seven frames. Peterson poked a leadoff double down the left-field line to start the eighth inning, and after a base hit by Wyatt Setian, Jalen Garcia plated the first run of the day with a deep sacrifice fly to left center.
 
Micah McNicoll and Ryne Oshiro put together back-to-back two-out singles in the bottom of the eighth, as the Saints threatened to even the score. That ended Fredrickson's day, and Zimmer struck out Colton Peha with three straight fastballs to end the inning.
 
Matt Dillon raced around from first after being hit by a pitch, when Andrew Schleusner ripped a double into left-center to give MSUB an insurance run. Mickey Walker recovered and mowed down the next three Yellowjacket hitters, giving the Saints a final chance at the plate.
 
But Zimmer closed the door with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout to save the game for Fredrickson. The Saints managed just five hits in the opener, and the 'Jackets won with eight base hits.
 
Game 2 – MSU Billings 5, Saint Martin's 4 (8 Innings)
 
Tyler Detloff roped a one-out, two-run single into the right-center gap in the top of the seventh inning, capping off a four-run rally that gave MSUB a 4-2 lead. Golden was hit by a pitch and Setian singled each with the bases loaded, which set the stage for Detloff's big swing of the bat. "I was just trying to put the ball in play and not do too much with it," Detloff commented on his clutch base hit. "I was looking fastball, and I got a fastball."
 
The Saints weren't finished however, as they promptly loaded the bases off MSUB starter Dylan Barkley and scored twice to tie the game. Zimmer's saves streak was halted at five, when Austin Feist delivered a game-tying sacrifice fly to deep left center to make it 2-2. The freshman righty stranded the game-winning run at second base after that, with consecutive strikeouts in 3-2 counts to end the inning.
 
Dillon smoked a leadoff single to third in the top of the eighth, and after a base hit by Schleusner, Ryan Roche dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt down the third-base line. Dillon crossed the plate on an ensuing wild pitch by reliever Ryan Dorney, for what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
Left-hander Sam Muskat made quick work of the Saints to earn his second career save, striking out the side to end the game and complete the doubleheader sweep.
 
Inouye struck out a career-high 10 batters in 6 1/3 innings, while walking two and giving up three runs on four hits. The Saints took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, on a base hit off the bat of Oshiro and a dropped popup on the MSUB infield.
 
Daniel Cipriano nearly evened the score in the top of the sixth inning, but Feist tracked down his towering fly ball to right center on the warning track as he just missed his seventh home run of the year.
 
Barkley took the no-decision, despite striking out six and walking none in six stellar innings.
 
THE BUZZ: Fredrickson was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…MSUB is now 42-46 all-time against SMU and is 21-21 in games played in Lacey…it was MSUB's first shutout win of the season and its first since April 20, 2018 in a 16-0 win over Concordia…Saturday was Fredrickson's third-career 10-strikeout game and his first of the season…his previous career bests were seven innings, 10 strikeouts, and 119 pitches.
 
NEXT UP: The series concludes on Sunday with another doubleheader scheduled for noon. Live video with play-by-play commentary and live statistics will be available through the MSUB Stretch Internet portal online here.