BILLINGS, Mont. – A fourth Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title in the last five years is within reach for the Montana State University Billings baseball team, which closes the 2019 regular season at home this weekend.
 
The Yellowjackets (26-18, 26-10 GNAC) are atop the GNAC standings and can clinch the regular-season championship with three wins this weekend. MSUB is the defending 2018 champion, and also won regular-season titles back-to-back in 2015 and 2016. The 'Jackets have clinched a GNAC Championships berth, and will continue their 2019 campaign next week at the conference tournament in Portland, Oregon.
 
MSUB hosts Concordia University in a four-game series at Dehler Park, with doubleheaders scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Live video with play-by-play commentary and live statistics will be available through the MSUB Stretch Internet portal online here.
 
"There is a lot going on this weekend for our guys, with finals, senior weekend, and graduation," said MSUB head coach Aaron Sutton. "The challenge for our guys will be to stay where their feet are this week. We are looking forward to competing against a good CU team, that played us very tough at their place earlier this year."
 
MSUB is coming off its second four-game series road sweep of the season last week, as the 'Jackets took all four games at Central Washington University.
 
SENIOR DAY SET FOR FRIDAY: The Yellowjackets will send off a stacked cast of nine seniors on Friday, as they will play their final home games at Dehler Park. A pregame ceremony will begin at 12:40 p.m., with family and friends accompanying the players on the field as they are honored. "This will be the last time these seniors get to lace them up at Dehler, and we know they want to go out on a high note," Sutton said. "There is a lot on the line for both ball clubs, so we can expect a high-energy environment and some good baseball being played."
 
SWX HAS YOU COVERED: Friday's doubleheader will be broadcast live on SWX Sports locally in Montana, Idaho and Washington. Check your local television listings to view the channel number for SWX in your area.
 
REGIONAL RANKING RISE: The Yellowjackets rose in both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the NCAA D2 west region rankings this week. MSUB moved into a tie for sixth place in the NCBWA poll, and is up to No. 7 in the official regional rankings which will eventually determine the six-team field for the 2019 NCAA postseason.
 

Week	Poll	MSUB Ranking	Movement	Full Rankings
Preseason	NCBWA	7	0	Preseason Rankings
Week 1 - Feb. 18	NCBWA	T10	-3	Week 1 Rankings
Week 2 - Feb. 25	NCBWA	--	DROP	Week 2 Rankings
Week 3 - March 4	NCBWA	--	--	Week 3 Rankings
Week 4 - March 11	NCBWA	--	--	Week 4 Rankings
Week 5 - March 18	NCBWA	RV	--	Week 5 Rankings
Week 6 - March 25	NCBWA	10	IN	Week 6 Rankings
Week 7 - April 1	NCBWA	8	+2	Week 7 Rankings
Week 8 - April 8	NCBWA	7	+1	Week 8 Rankings
Week 9 - April 15	NCBWA	7	0	Week 9 Rankings
Week 10 - April 22	NCBWA	7	0	Week 10 Rankings
Week 1 - April 23	NCAA - West Region	8	0	West Region Rakings (1)
Week 11 - April 29	NCBWA	T6	+1	Week 11 Rankings
Week 2 - May 1	NCAA-West Region	7	+1	West Region Rakings (2)

 
HISTORIC WEEKEND IN ELLENSBURG: The Yellowjackets hung up some historic offensive numbers in last week's series sweep at Central Washington, and they became just the third team in GNAC history to score 60 runs in a weekend series. The 'Jackets fell one run short of Central Washington's record of 61 runs scored in a four-game series, which it achieved from March 26-27, 2010 against MSU Billings. CWU also had a 60-run series against Colorado Mines on March 20-22, 2005, but that featured five total games played. It was just the 12th time in GNAC history that a school scored 50 or more runs in a weekend series.
 

Team	Season	G1	G2	G3	G4	G5	G6	Total	Dates	Opponent	Results
Central Washington	2010	15	3	31	12	0	0	61	March 26-27	MSUB	2-2
Central Washington	2005	25	11	4	18	2	0	60	March 20-22	CSU Mines	5-0
MSU Billings	2019	12	5	29	14	0	0	60	April 26-27	CWU	4-0
Central Washington	2005	18	2	24	13	0	0	57	March 30-April 6	Whitman (3) & LC St. (1)	3-1
Western Oregon	2005	25	10	18	4	0	0	57	April 15-16	NNU	4-0
Northwest Nazarene	2011	11	8	23	14	0	0	56	March 25-26	ARTU	4-0
Western Oregon	2010	22	9	16	6	0	0	53	April 16-17	MSUB	4-0
Central Washington	2002	1	25	12	14	0	0	52	May 10-11	WOU	3-1
MSU Billings	2018	11	12	15	14	0	0	52	Feb 8-10	DSU (3) & CSUSB (1)	3-1
Northwest Nazarene	2011	6	6	10	6	10	13	51	Feb 22-26	HPU	5-1
MSU Billings	2018	13	9	18	11	0	0	51	March 30-31	CWU	3-1
MSU Billings	2013	7	20	15	8	0	0	50	April 26-27	CWU	3-1

 
The highlight of MSUB's weekend series was a school-record 29 runs scored in Game 3, as the 'Jackets posted the third-highest single-game run total in conference history. MSUB also broke the league record for total bases in a game with 51, and tied the record for most hits in a game with 31.
 
CIPRIANO BUILDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR CASE: Junior first baseman Daniel Cipriano continued to build his case for 2019 GNAC Player of the Year, as he was named the GNAC and NCBWA West Region Player of the Week. The slugger got on base in 16 of 20 plate appearances over the weekend, while hitting three home runs and driving in eight. Entering this weekend's series, Cipriano leads the GNAC in batting average (.410), slugging percentage (.851), on-base percentage (.543), home runs (16), runs scored (49), and times hit by a pitch (23).
   

Rank	Player	School	Home Runs	Season
1	Kyle Sani	Central Washington	18	2013
2	Brian Viafore	Central Washington	17	2003
	Kaleo Johnson	MSU Billings	17	2018
4	Zach Aakhus	Northwest Nazarene	16	2008
	Daniel Dillard	Western Oregon	16	2010
	Ryan Myers	MSU Billings	16	2018
	Daniel Cipriano	MSU Billings	16	2019
8	Kevin McCarthy	Northwest Nazarene	15	2004
	Tyler Davis	Northwest Nazarene	15	2016
	Billy King	Northwest Nazarene	15	2017

 
ROCHE BOOSTS NUMBERS WITH HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT: Redshirt freshman Ryan Roche jolted his season numbers with a big weekend, and became the first player in MSUB history to have six hits in a single game. Roche also had eight RBIs in MSUB's big Game 3 victory, falling one short of the school single-game record of nine held by Colby Robison. On the season Roche is now batting .382, while reaching base at a clip of .477 and slugging .545.
 
GARCIA MAINTAINING HIT STREAK: Senior Jalen Garcia has put together a strong push at the plate down the final stretch of his career, and carries a 14-game hitting streak into this weekend's series. That is good for the seventh-longest streak in MSUB history. Garcia is second in the conference behind Cipriano with a .363 batting average, and he hit his sixth home run of the year and the 20th of his career last weekend. Garcia has driven in 116 runs in his career, and is just two RBIs shy of breaking into the GNAC all-time top-10 in that category.
 

Rank	Player	School	RBIs	Seasons
1	Greg McCarthy	Western Oregon	183	2002-05
	Jamie Nilsen	Central Washington	183	2005-08
3	Bryce Gardinier	Western Oregon	165	2000-03
4	Brody Miller	MSU Billings	158	2012-15
5	Chandler Tracy	Saint Martin's	138	2012-15
6	Andrew helmstadter	Northwest Nazarene	131	2014-17
7	Luke Reinschmidt	MSU Billings	127	2014-16
8	Sean McDonald	Northwest Nazarene	125	2009-12
9	Matt Lowe	Northwest Nazarene	124	2000-03
10	Adam Siler	Saint Martin's	118	2004-07
11	Jalen Garcia	MSU Billings	116	2017-19

 
POULSON POPS ONE OUT: Junior Conner Poulson got his first-career hit in style last week, delivering a home run in the Yellowjackets' lopsided win. He became the 14th different MSUB player to hit a home run this season, which is tied for the second-most in GNAC history. MSUB joined the 2016 Central Washington and 2006 Western Oregon teams, which also each had 14 different players homer. The most different players on one roster to homer in a single season was 15, which was achieved by the 2009 Western Oregon University team.
 
FREDRICKSON A DOZEN FROM 200: Senior Steen Fredrickson had eight strikeouts last week, jumping into the top-10 in GNAC history with 188 in his career. He enters this week at No. 8, and he needs 12 more to become the third player in MSUB history and the seventh in GNAC history to reach the 200 strikeout plateau. Fredrickson also notched his 17th career win last week, and he is tied for the GNAC lead this season with 67 2/3 innings pitched.
 
MOLNAA, BARKLEY TIED FOR LEAGUE LEAD IN WINS: MSUB starters Jarrod Molnaa and Dylan Barkley each picked up their sixth win of the year last week, moving into a tie for the GNAC lead in victories this season. Both are also in the top-10 in the conference in strikeouts, with Molnaa ranking fourth at 62 and Barkley tied for 10th with 52 on the year.
 
Concordia University Cavaliers
Thursday, May 2 – 1 PM DOUBLEHEADER – Dehler Park
Friday, May 3 – 1 PM DOUBLEHEADER – Dehler Park
2019 Record: 15-29, 13-23 GNAC
Head Coach: Rob Vance, 20th season
2018 Record: 20-32, 19-21 GNAC (4th place)
First Meeting: MSUB 3, CU 1 (March 29-30 at Portland, OR) | MSUB 14, CU 6 | MSUB 3, CU 2 | MSUB 6, CU 0 | CU 3, MSUB 2 (8)
 
The Cavaliers have lost four of their last five games, but are still in contention for a second straight berth into the GNAC Championships. CU lost its first three games at home against Western Oregon, before rallying to knock off the Wolves 5-4 in extra innings in the finale last week.
 
Liam Knowles and Damon Peters are the Cavaliers' top offensive players, and have combined to hit 10 of the team's 17 home runs on the year. Knowles leads the team with 37 RBIs, while Peters has a .430 on-base percentage and is slugging .527. Eddie Vaszuez is CU's other player with multiple home runs, as he has hit a pair to go along with 15 RBIs and a .267 batting average.
 
Trevor Huddleston has been CU's most reliable starter on the year, with a 4.59 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 51 innings pitched. Kaleb Jones is the lone Cavalier to have made a start in all 12 series, and he has a 6.97 ERA in a team-high 60 2/3 innings pitched. Dylan Diaz is one of the top relievers in the GNAC, with a stellar 1.03 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings.
 
As a team CU holds a 5.70 ERA, and the opposition is batting .270. At the plate, the 'Cavs are hitting just .229 this season, and average 3.9 runs per game.
 
The Series: MSUB is 23-9 all-time against Concordia, and has a record of 9-3 in games played at Dehler Park.
 
Last Time Out: The Yellowjackets swiped the first three games in Portland, before CU held MSUB off for a 3-2, extra-inning win in the finale.