MONMOUTH, Ore. – Leading all 725 NCAA baseball teams across all three divisions with 41 home runs this season, the Montana State University Billings baseball team is set for a four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series at Western Oregon University.
 
Twelve different players have hit at least one home run and six Yellowjackets have at least three home runs on the season, for the most powerful lineup in college baseball through the first 16 games of the season. The Yellowjackets also rank No. 8 in Division II baseball with a .625 team slugging percentage.
 
This Week's Schedule
MSU Billings at Western Oregon
Friday, March 26, 2021 – 1 PM Doubleheader
Saturday, March 27, 2021 – 1 PM Doubleheader
Live Video – https://wou.edu/ucs/video/index.php
Live Statistics – https://wouwolves.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
 
"Our lineup is solid and we have deep power all the way through, so it is tough to pitch to us," senior first baseman Tanner Cantwell said. "Western is a good team, but I think we would be selling ourselves short if I didn't expect us to go in there and win all four games. We have the players, pitching staff, and offense to do it, and I think if we can execute our game plan we can come away with four wins."
 
NCAA Baseball Team Home Run Leaders - All Divisions (as of March 25, 2021)

Rank	Team	Home Runs	Division
1	MSU Billings	41	NCAA D2
2	Colorado Mesa	40	NCAA D2
3	Lenoir-Rhyne	37	NCAA D2
	Louisiana State	37	NCAA D1
	North Georgia	37	NCAA D2
6	North Greenville	35	NCAA D2
	Southern Illinois	35	NCAA D1
	UC Colorado Springs	35	NCAA D2
9	Erskine	34	NCAA D2
10	Arkansas	31	NCAA D1
	Dallas Baptist	31	NCAA D1

The Yellowjackets (3-13, 3-5 GNAC) are coming off their first conference victories of the year as they took three games over the weekend against Saint Martin's University. The wins were the first of the season for MSUB, as the team has gained momentum after a tough 0-12 start to the year. "Something we pride ourselves on is just keeping that positive attitude and knowing there is a big picture to it," Waddoups said on the team's slow start to the year. "It was fun to see us pitch, play defense, and hit all in the same game. We hadn't really put that together consistently, and we had some really clutch at-bats and pitching performances."
 
GNAC STANDINGS AT A GLANCE: MSUB enters the week tied for third in the conference standings, with Central Washington also holding a 3-5 mark after the first two weeks of league play. No. 15 Northwest Nazarene University leads the league with a 7-1 conference record, while this week's opponent Western Oregon is in second place at 2-2 in GNAC play. The top-three teams in the conference standings advance to the GNAC Championships, scheduled for May 20-21 at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.
 
CIPRIANO LEADS ALL DIVISIONS IN HOME RUNS: As of March 25, Daniel Cipriano led all players in the NCAA – across all three divisions – with 11 home runs on the season. He is tied with Wes Clarke of South Carolina (NCAA D1) and Livan Reinoso of Erskine (NCAA D2) for the most home runs of any college baseball player in the country.
 
NCAA Baseball Individual Home Run Leaders – All Divisions (as of March 25, 2021)

Rank	Player	Home Runs	School	Division
1	Daniel Cipriano	11	MSU Billings	NCAA D2
	Wes Clarke	11	South Carolina	NCAA D1
	Livan Reinoso	11	Erskine	NCAA D2
4	Logan Cerny	9	Troy	NCAA D1
	John Michael Faile	9	North Greenville	NCAA D2
	Drue Galassi	9	Lenoir-Rhyne	NCAA D2
	Niko Kavadas	9	Notre Dame	NCAA D1
	Garrett Kocis	9	Wichita State	NCAA D1
	Tyler Locklear	9	Virginia Commonwealth	NCAA D1
	Michael Nelsen	9	Willamette	NCAA D3
	Andres Perez	9	North Georgia	NCAA D2
	Matthew Turner	9	Colorado Mesa	NCAA D2

 
Cipriano earned his second GNAC Player of the Week and second National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association West Region Player of the Week award, after leading MSUB's offense with four home runs and nine RBIs in the series victory over Saint Martin's. He became the first player in MSUB history to hit three home runs in one game, and upped his MSUB career-record home run total to 36. Cipriano enters the week seven home runs shy of the all-time GNAC record of 43, held by Chandler Tracy of Saint Martin's University (2012-15).
 
In addition to leading the NCAA in home runs, Cipriano ranks sixth in Division II baseball with 30 RBIs and 11th in slugging percentage at 1.068. Cipriano leads the NCAA D2 west region in OPS at 1.575, slugging percentage, home runs, RBIs, total bases with 63, and times hit by a pitch with eight.
 
CANTWELL STAYING CONSISTENT: Senior Tanner Cantwell, who hits directly behind Cipriano in the cleanup spot, had another productive weekend at the plate going 5-for-12 and driving in four runs. Cantwell hit two more home runs to bring his season total to five, and he has scored at least one run in each of the team's last seven games. Cantwell also had a double and a triple last week, upping his slugging percentage to .702 on the season. "Cantwell has done an outstanding job," Waddoups said. "The juice and power is there, and he continues to produce. He has been really good throughout his career here for us, and having an athletic first baseman who can move around is a plus."
 
RILEY STAYS HOT AT TOP: Leadoff hitter Will Riley extended his hitting streak to 11 games, after going 5-for-15 over the weekend against Saint Martin's. Riley scored five runs in the series, and raised his team-leading batting average to .438 on the season. Entering this week's games, Riley ranks fifth in the conference in that category.
 
ARPAN CLIMBS HR LIST: Senior Chris Arpan hit two home runs last week against Saint Martin's, pushing his career total at MSUB to 19. That moved the slugger into a tie for sixth place on the program's all-time list, as he will become the sixth player in school history to reach the 20 home run mark with his next long ball. Arpan needs 19 more at-bats to reach the career-minimum threshold of 250, and upon reaching that mark he will rank among the top players in school history in percentage-based categories as well. Arpan's career batting average of .342 would rank fifth, his on-base percentage of .444 would rank third, and his slugging percentage of .667 would rank tied for second as he nears the minimum qualifying standard in those key categories.
 
LUTZ SHOWS UP AT PLATE, BEHIND IT: Junior catcher Justin Lutz had his most productive offensive weekend of the season while managing the Yellowjacket pitching staff behind the plate. Lutz went 5-for-9 in the three games he played, homering twice, driving in six runs, and scoring five times. Lutz also had a double and a triple, as he raised his season marks to a .343 batting average and a .743 slugging percentage.
 
SAM SHOWS POWERS: Senior Sam Powers delivered his third home run of the season against the Saints, amid a week in which he went 6-for-12 at the plate while driving in five and scoring four runs. The big performance at the plate nudged Powers' season batting average up to .310, and he is one of six players on the roster to have reached double figures in RBIs.
 
REDMOND POSTS BEST START YET: Junior Connor Redmond contributed his best start of the season in the series-opener against the Saints, allowing two runs on five hits with a season-high nine strikeouts in six full innings of work. The top starter for the 'Jackets this season, Redmond holds a 5.50 ERA with a team-best 26 strikeouts in 18 innings of work. Redmond enters the week tied for first in the GNAC in strikeouts.
 
SIBLERUD STRIKES OUT SEASON HIGH: Freshman righty Logan Siblerud had his deepest outing of the season, with 4 2/3 innings in his start to finish off the series. Siblerud had a season-high six strikeouts, while scattering three hits and giving up three runs.
 
ZIMMER LOGS LONGEST OUTING SINCE '19: Sophomore right-hander Brooks Zimmer posted his longest outing since the spring of 2019, with 3 1/3 strong innings of relief against the Saints. Zimmer threw 69 pitches, striking out four batters and issuing one walk while giving up two unearned runs in his outing.
 
PIPPIN STELLAR AGAIN OUT OF 'PEN: Freshman right-hander Braelen Pippin had another impressive performance out of the bullpen last week, allowing just one baserunner in two shutout innings of relief while striking out four. In his four appearances this year, Pippin has surrendered just one earned run for a team-leading ERA of 1.42.
 
"Our pitching staff really stepped up and did a great job, especially our bullpen," Waddoups said. "We had good rotation starts, and I really like how we played defense. We continued to score runs, and had several different guys throughout the weekend step up and do damage for us."
 
Western Oregon University Wolves
2021 Record: 3-3, 2-2 GNAC
Last Time Out: 2-2 at Central Washington (March 13-14)
All-Time Series: WOU 77, MSUB 29
At Monmouth, OR: WOU 34, MSUB 13
Last Season: MSUB 2, WOU 2 (Feb. 29-March 1 at Monmouth, OR)
 
The Wolves have played just six games on the season, all against GNAC opponents. After a pair of non-conference games against Saint Martin's, WOU opened league play with a four-game series split at Central Washington on March 13-14.
 
Brothers Derek Maiben and Jacob Maiben are off to hot starts, batting .478 and .444, respectively to lead Western Oregon. Reigning first-team all-conference pick Connor McCord is hitting .286 while Justyn Herzog leads the team with two home runs.
 
On the mound Logan Hatley and Mike Peterson have each started a pair of games, leading the team with 10 and nine innings pitched, respectively. Trae Perkins earned his first save of the year with three shutout innings of relief, and WOU has a solid team ERA of 4.50 through its first six games of the spring.