HAYWARD, Cal. – The Montana State University Billings baseball team kept their undefeated season alive after going 2-0 in their doubleheader against the Cal State East Bay Pioneers (0-3) at Chabot College Baseball Field earlier this evening. The Yellowjackets improved to 3-0 on the season after a pitcher's duel 2-0 victory in game one and a 4-3 comeback win in game two.
The double header proved to be a tale of two tides with
Jackson Betancourt,
Kevin McClellan, and
Hayden Mullins combining for the Yellowjackets first combined shutout since March 9
th of 2024. Betancourt made his 36
th start of his career and sits just five away from the most starts in MSUB history. He also collected the win in game one which moves him into the top 10 in career wins (9) and had three strikeouts on the day which inches him four strikeouts away from 150 in his collegiate career.
Similarly to game one,
Kaden Kirshenbaum single handedly helped lead the 'Jackets to their third win of the season after smacking his 20
th home run in an MSUB uniform which moved him into seventh all time and proved to be the game winning home run. Also highlighting the day in the top of the third inning of game one was
Zack Blaszak's base knock through the right side, leading him to hitting the 100 career hits milestone as a Yellowjacket.
HEAR FROM WADDOUPS: "Betancourt did a great job of mixing speeds in the zone and just flat out pitching. He did a fantastic job of keeping them off balance and was able to minimize their chances at pushing runs across. Mullins was electric out of the pen, and it was just great to see guys come in compete in the zone for us. We have done a great job so far at creating scoring opportunities, capitalizing on them, and showing how versatile our offense is by scoring in multiple different ways."
GAME 1
From the first at bat of the game the Yellowjackets offense created traffic on the basepaths and put the pressure on early.
Bodee Wright led off the game with his first hit of the 2025 season, followed by
Jack Nehler who tallied his fourth hit in just six at bats this year. The 'Jackets were unable to convert, and veteran starter
Jackson Betancourt took the mound for his 36
th start of his career. Betancourt made quick work in the top of the first and MSUB went back to work at the plate. Freshman
Nate McDonald led things off with his first career hit, followed by a double from
Ryan Jeffrey to add the first run of the ballgame. After another base knock from
Parker Bleggi,
Scott Artzer laid down a textbook squeeze bunt to give MSUB the 2-0 advantage.
From there it was a pitcher's duel for the next four innings until Betancourt was relieved by McClellan. In his 2025 season debut, Betancourt threw six complete innings with zero runs while striking out three hitters and allowing just one walk. After a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the seventh for McClellan, Blaszak got things going in the top half of the eighth. Blaszak added his second hit of the game with a one out triple which helped him reach the 100 career hits milestone in an MSUB uniform but was left stranded. McClellan ended his day throwing 1.2 innings with two strikeouts while allowing no runs and was relieved by transfer
Hayden Mullins in his first outing as a Yellowjacket. Mullings made quick work in the bottom of the eighth, getting one out on one pitch via flyout.
Similar to the first game of the series, MSUB got their first man on base to start the ninth inning after Jeffrey tallied his second double of the game. Even with the Yellowjackets threatening the Pioneers continued to pitch out of it, stranding MSUB's sixth runner of the game. East Bay then followed with a leadoff double of their own, but Mullins surrendered the next three hitters and ended his day with 1.1 innings pitched with zero runs and one strikeout, solidifying the combined shutout for the 'Jackets staff which was their first since March 9
th of 2024. Betancourt earned the win on the bump while Mullins was credited with the save.
HEAR FROM WADDOUPS: "
Lance Schaaf and
Cole Bertram were fantastic in relief for us the second game. Schaaf was able to turn the momentum back in our favor and it was great seeing us manufacture a run for Kirshenbaum to win it with a big fly. Proud of the team's effort today while using multiple guys in different roles than they're use to."
GAME 2
Carrying over their momentum from the first nine innings on the day, the Yellowjackets struck first after Wright led things off with a triple, followed by an RBI base hit from Blaszak to take the 1-0 lead. Heading into the bottom of the first, senior
Cy Miller took the bump for his 12
th career start and went strikeout, groundout, strikeout to open his 2025 season debut. The Pioneers finally found some life in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs on three hits and forcing MSUB to go to the bullpen.
Entering to relieve Miller was senior
Cole Bertram making his 18
th appearance of his career and first of the 2025 season. From there, both squads hit a lull in offensive production until the top of the fifth when Nehler drove
Ryker Fortier home on an RBI single to right field, making it a 2-3 ballgame with the Pioneers still at the advantage heading into the top of the fifth.
Lance Schaaf then relieved Bertram but not before he went two complete innings with one strikeout while allowing zero runs and zero hits. Schaaf sat six straight East Bay hitters down in order, letting the Yellowjacket offense to work heading into the top of the seventh, still down by one.
The 'Jackets once again had fireworks in the final inning of play, scoring two runs to take the 4-3 lead. Blaszak led off the inning reaching base via walk and then made it all the way around to third on a stolen base and a balk. Nehler then clutched up with an RBI sacrifice fly to even up the score before Kishenbaum hit what would prove to be the game winning home run. Entering the bottom of the ninth was
Andy Evans who picked up a save in the first game of the series. Just like the post rain delay madness on Friday, Evans went one-two-three but this time with three straight strikeouts to earn the save and lead the Yellowjackets to a 4-3 victory. Schaaf was awarded the win while Evans was awarded the save which is his second save in two appearances.
STATISTIC LEADERS
WINS: Jackson Betancourt (1);
Lance Schaaf (1)
SAVES: Hayden Mullins (1);
Andy Evans (1)
STRIKEOUTS: Jackson Betancourt (3); Three players tied (2)
HITS: Zack Blaszak (3); Three players tied (2)
RBI'S: Jack Nehler (2); Four Players tied (1)
RUNS: Six players tied (1)
THE BUZZ: Jackson Betancourt was named Intermountain Health Player of the Game for game one and
Kaden Kirshenbaum was named Intermountain Health Player of the Game for game two!
UP NEXT: The Montana State University Billings baseball team is scheduled to play their fourth game of the series against Cal State East Bay tomorrow at 11:00 AM MT at Pioneer Baseball field and will head straight over to Maloney Field to take on San Francisco State University at 3:00 PM MT. Live coverage for both games can be found on our online schedule
here.
