BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings baseball team completed a dominant series sweep with a 15-7 victory in both game three and four against Saint Martin's (1-23, 1-7 GNAC). The Yellowjackets improved to 15-9 overall and 6-2 in GNAC play, delivering four wins over the Saints while securing head coach
Derek Waddoups his 100th career win at MSUB. With the milestone victory, Waddoups now ranks as the second-winningest coach in MSUB baseball history.
"100 career wins is more about the players, support staff, and the coaches that I've had the opportunity to work with," said coach Waddoups. I love coaching this current group and I'm grateful for the alumni that have played here, contributed to the program, and continue to support us. Our Program is built around servant leadership, and I hope that each one of those wins contribute into life lessons off the field for our players. I'm grateful for the opportunity to coach at MSUB and to work with such outstanding people."
In game one, the Yellowjackets set the tone early in the opening game of the series with a blend of strong pitching and solid offense. Freshman
Sam Coxen picked up his third win of the season, striking out seven and allowing only two earned runs over five innings.
Malcolm Bartholomew followed with two scoreless innings, adding two strikeouts. MSUB's offense was relentless, collecting 13 hits, including five extra-base hits, and scoring 15 runs with 13 RBIs.
Ryan Jeffrey led the charge, going 2-for-2 with two home runs, four runs, three RBIs, and three walks.
HEAR FROM COACH WADDOUPS: "Coxen had another outstanding outing for us in game one. I was really proud of our offensive effort once Saint Martin's took the lead, we answered back and strung together a lot of quality at bats. Throughout the day I am just very pleased with our offensive performance."
GAME ONE: MSUB 15; SMU 7
The Yellowjackets struck first, taking a 2-0 lead after the first two innings.
Jack Nehler led off with a triple, later scoring on a passed ball, while Jeffrey hit a solo homer in the second. Saint Martin's responded with three runs in the fourth, including a two-run homer, but MSUB answered back in a big way, scoring eight runs in the fifth inning.
Bodee Wright's two-RBI single was followed by a series of hits and walks, with
Parker Bleggi's two-RBI single capping off the scoring to make it 10-3.
The Yellowjackets added more insurance with two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth, highlighted by back-to-back home runs from
Kaden Kirshenbaum and
Ryan Jeffrey. Coxen earned his third consecutive win, followed by solid relief work from Bartholomew,
Andrew White, and
Cole Bakker.
HEAR FROM COACH WADDOUPS: "We really opened it up in the second inning of game two by stringing together a lot of hard-hit balls and plate appearances. Our team did a good job of putting the ball in play consistently throughout the game to give us chances to score. On top of that we just continued to have quality pitching performances across the board against a very solid Saint Martin's lineup.
Similar to the first game of the day, the MSUB offense put on another hit fest, tallying 15 RBIs on 19 hits, with four of them being extra base hits. They also plated 15 total runs in game two of the day with 12 of them coming in just the second inning. Leading the way was
Bodee Wright who went 3-5 at the plate with four RBIs and two runs while also throwing two complete scoreless innings on the mound. Also picking up three hits in the series finale was Nehler and Jeffrey who also combined for three runs and an RBI.
GAME TWO: MSUB 15; SMU 7
It was the Saints who struck first in game four, scratching one across in the top of the first holding the Yellowjackets scoreless in the bottom half. An explosion of offense came in the bottom of the second, when the 'Jackets fired off 12 runs on 12 hits. Highlighting the inning was RBI singles from
Kaden Bertram,
Parker Bleggi,
Bodee Wright,
Zack Blaszak, and
Ryan Jeffrey, a two RBI single from
Nate May, a two RBI double from Wright, and a three RBI double from
Kaden Kirshenbaum.
The Saints immediately responded with five runs in the top of the third on five hits, one of them being a three RBI home run to make it a 12-6 ball game. From there, the Yellowjackets plated another run in the bottom of the fourth when Wright added his fourth RBI of the game on a base hit to score
Ryker Fortier. After the Saints added another run on Kelton Tom's second homer of the game, the 'Jackets added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two RBI double off the top of the fence from
Zack Blaszak to give MSUB a 15-7 advantage.
On the mound,
Cy Miller earned his first win of the season and sixth of his career after going three complete innings with a pair of strikeouts. First out of the bullpen was
Bodee Wright who threw an impressive two complete innings with one strikeout while allowing zero runs and just one hit. Closing it out was
Hayden Mullins who also went two complete innings while allowing just one run while tallying three strikeouts to lead the Yellowjackets to a 15-7 victory and a series sweep.
STATISTIC LEADERS
H: Jack Nehler (7);
Ryan Jeffrey (5)
R: Ryan Jeffrey (6);
Jack Nehler (4);
Kaden Bertram (4)
RBI: Bodee Wright (6);
Kaden Kirshenbaum (5)
HR: Ryan Jeffrey (2);
Kaden Kirshenbaum (1)
IP: Sam Coxen (5);
Cy Miller (3)
SO: Sam Coxen (7);
Hayden Mullins (3)
W/S: Sam Coxen (W);
Cy Miller (W)
THE BUZZ: Ryan Jeffrey was named Intermountain Health Player of the Game for game one and
Bodee Wright was named Intermountain Health Player of the Game for game two.
UP NEXT: The Montana State University Billings baseball team stays home for another four-game series against the Western Oregon Wolves starting on March 21
st at 1:00 PM at Dehler Park. Tickets for the home matchup can be found
here, live statistics can be found
here, and the live stream link can be found
here.
