NAMPA, Ida. – The Montana State University Billings baseball team earned a series split against the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks (16-10, 5-3 GNAC), dominating game one 16-5 but falling short in game two. The Yellowjackets (11-9, 2-2 GNAC) picked up a pair of crucial conference road wins on the weekend, drawing a series split against the Nighthawks who were ranked #3 in the most recent NCBWA west region rankings and received votes nationally heading into the series.
The Yellowjackets put on a show in the first game of the day, putting together one of their best performances across the board that they've shown all season. A dynamic duo masterclass pitching performance from
Sam Coxen and
Malcolm Bartholomew kept the Nighthawk offense at bay, combing for nine innings with four strikeouts, allowing just one earned run while Coxen picked up his second win of the season. The offense was also firing on all cylinders, pushing runs across the plate in six of the nine innings while tallying 18 total hits with six of them being extra base hits.
HEAR FROM WADDOUPS: "Coxen had another outstanding outing for us this weekend, he commanded his fastball and changed speeds in the zone very well. He gave us the quality start that we needed to take game one.
Kaden Bertram was outstanding at the plate today; he was a game changer for us offensively. Looking forward to seeing what he can do as we continue into conference play. Game two got away from us and they did a nice job pitching and ultimately outplayed us.
Highlighting the offensive production in game one was
Kaden Bertram, who in his first start of the season and second as a Yellowjacket went 4-4 from the plate with four RBIs, three runs, one home run, one double, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. Also doing a majority of the heavy lifting was
Bodee Wright with five RBIs on a pair of hits and a pair of runs, including his first career grand slam in the top of the second inning.
Zack Blaszak added three hits with a run and an RBI,
Kaden Kirshenbaum chipped in a pair of hits with a pair of runs,
Ryker Fortier added two hits with a run and an RBI, and
Jarret Elmer also slashed two hits with two runs and an RBI.
The Nighthawks flipped the script in the second game of the day and final game of the series, holding the red hot Yellowjacket lineup to zero runs and seven hits. Cole Calnon earned the game four win, throwing an impressive seven inning complete game shutout to improve to 5-0 on the year. The Nighthawks also tallied 11 runs on 10 hits to take game four and draw a series split.
GAME ONE: MSUB 16; NNU 5
After a scoreless top frame from the 'Jackets,
Sam Coxen took the bump for his fourth start of the season. The Nighthawks would threaten with a pair of hits, but the freshman got out of the jam, stranding both runners. In the top of the second,
Kaden Bertram got things started with a 10-pitch at bat that resulted in a base knock. Following was a bunt base hit from
Jarret Elmer and a walk from
Parker Bleggi turn over the lineup with bases loaded. With a 2-2 count,
Bodee Wright sent his second homer of his career over the left field wall to clear the bases for a grand slam, giving the Yellowjackets the early 4-0 advantage.
After a scoreless top half from MSUB, the Nighthawks got on the board in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single but that was the only damage done, sending it into the fourth with the Yellowjackets up 4-1. Following a scoreless fourth, the Yellowjackets struck again in the top of the fifth after Bertram's RBI sacrifice fly to score
Kaden Kirshenbaum, and Elmer's RBI single to score
Ryan Jeffrey. NNU matched in the bottom frame, but MSUB added one back with an RBI single from Jeffrey to score
Zack Blaszak, making it a 7-3 ballgame.
Taking the mound in the top of the sixth to relieve Coxen was
Malcolm Bartholomew, but not before he went five complete innings with two strikeouts while allowing just one earned run. The Nighthawks threatened again by drawing a walk and putting two runners in scoring position on a double, but Bartholomew got out of the jam unscathed. The Yellowjackets blew open the game in the top of the seventh, scoring six runs while still leaving two runner on base. Highlighting the inning was Bertram claiming both of the hits in the inning, adding his third hit of the ballgame on a solo shot to open the seventh, followed by an RBI single for his fourth hit of the game to give MSUB the 13-3 lead.
From there, the Yellowjackets added an insurance run in the top of the eight after
Jack Nehler scored Bleggi on an RBI double. The Nighthawks responded with two of their own but the 'Jackets matched in the top of the ninth. MSUB capped the game off with a pair of efficient pinch hits, one coming from
Nate McDonald who picked up an RBI on a single and one from
Cole Ayala who blasted a double to the left field corner for an RBI as well. Bartholomew went out and shut it down in the final frame, finishing with four complete innings and two strikeouts while allowing zero earned runs to help lead the Yellowjackets to a game three 16-5 victory.
GAME TWO: MSUB 0; NNU 11
In the top half of the first inning the Yellowjackets put pressure on early with a pair of base hits from Wright and Nehler but were unable to convert. It was the Nighthawks striking first, picking up a pair of runs on two hits and a walk to take an early 2-0 lead. From there, the game hit a lull in action with six straight batters retired in order in the second and six of seven hitters in the third with the only hit coming from Wright. It wasn't until the bottom of the fourth when the Nighthawks blew it open, forcing two pitching changes and tallying seven runs. NNU pushed the first two across by capitalizing on a costly throwing error from the 'Jackets, followed by an RBI single, a two RBI double, and capped it off with a two RBI base hit to make it a 9-0 ballgame.
The Yellowjackets threatened again in the top of the fifth after Wright added his third hit of the game and fifth of the day with a triple but was ultimately left stranded. NNU added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth and after more scoreless baseball, the Nighthawks went on to take game four 11-0. Making the game two start was
Cy Miller who went three innings before he was relieved by
Kevin McClellan and then
Cole Bertram. The two combined to get out of the fourth with
Lance Schaaf completing the bottom of the fifth. Finishing it out on the bump was
Andrew White who tallied two strikeouts while allowing zero hits and zero runs in his one inning of work.
STATISTIC LEADERS
H: Bodee Wright (5);
Kaden Bertram (4)
R: Kaden Bertram (3);
Parker Bleggi (3)
RBI: Bodee Wright (5);
Kaden Bertram (4)
HR: Bodee Wright (1);
Kaden Bertram (1)
IP: Sam Coxen (5.0);
Malcolm Bartholomew (4.0)
SO: Sam Coxen (2);
Malcolm Bartholomew (2);
Andrew White (2)
THE BUZZ: Kaden Bertram was named Intermountain Health Player of the Day after going 4-7 from the plate with four RBIs, three runs, one walk, one sacrifice fly, one home run, and one double.
UP NEXT: The Montana State University Billings baseball team will finally host their first home games of the season, facing off against the Saint Martin's Saints starting on March 14
th at 1:00 PM. Tickets for the home matchup can be found
here, live statistics can be found
here, and the live stream link can be found
here.
