Jacket Baseball Hits the Road (3/22/06)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings baseball team shoved off for an 11-day swing through Oklahoma and Missouri Wednesday.  The Jackets will play doubleheaders against Oklahoma Panhandle State March 24 and 25 and against Lincoln University March 29 and 30.  All eight games are Heartland Conference counters and will be seven innings each.  The first game against the Aggies is scheduled for 11 a.m. MST in Goodwell, Oklahoma.  

The Yellowjackets had their first taste of winning as the Jackets earned their first wins in the modern era of the program March 18 sweeping the twinbill from Northwest Nazarene University 11-2 and 5-2.  This will be the first meeting between the Jackets (2-18, 0-12 HLC) and Aggies (0-25, 0-12 HLC) this season. 

Leading the Jackets is Kyle Slater (Jr., Missoula, MT) batting a .333.  Slater has five runs off 13 hits and six RBI.  Jake Samuelson (Jr., Helena, MT) earned all five of his seasons RBI thus far in the win against the Crusaders.  Samuelson has four runs off eight hits and is batting a .229.  Leading the team with eight RBI, four doubles and one triple this season is Nick Hoskyn (Jr., Oelwein, IA).  Hoskyn has eight runs off 16 hits.  David Ducharme (Sr., Hamilton, MT) went the distance in the Jackets first win and has given up a total of 26 runs off 30 hits.  Ducharme has struck out 16 batters.  Mike Cease (Fr., Deer Lodge, MT) earned his first collegiate pitching victory against the Crusaders and has a 3.86 ERA.  Cease has given up one run off two hits in 2.1 innings of work.  The Yellowjackets have a combined ERA of 9.11.

The Aggies are led by JeCorey Matthews with a .392 batting average.  Matthews has 15 runs off 29 hits and has six RBI.  David Pierson (.392) leads the team with 15 RBI.  Pierson has five runs and has had six doubles and one homerun.  The Aggies have a combined ERA of 9.28 and have given up 231 runs off 257 hits.  Ricky Reagan (6.02) has given up 40 runs off 57 hits and has struck out 30 batters.

Lincoln University (7-14, 4-8 HLC) swept the four-game series from Oklahoma Panhandle last week and will be meeting the Yellowjackets for the first time this season.  The Blue Tigers are led by Derek Nordquist (.274) with 14 runs off 20 hits.  Nordquist has one double, three triples, three homeruns and 16 RBI.  Justin Ortmeyer (.338) has 14 RBI, and 12 runs off 22 hits.  The Blue Tigers have a combined ERA of 6.69, giving up 136 runs off 183 hits.  Ben Neuner (3.91) has struck out seven and has given up 17 runs off 29 hits.

Following the Jackets’ lengthy road trip they return to Cobb Field for a 29-game home stand beginning Friday, April 7 against Heartland Conference opponent St. Edward’s.   First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.  Live stats are currently unavailable but you may catch up on all the action by visiting the Yellowjacket Athletics website and clicking on baseball.