March 24, 2008          

Yellowjackets Open Home Slate Versus Colorado Christian

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team will open the home portion of the schedule Tuesday at 12 p.m. against Colorado Christian in a doubleheader at Pirtz Field. The Yellowjackets stand at 4-16 on the year and 0-8 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

MSUB will be looking to snap an eight-game skid and 12 of 13 in the home debut. Colorado Christian enters the week with a 9-17 record and a 2-14 record in the RMAC. The Cougars have lost six-straight and 14 of 16.

This past week, the Yellowjackets dropped four games at Central Washington and had the lead in three of them in the early going. CWU came from behind for 4-1, 8-2 and 11-1 victories and jumped ahead in the final game for a 6-1 win. Matt Kakalecik led the way for the Yellowjackets offensively, hitting a team-best .357 with five hits, one home run and three RBI. He slugged .571 for the week. Kakalecik was named honorable mention Player of the Week for his efforts.

In addition, Cole Pryor began to heat things up as he batted at a .333 clip with a 3 for 9 performance from the dish with one triple and one run scored. He was one of four Yellowjackets to swipe a base as well. He was hitting .173 entering last week. Pryor is the only player to have played in all 20 games thus far.

Central Washington used a total of four pitchers in the series as each starter went the distance and combined for a 1.12 ERA and allowed just five runs.

Leading the way for the Yellowjackets this season Levi Johnson who is hitting a team-best .366. Kakalecik is second on the squad in average at .357 and leads the team with two home runs, four doubles and eight RBI. Nick Rupert and Matt Schoonover lead the team with 17 hits each and Pryor has scored a team-best 11 times.

As a team, the Yellowajackets are hitting .238 on the year. MSUB has 26 doubles, five triples and five home runs. The team is slugging .319 and have a .924 fielding percentage with 51 errors.

On the hill, Steve Scott leads the team with a 2-3 record and a 5.90 ERA. Scott, who was named GNAC Player of the Week earlier this season, leads the team with 29 innings pitched. He also leads the team in strikeouts with 36 in five starts and has one complete game.
The Cougars are led by Michael Cavazos who is averaging a team-best .357 in 14 games, along with four doubles, one triple and two home runs. Chad Barnhill is hitting .347 and has played and started in all 26 games. Barnhill leads the team with 34 hits and seven doubles. Chris Guyer, who is hitting .341, leads the team with seven home runs and 30 RBI. He is slugging a team-best .683.

As a team, the Cougars are hitting .282 with 50 doubles, two triples and 14 home runs. The team is slugging .401 and has committed 58 errors on the year.

Matt Tomlinson (1-1) leads the team in appearances with nine and has one start and one save to go along with a 3.80 ERA. Andrew Kaiser, who is 4-3 on the year, leads the team with 44 innings pitched in seven starts. He also has a team-best three complete games.
As a staff, the Cougars have an ERA of 7.96 in 193.1 innings of work. The team has allowed 223 runs and 171 have been earned. The opponents have an ERA of 5.99 and have given up 168 runs and 136 earned.

This weekend, the Yellowjackets return to conference play as they travel to Northwest Nazarene for a four-game series beginning Friday at 4 p.m. The Crusaders are coming off a huge weekend where they defeated No. 14 Cal State Stanislaus three times in a four-game series. NNU has a 16-10 record overall and a 2-6 record in conference play. The Crusaders are in the midst of a three-game series with Simpson University before hosting the Yellowjackets.

Leading the way for the Crusaders this season is Zach Aakhus who is averaging a team-best .393 on the year. He leads the team in hits (35), doubles (12), triples (2), home runs (4), RBIs (27) and slugging percentage at a .708 clip. Also hitting over .300 is Jimmy VanBeek at a .349 clip.

The staff has four pitchers who see significant starts.  Chris Mahelona leads the way with a 4.18 ERA in six starts.  He has two complete games in 32.1 innings pitched.  Andy Pottenger leads the team in innings pitched at 33.1 and carries a 4.59 ERA.  Cory Warburton has four saves and a 2.16 ERA as the closer.