April 18, 2008          
                                                                 
Baseball Hosts Saint Martin’s in GNAC Weekend Series

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings baseball team hosts Saint Martin’s University in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference series this weekend at Pirtz Field. The Yellowjackets stand at 11-27 overall and 2-14 in the GNAC. SMU enters with a 13-18 overall mark and a 9-10 record in the GNAC. The Saturday doubleheader begins at 1 p.m., while the Sunday twin-bill begins at 11 a.m.

The Yellowjackets are led by Levi Johnson who is hitting a team-high .337 on the year. He is second on the team in hits with three and leads the squad with three home runs and 17 RBI. Jonathan Schlender is second on the team, hitting .325. Schlender leads the team with 37 hits, nine doubles and 46 total bases. He is a perfect 5 for 5 in the stolen base department, too.

After getting off to a slow start offensively, the Yellowjackets have come on as of late. Through the first 20 games of the season, MSUB hit just .236 with 36 extra-base hits including 26 doubles, five triples and five home runs. However, through the last 18 games, the team has upped its percentage to .299 with 57 extra-base hits, including 35 doubles, eight triples and 14 home runs.

As a staff, the Yellowjackets have a 6.68 team ERA in 38 games. Steve Scott leads the team with a 3-5 record and a 5.74 ERA. He has made nine appearances with eight starts and two complete games in a team-high 47 innings of work. Scott leads the team with 42 strikeouts. Jeremy Knowles and Cody Clark each have two wins on the year and Knowles is second on the team with a 5.75 ERA.

Saint Martin’s enters the week with just one win in its past 12 games. The Saints are led by Shane Schoeneberg who leads the team with a .390 average. He also leads the team in hits with 48, doubles with 10, home runs with nine, RBIs with 32 and total bases with 91. He is slugging a team-best .740 on the year and is 17 of 20 in stolen bases. Andy Cole is second on the team at a .364 clip as six Saints have averages over .300.

As a team the SMU is hitting .308 on the year with 86 extra-base hits and is slugging .445. The Saints have 53 doubles, 15 triples and 18 home runs on the year.

On the mound, the Saints have an ERA of 6.97. Andrew Neisinger leads the team with a 4-4 record and a 4.60 ERA. He has made 14 appearances with four complete games. Scott Leshner leads the team in innings pitched with 53.1 and carries a 1-4 record and a 6.41 ERA.

Saint Martin’s has won all five meetings this season. The Saints won a non-conference game at the Lewis-Clark State Tournament in a come-from-behind 8-4 victory. In that game, the Jackets jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but five costly errors allowed SMU to get back in the game and eventually win. The Saints then swept the conference series in Lacey, scoring in double figures in all four games.