Thursday, April 16, 2015
PORTLAND, Ore. – With the season quickly coming to a conclusion, second-place Montana State Billings will host conference-leader Western Oregon in a crucial five-game series this weekend.
The Yellowjackets (17-18 overall, 12-7 GNAC) have won their last three series and are coming off a four-game home-stand where they averaged 11.5 runs per game. Fourteen of those runs were off the bat of second baseman Brody Miller who earned National Collegiate Baseball Writers Associations (NCBWA) West Region Player of the Week honors.
Miller slugged four of his teams seven home runs, including two grand slams, in the series win over Central Washington. MSUB batted .411 as a team in the series.
Miller and the GNAC’s top offense will be facing their biggest challenger of the year, Western Oregon, starting Friday.
The Wolves (21-19 overall, 16-7 GNAC), who are one of the best pitching teams in the conference, have also been on a roll as of late winning the season-series against the NAIA’s 19th-ranked team Lewis-Clark State and sweeping Saint Martin’s last week. Their current five-game win-streak is the third longest in the GNAC this season behind their own six-game streak and MSUB’s seven-straight wins.
Western Oregon has produced the last two GNAC Pitchers of the Week in Jesse Pratt and Darrien Moran, who each threw complete games in their starts.
Over the last two conference series, the Wolves have held opponents to a .259 batting average while striking out 48 batters. In the eight games, five WOU starters have pitched 5.2 innings or more while holding teams to a mere 3.6 runs each contest.
Western Oregon will maintain control of the conference lead if it wins two or more games, as it would also clinch a spot in the GNAC tournament. MSUB can significantly narrow the Wolves lead however, or even take control of the GNAC, with a good showing this weekend.
So far this year, the Yellowjackets are 6-2 at home while the Wolves are 10-18 in road matchups.
This series is actually a four-game matchup as the fifth game, being played Friday at 1 p.m., was carried over from a suspended dual March 14. The game will resume with MSUB leading 1-0 in the top of the 1st with the bases loaded and no outs.
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