Wednesday, April 2, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – Stepping to the plate to lead off the seventh inning on Friday, Montana State Billings center fielder Luke Reinschmidt approached the at bat like a typical No. 9 hitter. With the Yellowjackets leading Northwest Nazarene 10-7, the sophomore from Billings attempted a drag bunt but fouled out.

“Coach usually gives me the green light to try to lay down a bunt, and I was just trying to get on base to hopefully start a rally,” Reinschmidt said during a GNAC Insider radio interview Tuesday evening. 

Under normal circumstances, the play would have gone unnoticed. But in his prior three at bats, Reinschmidt had completed three legs of the cycle with a double in the first inning, a single in the third and a home run in the fifth. 

“Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time,” Reinschmidt said of his seventh-inning at bat. “I was just trying to help the team.” 

Two innings later, Reinschmidt capitalized on his final chance of the game, roping a line drive into right-center field and racing to third base to complete the historic feat.

Only two other players have hit for the cycle in Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball history, with the rare accomplishment last occurring on May 11, 2007 by Severo Rodriguez of NNU. Like Reinschmidt’s cycle, the home run and triple in Rodriguez’ came at the back end, with a plate appearance sandwiching the two final hits.

Central Washington’s Josh Small was the first GNAC player to hit for the cycle, completing the task on March 20, 2005 as part of a 5-for-5, 6-RBI performance in a 25-7 win over Colorado Mines.

THIS WEEK

After a week off from conference play, first-place Western Oregon (19-11, 12-4 GNAC) returns to the diamond this weekend as the Wolves travel to Ellensburg to challenge Central Washington. The Wildcats (15-12, 8-9) have won three games in a row, taking 3 of 4 from Saint Martin’s last weekend to move into second place in the conference standings.

The Saints (8-21, 5-11) will host Northwest Nazarene in a pair of conference doubleheaders this week. The series will be split between Thursday and Friday, moved up one day from the originally scheduled Friday-Saturday tilt.

NNU (11-16, 7-7) is currently a half game behind CWU in the GNAC standings, and the next win for the Crusaders will be career victory No. 600 for long-time NAIA and first-year NNU head coach Rocke Musgraves.

MSUB (7-19, 6-8) will enjoy a week off before playing six games – a nonconference doubleheader with Dickinson State and a four-game set with Western Oregon – next week.

LEADERS

Among eligible players, MSUB junior Brody Miller is the lone individual in the conference batting north of .400, as his mark of .415 leads the way. Miller’s 39 hits, 21 walks and on-base percentage of .521 also lead the GNAC, and he has started all 26 games for the Yellowjackets this season.

Saint Martin’s junior Chandler Tracy remained at No. 3 in the GNAC record books with 25 career home runs, and his five this season pace the conference. Tracy is batting .341 this season, part of an SMU trio that ranks 3-4-5 in the GNAC (Alex Bielaski, .376 and Travis Shaw, .358).

Leading the conference in RBI with 22 is Central Washington junior Kasey Bielec, who is also batting a GNAC second-best .393 on the season. With zero strikeouts in 23 plate appearances last week, Bielec’s GNAC-leading strikeout rate dropped even further to an incredible 5.5 percent (six strikeouts in 107 plate appearances).

Bielec also ranks third across the NCAA Division II with six sacrifice flies, and his career total of 10 is tied for No. 9 in GNAC history.

On the mound, CWU’s top pitchers each logged complete games last week as Brandon Williams and Stuart Fewel each pitched the Wildcats to victory.

Williams ranks second in the conference in ERA at 2.11, and has struck out 50 batters in 42 2/3 innings of work so far this season. Fewel was named Red Lion Pitcher of the Week after allowing one earned run in his second complete game of the season to lower his 2014 ERA to 3.49.

After earning National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association West Region Pitcher of the Week honors March 17-23, Western Oregon ace Eric Huson remained atop the conference leader board with a 1.00 ERA. Huson has contributed one of WOU’s total six shutouts this season, which ranks the Wolves No. 4 in Division II in that category.

Senior closer Kody Stone is currently No. 2 all-time with 18 career saves, and is six short of the GNAC career record of 24 by NNU’s Nick Patee (2003-06).

At the plate for WOU, Daniel McNabb ranks No. 6 in the conference in batting average at .340, and he and teammate Matt Taylor are tied for No. 2 in the conference with 21 RBI apiece.

Northwest Nazarene senior right-hander Aaron Vaughn currently ranks third in the conference with an ERA of 2.15 and has the most wins with six. Vaughn’s 44 strikeouts are third-most in the GNAC as well, and he has walked just nine batters in 46.0 innings of work this season.

NNU junior Ryan Johnson is batting .300 this season and is currently tied for the conference lead in doubles with 10. His 11 total extra base hits in 2014 are tied for second-most in the GNAC.