Wednesday, February 17, 2021

DALLAS – With the GNAC baseball season approaching, all five of the conference’s teams, led by Montana State Billings, landed on the first National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) regional rankings.

Montana State Billings enters the season ranked No. 4 in the West Region. The Yellowjackets are also among teams that received votes in the national rankings with four points.

Montana State Billings finished the shortened 2020 season with an 11-6-1 overall record and a 3-4-1 conference mark. With one of the most potent offenses in the nation, the Yellowjackets led the conference with a .301 team batting average, 183 hits, 138 runs scored, 129 runs batted in, 44 doubles and 30 home runs, which ranked ninth in Division II.

Senior first baseman Daniel Cipriano, the 2019 GNAC Player of the Year, finished 16th in Division II with seven homers while also ranking 44th with 24 runs batted in. Freshman pitcher Matthew Houlihan led the Yellowjackets on the mound with three wins and a 3.00 earned run average, which ranked third in the conference.

Northwest Nazarene and Western Oregon also cracked the West Region top-10. The Nighthawks open the season ranked No. 6 while the Wolves enter at No. 8.

Northwest Nazarene was riding a five-game winning streak in 2020 when the season came to an abrupt end. The Nighthawks finished at 9-7 overall with a GNAC-leading 7-1 conference mark. The Nighthawks were second in the conference with a .276 batting average and 17 home runs, six of which came off the bat of senior infielder Shawn Grandmont.

Western Oregon finished 6-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play. A strong pitching staff led the Wolves in 2020. Senior Logan Hatley emerged as a legitimate ace, holding opponents to a .106 batting average and ranking sixth in Division II with 3.46 hits allowed per game and 15th with a 0.69 ERA. Senior first baseman and pitcher Connor McCord also returns for another year after finishing the 2020 season with a 2.00 ERA and a conference-leading .484 batting average, which ranked No. 6 in Division II.

Central Washington and Saint Martin’s were among those receiving votes in the West Region rankings with two points each. The Wildcats finished 6-12 overall (3-5 GNAC) in 2020 while the Saints finished 8-7-1 overall (3-4-1 GNAC). Point Loma and Azusa Pacific are tied for the No. 1 spot in the West Region rankings with 52 points apiece.

The GNAC baseball season is set to open this week as Northwest Nazarene is scheduled to play a pair of doubleheaders at College of Idaho on Friday and Saturday.