Wednesday, February 15, 2023
THIS WEEK'S GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Player
Hayden Foltz, Montana State Billings
OF• 6-0 • Sr. • Pocatello, Idaho
Foltz was named the GNAC Player of the Week after batting .391 with five RBIs, four doubles and a home run through the first week of MSUB’s season. His highlight of the week came in Tuesday’s season-opening win where he went 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs against Cal State LA. He backed that up with by going 3 for 3 with one RBI and a double against Cal State San Marcos on Thursday.
Also Nominated: Trevor Tripoli (Central Washington), Shane Jamison (Northwest Nazarene), Brady Bean (Saint Martin’s)
Pitcher
Brayde Hirai, Central Washington
LHP • 5-11 • Sr. • Pasco, Wash.
Hirai was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Week after throwing eight shutout innings in the Wildcats’ 2-0 win at Cal State East Bay on Sunday. He allowed six hits and one walk while striking out two batters on 105 pitches.
Also Nominated: Cy Miller (Montana Sate Billings), Ty Pohlmann (Northwest Nazarene), Connor Mendez (Saint Martin’s)
AROUND THE GNAC
CENTRAL WASHINGTON
• Central Washington split a four-game series at Cal State East Bay last week, winning the first half of Sunday’s doubleheader 2-0 before dropping the nightcap 6-0. The Wildcats opened Monday’s doubleheader with a 13-7 win and fell 4-2 in the series finale. On Tuesday, CWU narrowly dropped a 9-8 game at Academy of Art.
• Senior pitcher Brayde Hirai was named the GNAC Player of the Week after putting in eight innings of shutout work in Sunday’s victory for his first win of the year. Hirai allowed six hits and one walk while striking out two batters on 105 pitches. Hirai ranks fifth in the GNAC with a 2.25 ERA and averaged 4.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
• Senior infielder Trevor Tripoli was the leading offensive threat for the Wildcats last week, leading the team with .500 batting average, a .563 slugging percentage and a .578 on base percentage. For the week, Tripoli went 8 for 16, with a double and two walks while knocking in three RBIs. His best performance came in Monday’s win where he went 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs and a double.
• Sophomore Travis Helm led the team with five RBIs on the week while batting .263 . He also played a role in Sunday’s offense-driven win, going 2 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs as CWU’s designated hitter.
• Central Washington will remain in California this week, facing Stanislaus State for a four-game series in Turlock with doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS
• Montana State Billings opened the season 3-3 on the road in California. The Yellowjackets swept a two-game series against Cal State LA taking an 11-3 win on Tuesday and a 12-11 win on Wednesday. At Cal State San Marcos, dropped the first three games of the series 9-6 on Thursday, 10-3 on Friday and 15-9 on Saturday before taking the second half of the doubleheader 5-1.
• Senior outfielder Hayden Foltz was named the GNAC Player of the Week after batting .391 with five RBIs, four doubles and a home run through the first week of MSUB’s season. Foltz was strong in both series openers, going 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs in Tuesday’s win at Cal State LA and 3 for 3 with one RBI and a double against Cal State San Marcos on Thursday.
• Sophomore infielder Kaden Kirshenbaum provided plenty of pop in his first games for MSUB, hitting .333 with a .619 slugging percentage courtesy of two home runs and four RBIs. Kirshenbaum put together his best performance of the week in the season on debut, going 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs against Cal State LA.
• Sophomore pitcher Cy Miller picked up the first save of the season for the Yellowjackets with 2.2 innings of work in Tuesday’s win before returning to the mound on Saturday to pick up the win with one run allowed in five innings while earning four strikeouts.
• Montana State Billings will have the week off before heading to Colorado to face CSU Pueblo for a two-game series on Feb. 23 & 24.
NORTHWEST NAZARENE
• Northwest Nazarene had a tough week on the Big Island, dropping three games to Hawaii Hilo before Saturday’s game was canceled in the second inning due to inclement weather. The Nighthawks narrowly fell 7-6 in Thursday’s series opener and came up short 7-5 and 11-3 in Friday’s doubleheader.
• Senior Shane Jamison led the Nighthawks offense for the week, batting .417 with a .667 slugging percentage, a .462 on base percentage and three RBIs while hitting doubles in each game. Jamison’s highlight of the week came in Friday’s hard-fought loss where he went 2 for 4 and was hit by a pitch while knocking in two RBIs.
• Senior pitcher Ty Pohlmann threw 3.2 innings for the Nighthawks without allowing a run in Thursday’s series-opener. Pohlmann allowed just one hit and three walks while striking out six batters in 66 pitches as a reliever.
• Sophomore Colby Moran only went 2 for 7 on the week, but worked six walks and scratched a pair of RBIs to bookend the series. His week was highlighted by the first half of Friday’s doubleheader he went 1 for 2 and drew three walks as the Nighthawks’ designated hitter.
• Northwest Nazarene will play at home for the first time this season, hosting College of Idaho for games on Thursday and Friday before completing the series in Caldwell, Idaho with a doubleheader on Saturday.
SAINT MARTIN’S
• Saint Martin’s went 0-4 in its first series of the year against No. 19 Cal State San Bernardino. The Saints fell 10-7 on Friday, 10-1 and 12-4 in Saturday’s doubleheader and 8-4 in the series finale on Sunday.
• Freshman infielder Brady Bean was led the offense on debut for the Saints. Bean finished the week batting .700 with an .800 slugging percentage and a .750 on base percentage with seven hits to lead the team while playing in three of the four games. He put in his best performance of the week on Sunday, going 4 for 4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Bean’s batting average leads the GNAC and ranks second in Division II.
• Junior outfielder Jonathan Shimabukuro did the most scoring damage for SMU with three RBIs on the week while batting .300 and slugging .600. He put together his best effort on Friday, going 2 for 4 with a solo home run in the third and an RBI single in the fourth.
• Saint Martin’s will host Oregon Tech for its first home games of the season this week with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
WESTERN OREGON
• Western Oregon did not play last week and will return to action on Saturday and Sunday, hosting doubleheaders against Eastern Oregon.
• Last time out, WOU went 1-3 against Fresno Pacific on the road. The Wolves dropped the first two games of the series 2-1 in 10 innings on Feb. 2 and 4-1 on Feb. 3 before taking the second half of the doubleheader with a 5-3 win. The week ended with a 5-3 loss for WOU on Feb.4.
• Senior two-way player Curran Mitzel was the most reliable bat of the series for the Wolves, finishing the series with a team-leading .357 batting average, .643 slugging percentage and .438 on base percentage. He notched five hits, including two doubles and a triple, and drew two walks while scoring two runs.
• Mitzel was one of three WOU players to amass five hits in the series along with the Maiben brothers. Senior Jacob Maiben led the brothers with a .333 batting average including a 3 for 3 effort with one walk and a stolen base. in the win. Senior Derek Maiben finished the week with a .312 batting average after going 2 for 5 and knocking in a pair of runs in the series finale.
• Sophomore pitcher Dylan Chalmers has worked the most innings of any Western Oregon pitcher, throwing for 5.2 innings on Feb. 4 where he allowed two unearned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out three batters and finished with a 0.00 ERA.