Tuesday, March 14, 2023

THIS WEEK'S GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Player
Mason Leavitt, Northwest Nazarene  
IF• 5-10 • So. • Eagle, Idaho

Leavitt was named the GNAC Baseball Player of the Week after batting .429 across five games for the Nighthawks last week. He notched at least one hit in each game highlighted by 3 for 5 effort with an RBI single in Thursday’s 6-5, 12-inning win over Montana State Billings.

Also Nominated: Kevin Varner Jr. (Central Washington), Payton Flynn (Montana State Billings), AJ Cortese (Western Oregon).

Pitcher
Bryce Bond, Western Oregon
RHP • 5-10 • So. • Simi Valley, Calif.

Bond earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors after finishing one out short of a complete game win in Western Oregon’s 5-2 win over Central Washington on Sunday. Bond allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits with a walk and a career-high 11 strikeouts to record his second win of the season.

Also Nominated: Brayde Hirai (Central Washington), Trevor Cassell (Montana State Billings), Ty Pohlmann (Northwest Nazarene).

AROUND THE GNAC

CENTRAL WASHINGTON
• Central Washington opened the week by splitting a doubleheader at Saint Martin’s last Monday with a 7-5 win to open the day and a 6-5 loss in the series finale. Due to weather forecasts, CWU pushed back its GNAC home opener against Western Oregon to Sunday and Monday. The Wildcats went 1-3 in the series, falling 6-3 and 5-2 on Sunday and 11-6 in Monday’s opener before winning the finale 5-4.

• Across the six games, sophomore Ben Leid has led the charge for the offense, batting .360 with seven RBIs, four runs scored and one stolen base with two home runs and three walks. Leid put together arguably his best performance of the week on Monday where he went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and a run scored including a home run in the Wildcats’ 5-4 win.

• Sophomore pitcher Reid Rasmussen earned his first win of the season on the mound on Monday as he threw all seven innings. Rasmussen allowed four runs on four hits while striking out three batters and throwing 90 pitches.  

• Central Washington will be back on action on Friday and Saturday as it hits the road to face Northwest Nazarene in a four-game series. 

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS
• Montana State Billings went 1-3 on the week in its conference series with Northwest Nazarene. The Yellowjackets fell 6-5 in 12 innings to open the series on Thursday before dropping the nightcap 14-5. On Saturday, MSUB won the first game of the doubleheader 7-4 before falling 2-1 in the series finale.

• Sophomore Kaden Kirshenbaum moved into a tie for the most home runs in the GNAC with five on the season, knocking another two out of the park last week. Kirshenbaum hit .333 going 6 for 16 in the four games with four RBIs, four runs scored, two home runs, two doubles and a walk. He accounted for both of his home runs in Thursday’s 14-5 loss with a two-run shot in the first inning and a solo shot in the fifth inning.

• Sophomore Ty Wilson earned his first win of the season in the Yellowjackets’ 7-4 victory on Saturday. Wilson threw 6.2 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out one. He earned 12 of his outs via the fly ball.

• Junior Payton Flynn continues to swing a hot bat and finished the series with a .438 batting average and a .526 on base percentage. Flynn went 7 for 16 with three runs and two RBIs on a double and two walks. Flynn is tied for the GNAC lead in home runs and is second with a .641 slugging percentage.

• Montana State Billings will host Saint Martin’s for a four-game series this week with doubleheaders scheduled on Friday and Saturday.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE
• Northwest Nazarene earned GNAC Team of the Week honors after narrowly falling 4-3 to Division I Utah Valley last Monday before going 3-1 against Montana State Billings in conference competition at home. The Nighthawks swept Thursday’s doubleheader with a 6-5, 12-inning win in the opener and a 14-5 five victory in the nightcap. They dropped game one on Saturday, 7-4, before winning the series finale 2-1.

• Sophomore Mason Leavitt was named the GNAC Baseball Player of the Week after batting .429 while knocking in four RBIs and scoring three runs on nine hits, a double and three walks. Leavitt had one of his best games of the season in Thursday’s opener where he went 3 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored while also drawing a walk.

• Senior Shane Jamison was another consistent source of offensive production for the Nighthawks last week, batting .353 in the five games with seven RBIs and two runs scored on seven hits, two home runs and five walks. Jamison opened his week by showing patience in the batter’s box on Monday where he went 1 for 2 with a solo home run and drew three walks against Utah Valley. He also went 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs in Thursday’s 14-5 win.

• Sophomore Nathan Galusha earned his first win of the season on the mound in Saturday’s victory. Galusha threw 4.1 innings while striking out three batters. Junior Joseph Ihli picked up the save, striking out two batters in his one inning of work. Ihli leads the GNAC with six saves on the season.

• Northwest Nazarene also faced Utah Valley on the road Monday, falling 11-9.

• The Nighthawks will host Central Washington this week for doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.

SAINT MARTIN’S
• Saint Martin’s opened the week by finishing its series with Central Washington with a 1-1 split and went 1-2 in a non-conference series against George Fox at home last week. The Saints fell 7-5 in game one of Monday’s doubleheader with CWU before taking the series finale 6-5.  They then won the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader with George Fox, 5-3, before dropping game two 5-1. On Sunday, SMU fell 14-1 to end the series.

• Sophomore Sam McCauley earned the lone win of the weekend on the mound for the Saints on Saturday. McCauley threw three innings and allowed one run on two hits and a walk while striking out five.

• Freshman Brady Bean was the most consistent batter yet again for the Saints, hitting .353 for the week. Bean went 6 for 17 in the four games he appeared in, recording three RBIs and two runs on a triple, a double, a walk and two stolen bases. He notched both the triple and double in the first half of Monday’s doubleheader while going 2 for 5 with two RBIs.

• Sophomore Damon Ingram was a key part of SMU’s offense in its win over George Fox, going 1 for 3 with a solo home run and a sacrifice fly to account for two of the Saints’ five runs. For the week, Ingram hit .333 with a .583 slugging percentage.

• Saint Martin’s will face Montana State Billings this week with doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday in Billings.

WESTERN OREGON
• Western Oregon went 3-1 in a four-game series against Central Washington on Sunday and Monday after weather delayed the start of the series. The Wolves won the first three games, taking Sunday’s doubleheader 6-3 and 5-2 before winnings Monday’s opener 11-6 and falling 5-4 in the series finale.

• Sophomore Bryce Bond earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors after finishing one out short of a complete game win in Western Oregon’s 5-2 win over Central Washington on Sunday. Bond allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits with a walk and a career-high 11 strikeouts to record his second win of the season.

• Junior AJ Cortese was one of the best bats of the series for the Wolves, finishing the four games going 6 for 15 with seven RBIs and four runs scored on two home runs, a walk and a stolen base. Cortese recorded multi-hit games in both of Sunday’s wins and in Monday’s finale. He opened the week with on of his best performances, going 2 for 5 five three RBIs and a run scored with a three-run homer in the ninth inning to win the game for WOU.

• Western Oregon will host Bushnell for a non-conference game on Wednesday for its only game of the week.