ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University baseball team (13-11, 7-5 GNAC) returns to the diamond after a bye week as they host Montana State Billings (18-10, 9-3 GNAC), taking on the Yellowjackets in a four-game series starting Friday, March 28.
GAME INFORMATION
Friday, March 28 (Doubleheader)
Game One
Noon
Game Two
3:00 p.m.
Central Washington vs Montana State Billings
CWU Baseball Field
Ellensburg, Wash.
WATCH LIVE STATS
Saturday, March 29 (Doubleheader)
Game One
11:00 a.m.
Game Two
2:00 p.m.
Central Washington vs Montana State Billings
CWU Baseball Field
Ellensburg, Wash.
WATCH LIVE STATS
THE WILDCATS
Central is coming off a bye week following a victory over Eastern Oregon University on March 18. The Wildcats defeated the Mountaineers 9-7 after a back-and-forth tilt. The Crimson and Black got out to an early 6-1 lead with a pair of RBI hits from Ben Leid and Andrew Sharp, as well as a two-RBI home run from Baba Varner Jr. EOU found a rhythm though, and began to cut down the CWU lead, eventually trailing 6-7 in the seventh inning. However, the Central bats found their stride through a pair of solo homers from Brandham Ponce and Leid in the eighth inning and those runs proved to be the difference maker as the Wildcats held on to win.
SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS
Montana State Billings has shown to be a strong team in the GNAC this season. In their first three conference series, the Yellowjackets split 2-2 against the conference-leading Northwest Nazarene, then swept Saint Martin's, outscoring the Saints 58-22 in a four-game series, and finally defeating Western Oregon 3-1 to enter this week with a 9-3 conference record.
The Yellowjackets' batting has a strong showing at the plate led by Jack Nehler. Nehler is currently batting .430 and has a 1.049 OPS. Following Nehler are five batters who are batting above .300 including Ryker Fortier (.393), Bodee Wright (.371), Ryan Jeffrey (.366), Kaden Kirshenbaum (.352), and Zack Blaszak (.304). On the pitching side, MSUB's top pitcher, Jackson Betancourt, has a 3.77 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP with a 2-2 record. In his 43 innings pitched, Betancourt has struck out 33 and allowed 51 hits and 23 runs.
The Wildcats and Yellowjackets face off on Friday, March 28 for the four-game series with the first pitch scheduled for noon from the CWU Baseball Field.
