@NCBearsBaseball and Bakersfield Battle for WAC Third Place

Northern Colorado comes into the weekend trailing Bakersfield by 1.5 games in the WAC standings as they start a three game series on Friday night.

Games 38-40
Who: Bakersfield Roadrunners 25-16-1, 12-5-1 WAC
When: May 1-3
Where: Bakersfield, Calif., Hardt Field
Series History: Bakersfield 7-0, last meeting May 4, 2014 (Bakersfield 4-3)
Game Notes: Northern Colorado | Bakersfield | WAC

Probable Starters

Game	Northern Colorado	Bakersfield	Game Links
Friday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m. MT	LHP Matt Loutzenhiser (1-1, 4.98 ERA)	RHP Hayden Carter (6-3, 2.36 ERA)	Video \| Audio \| Live Stats
Saturday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m. MT	TBA	RHP James Barragan (6-3, 2.13 ERA)	Video \| Audio \| Live Stats
Sunday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m. MT	LHP Nick Tanner (2-1, 3.62 ERA)	RHP Nick Rogowski (3-4, 4.06 ERA	Video \| Audio \| Live Stats

First Pitch
• Northern Colorado is in the middle of their best stretch this season winning six of their past seven games moving all the way up to fourth place in the WAC
• This weekend's match-up between UNC and Bakersfield is a battle for third place. If the Bears win the series they will take over third.
• Dan Reese continues to see the ball well, extending his hit streak to six, including having multiple hits in five of those six games.
• Both of the Bears victories over Texas-Pan American came in comeback fashion. Friday UNC scored four runs in the ninth inning, to secure a 10-8 victory and Sunday, UNC scored four runs in the eighth inning to earn the win
• Freshman right-handed pitcher Justin Mulvaney earned both wins coming in relief over the weekend going a combined 3 2/3 innings allowing just one run on three hits, while striking out three.
• For the second weekend in a row Northern Colorado's bullpen pitched well going 17 2/3 innings, putting up a 2.55 ERA earning two wins while also gathering a save. They also struck out 12 hitters.
• UNC currently has nine different players on a hit streak, seniors Reyn Sugai and Jensen Park are tied with the longest at six.
• Sophomore starting pitcher and right fielder Nick Tanner has allowed just four hits over his last two starts, including having a no-hitter going into the sixth inning against Utah Valley.
• Sugai has scored a run in nine straight games for UNC, and is tied for the team lead in runs scored with fellow Hawaiian Jensen Park at 32.
• The Bears have scored in the first inning in eight of their past nine games, helping them put pressure on their opponents early on.

Scouting the Roadrunners
Bakersfield enters this weekend's key WAC match-up with a 12-5-1 record, sitting 1.5 games ahead of the Bears in the standings. CSU-Bakersfield has a solid pitching staff having five pitchers with a sub 4.00 ERA, and as a team overall they are posting a 3.35 ERA. Starter Hayden Carter has a 21.1 scoreless inning streak on going and has allowed just one run in his previous 30 innings of work. At the plate the Roadrunners are led by David Metzgar who has a .376 batting average, leading the team with 27 RBI. Metzgar also has a .438 OBP, one of three players for Bakersfield with an OBP over .400. Last weekend CSU-Bakersfield took two out of three from second place Seattle U.

Who are You?
Fans will have to purchase a program to learn all the new faces on the Bears baseball team this year. Overall the team has 21 newcomers. There are 13 transfers and eight freshman that make up the group of 21.

Hits King
Jensen Park became the leading hitter in Northern Colorado last weekend with his first hit against Utah Valley on Sunday. Park passed Kevin Sandberg (2006-09) who had 243 career hits. He currently has 259 hits going into the weekend.

Nationally Ranked
Jensen Park leads the WAC with a .415 batting average and ranks 6th overall in the nation.

Getting Offensive
The Bears have one of the best offenses in the WAC, ranked second in batting average (.285), slugging percentage (.390), and on base percentage (.371).

Moving the Runners
Jake Ek ranks 12th nationally with 11 sacrifice bunts this season. His 10 sacrifice bunts have helped produce eight runs for UNC.

They Get On Base
Seniors Jensen Park and Reyn Sugai rank in the top five in the conference in OBP with Sugai just edging out his teammate .466 to .462

Second Time Around
It is well known is baseball that batters hit better the second time around when facing a pitcher. For Northern Colorado, they hope as a team they have more success in the WAC. Northern Colorado competed in its first season in the WAC last year, going 4-23.

Proud Tradition
Northern Colorado has been to 10 College World Series, which still ranks among the top 15 in the history of the CWS. There have only been 14 teams to make it the Omaha double digit times. The last time UNC made it was in 1974. Texas has the most CWS appearances with 34.

Proud Alum
Baseball is one of three sports at Northern Colorado (football, women's golf) with an alumnus as the head coach. Carl Iwasaki played for the Bears from 1981-84. Coach Iwasaki is not the only alum on the baseball staff, assistant coach Patrick Perry is an alum of the Northern Colorado too, graduating in 2009. This is his sixth year as the team's hitting coach.

New Territory
The WAC is the fifth conference the Bears have belonged to in the history of the program (Rocky Mountain Conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference, North Central Conference, Great West Conference). The team was also a Division I independent from 1976-90 and 2004-09.

Home Grown
Head coach Carl Iwasaki has done a great job of getting kids from Colorado to stay in-state. The Bears roster is comprised of 17 players from Colorado.

Against the WAC
Northern Colorado is 87-116 overall against the WAC. Since joining the league last season, UNC is 15-27.

On Deck
UNC ends the season with a six game home stand starting on May 8th against Sacramento State. The Hornets come into Greeley fighting to make the WAC Tournament after being the preseason favorite.

In the Hole
Northern Colorado closes out the regular season with a three game series against Seattle U. The Redhawks will visit Greeley May 14-16.