@NCBearsBaseball Opens WAC Tournament Against North Dakota

WAC Tournament Central

Game 47
Who: North Dakota 23-25, 16-11 WAC
When: Wednesday, May 20, at 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time
Where: Mesa, Ariz., Hohokam Stadium
Series History: UND 21-20, last meeting March 29, 2015 (UND 13-2)
Game Links: Video | Live Stats
Game Notes: Northern Colorado | North Dakota | WAC

First Pitch
• Northern Colorado enters the WAC Tournament as the #6 seed opening up against North Dakota on Wednesday, May 20th at 7:00 pm pacific time.
• This is the first time UNC has made the WAC Tournament since joining the league in the 2014 season.
• Early this year North Dakota swept the Bears in the teams' series in Greeley.
• Jensen Park continues to tear the cover off the ball, leading the WAC in batting average (.436), slugging percentage (.648) and on base percentage (.484)
• Junior Matt Loutzenhiser will take the rubber for the Bears in the first game of the tournament. This season he has posted a 5.03 ERA is 16 appearances, including three starts. He has a 1-2 record and has struck out 22.
• Northern Colorado has had an up and down season at times going through lengthy win streaks and losing streaks. UNC ended the regular season on the down side dropping eight straight games. Despite the consecutive loses, three of the eight games were one run games.
• The WAC Tournament has a double elimination format, meaning a team has to lose twice before being eliminated. With a win UNC will play #1 Seed Seattle on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. pacific time, with a loss in game one, UNC would face the looser of #4 Sacramento State and #5 Utah Valley also on Thursday, but at 11:00 a.m. pacific time.
• The seeding for the WAC Tournament is as follows
      1) Seattle
      2) Bakersfield
      3) North Dakota
      4) Sacramento State
      5) Utah Valley
      6) Northern Colorado
A complete bracket for the tournament is further in the notes. The winner of the tournament earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament starting next week.

Hohokam Stadium
The WAC Tournament is at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. This is the second straight year the Tournament has been held at Hohokam.

It's Been Awhile
Northern Colorado is playing for their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1974 when they went on to Omaha for the College World Series. This is only the second year the Bears have been in an automatic qualifying league since becoming a Division I school in 2006.

Tournament Experience
This is UNC's fourth conference tournament in five years. The previous three came from time in the Great West Conference. The last time the Bears were in a conference tournament was the 2013 Great West Tournament.

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 277 hits going into the weekend.

Nationally Ranked
Jensen Park leads the WAC with a .437 batting average and ranks 3rd overall in the nation.

Getting Offensive
The Bears have one of the best offenses in the WAC, ranked second in batting average (.281), slugging percentage (.383), and fourth in on-base percentage (.362).

Moving the Runners
Jake Ek ranks 9th nationally with 15 sacrifice bunts this season. His 15 sacrifice bunts have helped produce nine runs for UNC.

He Gets On Base
Senior Jensen Park leads the WAC in on-base percentage at .484.

Second Time Around
It is well known is baseball that batters hit better the second time around when facing a pitcher. For Northern Colorado, the second time around the WAC was much more successful than the first time. After a difficult 4-23 first year UNC rebounded to go 12-15 and earn a spot in the WAC Tournament.

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 88-124 overall against the WAC. Since joining the league last season, UNC is 16-35.

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Matt Loutzenhiser

Jensen Park

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