University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Monday, February 22
Lawrence, Kansas
2:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
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Kansas
Photo by: Darryl Webb
@NCBearsBaseball Continues Sunflower State Trip at Kansas
2/21/2016 8:35:00 PM | Baseball
Northern Colorado baseball continues its trips through the Sunflower State at Kansas
GREELEY, Colo. – Coming off a thrilling ninth inning comeback victory on Sunday against Wichita State, Northern Colorado baseball gets right back at it on Monday when they face the Kansas Jayhawks. The Bears and Jayhawks will be playing in a two game mid-weed series over Monday and Tuesday.
Series Notes: Northern Colorado | Kansas
Leading Off
• UNC went 1-2 over the opening weekend, avoiding the weekend sweep with a 4-3 win over Wichita State on Sunday
• Northern Colorado used a two run ninth inning to come back and defeat the Shockers for their first win of the season.
• Both Corey Nakakura and Cody Carroll earned their first career wins and save, respectively on Sunday. Carroll secured the feat for the two by striking out the final two batters of the game.
• Northern Colorado finished last year with a 16-32 record, going 12-15 in WAC play.
• The Bears qualified for its first WAC Tournament last season, making it as the six seed. In the double-elimination tournament the team went 0-2 falling to No. 3 seed North Dakota 7-2 and No. 4 seed Sacramento State 5-0.
• Cole Maltese and Dan Reese were named to College Sports Madness Preseason All-WAC team. Maltese on the first team and Reese on the second.
• Northern Colorado was picked eighth by the WAC coaches in the Preseason Poll. The Bears are used to out playing their expectations after making it to Mesa, Arizona last season for the conference tournament after being picked last in the preseason.
Scouting Kansas
Kansas is led by 14th year head coach Ritch Price who has compiled a 415-368-2 record at the helm for the Jayhawks.
KU has only played one game so far this season falling to Arkansas-Little Rock last Saturday 4-2. In the game, the Jayhawks offense struggled mustering up only four hits and drawing only two walks. Kansas' bullpen pitched well though, going 3.0 innings allowing just one hit and no runs.
Coming into the season the Big 12 coaches' picked KU to finish the season seventh in the 10 team league.
Series History vs the Jayhawks
UNC is 4-5 all-time against Kansas. All nine of the games between the two teams have taken place in Lawrence, starting in 2005. The last time UNC played the Jayhawks was in 2009 when KU took both games of the two game series .
Yamane The Man
After missing last year with a foot injury, Ryan Yamane has a few different UNC baseball records within reach. Coming into the 2016 season, he ranks eighth in at bats with 618, 15th in hits (181) and second in walks with 114. Yamane is just seven walks away from tying the program record of 121 set by Jeff Cheek who played from 1972-75.
What Freshman Jitters?
Tyler Yamaguchi showed no freshman jitters during his first three games of his colligate career. Coming out of the first weekend of play he is leading the team with a .357 batting average. He has done well in the lead-off spot setting the table and scoring four times for UNC. In his second career game Yamaguchi had three hits, all of them being doubles.
Less Free Runners
UNC's pitching staff will be working on giving less free passes as the season continues to progress. In the series against Wichita State the Bears gave up 24 walks including 11 in the season opener.
Moving Runners Over
Senior Jake Ek moved plenty of runners over last year, finishing the season ranked 18th in the nation with 15 sacrifice bunts. Those 15 bunts helped produce nine runs for the team last year.
Looking Back on 2015
Northern Colorado made its first ever trip to the WAC Tournament in 2015 since joining the conference, earning the sixth and final spot in it. The Bears went 0-2 in the double elimination tournament falling to North Dakota and Sacramento State.
UNC had the WAC Player of the Year in 2015 in outfielder Jensen Park. Park a senior finished the season hitting .428 with six home runs and 34 runs batted in. Teammate Brandon Vaughn was also named to the All-WAC team earning a spot on the second team.
Bear in the Big Leagues
For the first time since 2011, Northern Colorado had a player drafted in the MLB draft last June. Senior Jensen Park was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 32nd round. Before Park was drafted last year, Jarod Berggren was the last UNC player drafted back in 2011.
Making the Grades
Northern Colorado baseball had seven players earn their spot on the WAC All-Academic team for 2015. Those players were Allen Cook, Caleb Kirkman, Cole Maltese, Dan Reese, Reyn Sugai, Zach Heath and Brett Minnick.
Home Grown
Head coach Carl Iwasaki and his staff have done a good job of keeping the home grown talent in the state. 12 of UNC's 32 hail from the Centennial State.
Hawaii Five-0
The Bears have a little Hawaii flair to them with three players plus head coach Carl Iwasaki and assistant Kaiona Correa all coming to Colorado from the islands.
Exceeding Expectations
For the second straight year, UNC is going to have to exceed the expectations of the WAC coaches to make another trip to Mesa, Arizona for the conference tournament. The WAC coaches pegged the Bears to finish eighth in the conference. Last year the team was picked to finish last in the preseason, but exceed those expectations finishing 7th to make it to Mesa.
New Faces
Northern Colorado not only welcomes 11 new players to this year's ball club, but also has some new faces on the coaching staff. Kai Correa moves up to a full-time assistant after being a volunteer last season, while Coach Iwa also brought on Jordan Stouffer and Dan Siegfried as a volunteer assistant and director of baseball operations.
Class of 2017
While the 2016 season is just about to kick-off, UNC has already secured eight new players for its 2017 team. During the early signing period this year the Bears have brought in three infielders, a catchers, two utility players and a pair of right handed pitchers.
On Deck
The Bears will head to California this weekend, to take on Big West foe Cal State Northridge. The teams will play a double header on that Saturday.
In the Hole
It is another trip to the west coast, when UNC travels back to California to take on Pacific for a four game series starting on March 4.
Series Notes: Northern Colorado | Kansas
| Series Information |
| Game 1 | LHP Nick Tanner (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs RHP Jon Hander (0-0, 0.00 ERA) | Gameday Central |
| Game 2 | TBA vs RHP Jackson Goddard (0-0, 0.00 ERA) | Gameday Central |
Leading Off
• UNC went 1-2 over the opening weekend, avoiding the weekend sweep with a 4-3 win over Wichita State on Sunday
• Northern Colorado used a two run ninth inning to come back and defeat the Shockers for their first win of the season.
• Both Corey Nakakura and Cody Carroll earned their first career wins and save, respectively on Sunday. Carroll secured the feat for the two by striking out the final two batters of the game.
• Northern Colorado finished last year with a 16-32 record, going 12-15 in WAC play.
• The Bears qualified for its first WAC Tournament last season, making it as the six seed. In the double-elimination tournament the team went 0-2 falling to No. 3 seed North Dakota 7-2 and No. 4 seed Sacramento State 5-0.
• Cole Maltese and Dan Reese were named to College Sports Madness Preseason All-WAC team. Maltese on the first team and Reese on the second.
• Northern Colorado was picked eighth by the WAC coaches in the Preseason Poll. The Bears are used to out playing their expectations after making it to Mesa, Arizona last season for the conference tournament after being picked last in the preseason.
Scouting Kansas
Kansas is led by 14th year head coach Ritch Price who has compiled a 415-368-2 record at the helm for the Jayhawks.
KU has only played one game so far this season falling to Arkansas-Little Rock last Saturday 4-2. In the game, the Jayhawks offense struggled mustering up only four hits and drawing only two walks. Kansas' bullpen pitched well though, going 3.0 innings allowing just one hit and no runs.
Coming into the season the Big 12 coaches' picked KU to finish the season seventh in the 10 team league.
Series History vs the Jayhawks
UNC is 4-5 all-time against Kansas. All nine of the games between the two teams have taken place in Lawrence, starting in 2005. The last time UNC played the Jayhawks was in 2009 when KU took both games of the two game series .
Yamane The Man
After missing last year with a foot injury, Ryan Yamane has a few different UNC baseball records within reach. Coming into the 2016 season, he ranks eighth in at bats with 618, 15th in hits (181) and second in walks with 114. Yamane is just seven walks away from tying the program record of 121 set by Jeff Cheek who played from 1972-75.
What Freshman Jitters?
Tyler Yamaguchi showed no freshman jitters during his first three games of his colligate career. Coming out of the first weekend of play he is leading the team with a .357 batting average. He has done well in the lead-off spot setting the table and scoring four times for UNC. In his second career game Yamaguchi had three hits, all of them being doubles.
Less Free Runners
UNC's pitching staff will be working on giving less free passes as the season continues to progress. In the series against Wichita State the Bears gave up 24 walks including 11 in the season opener.
Moving Runners Over
Senior Jake Ek moved plenty of runners over last year, finishing the season ranked 18th in the nation with 15 sacrifice bunts. Those 15 bunts helped produce nine runs for the team last year.
Looking Back on 2015
Northern Colorado made its first ever trip to the WAC Tournament in 2015 since joining the conference, earning the sixth and final spot in it. The Bears went 0-2 in the double elimination tournament falling to North Dakota and Sacramento State.
UNC had the WAC Player of the Year in 2015 in outfielder Jensen Park. Park a senior finished the season hitting .428 with six home runs and 34 runs batted in. Teammate Brandon Vaughn was also named to the All-WAC team earning a spot on the second team.
Bear in the Big Leagues
For the first time since 2011, Northern Colorado had a player drafted in the MLB draft last June. Senior Jensen Park was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 32nd round. Before Park was drafted last year, Jarod Berggren was the last UNC player drafted back in 2011.
Making the Grades
Northern Colorado baseball had seven players earn their spot on the WAC All-Academic team for 2015. Those players were Allen Cook, Caleb Kirkman, Cole Maltese, Dan Reese, Reyn Sugai, Zach Heath and Brett Minnick.
Home Grown
Head coach Carl Iwasaki and his staff have done a good job of keeping the home grown talent in the state. 12 of UNC's 32 hail from the Centennial State.
Hawaii Five-0
The Bears have a little Hawaii flair to them with three players plus head coach Carl Iwasaki and assistant Kaiona Correa all coming to Colorado from the islands.
Exceeding Expectations
For the second straight year, UNC is going to have to exceed the expectations of the WAC coaches to make another trip to Mesa, Arizona for the conference tournament. The WAC coaches pegged the Bears to finish eighth in the conference. Last year the team was picked to finish last in the preseason, but exceed those expectations finishing 7th to make it to Mesa.
New Faces
Northern Colorado not only welcomes 11 new players to this year's ball club, but also has some new faces on the coaching staff. Kai Correa moves up to a full-time assistant after being a volunteer last season, while Coach Iwa also brought on Jordan Stouffer and Dan Siegfried as a volunteer assistant and director of baseball operations.
Class of 2017
While the 2016 season is just about to kick-off, UNC has already secured eight new players for its 2017 team. During the early signing period this year the Bears have brought in three infielders, a catchers, two utility players and a pair of right handed pitchers.
On Deck
The Bears will head to California this weekend, to take on Big West foe Cal State Northridge. The teams will play a double header on that Saturday.
In the Hole
It is another trip to the west coast, when UNC travels back to California to take on Pacific for a four game series starting on March 4.
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