University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Friday, February 26
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
at
CSUN
@NCBearsBaseball's Road Trip Continues at CSUN This Weekend
2/24/2016 4:40:00 PM | Baseball
Northern Colorado baseball heads to California for a four-game series against CSUN
GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado baseball continues is long road trip to begin the season when they head to sunny California this weekend to take on CSUN. UNC will be looking to pick up some wins after just missing out on a few last week to open the year.
Series Notes: Northern Colorado | CSUN | WAC
Leading Off
• The Bears are in the middle of a 15 game road trip to open the season. During the trip UNC will visit three different states and play against five different teams.
• Northern Colorado opened the season with a challenging five games in five day stretch in the Sunflower State going 1-4 against Wichita State and Kansas. The final three games were decided by just one run.
• Nick Tanner had a good start to his 2016 season on the mound going seven inning allowing just one run on five hits while striking out four against KU.
• Northern Colorado used a two run ninth inning to come back and defeat Wichita State for their first win of the season.
• Both Corey Nakakora 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.
• Outfielder Rob Cashel has been a steady player in the middle of the order for UNC. Hitting .333 this year with 2 RBIs and scoring one run.
• 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 CSUN
CSUN will be competing against its second WAC team in as many weeks when UNC visits them this weekend. The Matadors faced CSU Bakersfield last week, going 1-2 against the Roadrunners. They would even up their season record on Tuesday by shutting out Pepperdine 3-0.
The Matadors offense is led by senior Branden Berry, who is hitting .545 this season including three home runs while scoring six times and driving in six runs as well. CSUN has three other batters who are hitting above .300 so far.
On the mound, the team has combined for a 3.50 team ERA, while holding a 40-16 strike out to walk ratio.
Coming into the seaosn CSUN was picked to finish fifth in the competitive Big West Conference.
Series History vs the Matadors
This will be the first ever meeting between Northern Colorado and CSUN.
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 625, 15th in hits (182) and second in walks with 115. 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 the first week of his colligate career. Coming out of the first week of play he is second the team with a .273 batting average. He has done well in the lead-off spot setting the table and scoring five times for UNC. In his second career game Yamaguchi had three hits, all of them being doubles.
All Arms In
Playing five straight games can take a toll on any pitching staff, for UNC they were able to string together a staff in the final game at Kansas. The Bears used eight pitchers lasting no more that 1 2/3 of an inning, but did see positive results. The eight pitchers combinded to allow just two runs and six hits in the game.
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.
Following the Bears
Want to stay up to date with all things UNC Bears Baseball? There are a few ways to. During all games this year their will be live updates on the team's Twitter account @NCBearsBaseball.
For home games their will also be a live audio broadcast of the games as well as live stats on UNCBears.com. Finally after all of the team's home games make sure to get on Facebook and look for the update on the live look at the postgame press conference.
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
UNC will stay in California for its next four games, taking on Pacific from March 4-6.
In the Hole
The 15 game road trip to begin the season will end in Lincoln, Nebraska when the Bears and Huskers face off for a pair of games on March 8th and 9th.
Series Notes: Northern Colorado | CSUN | WAC
| Series Information |
| Game 1 | RHP Spencer Applebach (0-1, 30.38 ERA) vs RHP Rayne Raven (0-1, 0.00 ERA) | Gameday Central |
| Game 2 | RHP Alex Werbach (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs LHP Kenny Rosenberg (0-0, 3.86 ERA) | Gameday Central |
| Game 3 | RHP Connor Leedholm (0-1, 7.71 ERA) vs RHP Conner O'Neil (1-0, 4.76 ERA) | Gameday Central |
| Game 4 | LHP Nick Tanner (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs RHP Joe Ryan (0-0, 4.50 ERA) | Gameday Central |
Leading Off
• The Bears are in the middle of a 15 game road trip to open the season. During the trip UNC will visit three different states and play against five different teams.
• Northern Colorado opened the season with a challenging five games in five day stretch in the Sunflower State going 1-4 against Wichita State and Kansas. The final three games were decided by just one run.
• Nick Tanner had a good start to his 2016 season on the mound going seven inning allowing just one run on five hits while striking out four against KU.
• Northern Colorado used a two run ninth inning to come back and defeat Wichita State for their first win of the season.
• Both Corey Nakakora 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.
• Outfielder Rob Cashel has been a steady player in the middle of the order for UNC. Hitting .333 this year with 2 RBIs and scoring one run.
• 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 CSUN
CSUN will be competing against its second WAC team in as many weeks when UNC visits them this weekend. The Matadors faced CSU Bakersfield last week, going 1-2 against the Roadrunners. They would even up their season record on Tuesday by shutting out Pepperdine 3-0.
The Matadors offense is led by senior Branden Berry, who is hitting .545 this season including three home runs while scoring six times and driving in six runs as well. CSUN has three other batters who are hitting above .300 so far.
On the mound, the team has combined for a 3.50 team ERA, while holding a 40-16 strike out to walk ratio.
Coming into the seaosn CSUN was picked to finish fifth in the competitive Big West Conference.
Series History vs the Matadors
This will be the first ever meeting between Northern Colorado and CSUN.
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 625, 15th in hits (182) and second in walks with 115. 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 the first week of his colligate career. Coming out of the first week of play he is second the team with a .273 batting average. He has done well in the lead-off spot setting the table and scoring five times for UNC. In his second career game Yamaguchi had three hits, all of them being doubles.
All Arms In
Playing five straight games can take a toll on any pitching staff, for UNC they were able to string together a staff in the final game at Kansas. The Bears used eight pitchers lasting no more that 1 2/3 of an inning, but did see positive results. The eight pitchers combinded to allow just two runs and six hits in the game.
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.
Following the Bears
Want to stay up to date with all things UNC Bears Baseball? There are a few ways to. During all games this year their will be live updates on the team's Twitter account @NCBearsBaseball.
For home games their will also be a live audio broadcast of the games as well as live stats on UNCBears.com. Finally after all of the team's home games make sure to get on Facebook and look for the update on the live look at the postgame press conference.
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
UNC will stay in California for its next four games, taking on Pacific from March 4-6.
In the Hole
The 15 game road trip to begin the season will end in Lincoln, Nebraska when the Bears and Huskers face off for a pair of games on March 8th and 9th.
Players Mentioned
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