University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, May 19
Greeley, Colo.
3:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
vs
New Mexico State
Players Mentioned
RHP
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OF
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LHP
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RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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INF
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INF
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INF/RHP
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Photo by: Rob Trubia
@NCBearsBaseball Closes Regular Season Against N.M. State
5/19/2016 8:30:00 AM | Baseball
UNC baseball looks to clinch a berth in the WAC Tournament this weekend against New Mexico State
GREELEY, Colo. – The regular season closes out this weekend for UNC baseball when New Mexico State visits Jackson Field starting Thursday. UNC is still looking for that one elusive win to clinch a berth in next week's WAC Tournament in Mesa, Arizona.
Series Notes: Northern Coloraod | WAC
Leading Off
• Northern Colorado had a tough road trip to the Pacific Northwest, going 0-4 vs Seattle and Washington. The Bears were swept by the Redhawks and dropped the one game they played against the Huskies.
• UNC's offense struggled with runners on base last week, hitting just .224 as a team and stranding 29 runners.
• Nick Tanner continued his solid hitting leading the team with a .389 average for any of their regulars. He had seven hits total, one going for extra bases.
• Reliever Spencer Applebach had a pair of solid outings vs Seattle and Washington. He went a combined six innings allowing no runs on three hits while walking three and striking out four.
• The Bears are still looking to lock up a spot in the WAC Tournament next week after being swept over the weekend. UNC has three different scenarios that will put them in the tournament.
1) One win
2) One CSU Bakersfield loss
3) Two UT Rio Grande Valley loss
• With a pair of wins this weekend, Northern Colorado will finish above .500 in WAC play for the first time since joining the league in 2014.
• Before Sunday's game, UNC will be honoring its seniors in Ryan Yamane, Allen Cook, Rob Cashel, Joe Love, Spencer Applebach, Jacob Ek and Alex Werbach.
Scouting New Mexico State
Second year head coach Brian Green has done a good job building the Aggies up after missing out on the WAC Tournament last season. New Mexico State comes into the final weekend of WAC play just a game back of league leading Seattle with a 18-6 WAC record.
The Aggies have the second best offense in the conference, hitting .290 this season. They are led by Daniel Johnson who leads the WAC in hits (78), runs scored (56) and home runs (11) while being second in batting average (.368).
Along with Johnson, the duo of Dan Hetzel and Austin Botello are the run producers for NMSU. The trio have combined to drive in 133 runs this season.
On the mound, New Mexico State has done well as a team with 4.39 ERA. The pair of Joe Galindo and Tyler Erwin, shut it down late for the Aggies with 11 combined saves. Galindo has a team leading ERA at 1.82, while Erwin is at 2.27.
New Mexico State has clinched a spot in the WAC Tournament next week, and are looking to win the regular season championship. The Aggies enter the weekend a game back of Seattle for first place.
Series History vs the Aggies
Northern Colorado and New Mexico State have played against each other 31 times coming into the week. The Bears trail the series 12-19, including having dropped all six games played in Greeley. Last season the Bears swept NMSU in La Cruces scoring double digit runs in each game.
Lean Dean Hitting Machine
Dean Lawson ranks fifth in the WAC with a .358 average, and 148th in the nation. Two weeks ago he earned the WAC Hitter of the Week for his weekend against Grand Canyon. During it he recorded the first five hit game by a Bear since Jensen Park did so in 2013.
Tanner on a Terror
Nick Tanner has been terrorizing opposing pitchers since WAC play started in the middle of March. In WAC play he is hitting an outstanding slash line of .360/.453/.415. For the season he is leading the team with a .325 average.
He is not just making an impact in the batter's box, but every Sunday he is also been a constant starter for the team. On the year he is 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA, Tanner has walked just 13 players this season and struck out 33. He has earned a win in each of his past three starts he has earned a win posting a 1.35 ERA. In those three starts he has struck out 19 batters and walked only three.
Getting Offensive
Northern Colorado's offense had been firing on all cylinders when they took on North Dakota and Grand Canyon. The team has a slash line of .318/.438/.410 over the time. Three UNC batters are hitting over .400 in Dean Lawson (.467), Ryan Yamane (.462) and Cole Maltese (.409). The Bears are averaging 7.1 runs per game during this time.
Don't Call It A Comeback
UNC was in a 9-0 hole after the top of the fourth inning on last Saturday against Grand Canyon, before scoring 10 straight runs to earn the win. The team scored five runs in final two innings to earn the walk-off win. Dean Lawson had his fifth hit of the day, a double, to score the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth. He would come home on the next at-bat, when Cole Maltese hit a double to score Lawson and end the game.
Spring Cleaning
UNC has been doing some spring cleaning as of late, by breaking out the brooms. The team has recorded back-to-back weekend sweeps. The first at North Dakota, followed by a home sweep of Grand Canyon.
The trend of sweeps continued this week for UNC, but the team was on the wrong side of it this weekend. The Bears were swept by Seattle.
The Race to Mesa Heats Up
Northern Colorado remains just inches away from a return trip to Mesa, Arizona for the WAC Tournament. Following last weekend UNC is still 2.5 games ahead of CSU Bakersfield with three games to go to clinch a spot in the tournament. The Bears can make a return trip to Mesa with just one win over New Mexico State, or one CSU Bakersfield loss to North Dakota, or two losses by UT Rio Grande Valley against Grand Canyon.
Northern Colorado made its first trip to Mesa last season, and are looking to make a return trip this year. The WAC Tournament will take place over May 25-29 at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's.
Bash Brothers
Northern Colorado has a pair of bash brothers in Cole Maltese and Brett Minnick. Minnick hit a pair of long balls on Friday against Grand Canyon to increase his season total to nine. He is currently sits two behind Daniel Johnson of New Mexico State for the WAC lead. Maltese is four behind Minnick, having taken off during conference play with four.
Moving Runners Over
Northern Colorado has done a good job of playing small ball at times, moving runners over via sacrifice bunts. The team has 39 sac bunts this season, ranking second in the WAC behind Seattle's 44.
Turning Two
UNC has been doing a good job of turning two this season. The Bears have turned 36 double plays already for the year. Those 36 double plays rank 171st overall in the NCAA and fifth in the WAC. Utah Valley leads the conference with 53 turned.
Yamane The Man
Ryan Yamane set the UNC record for walks earlier this season, and currently sits at 147. The program record before Yamane was Jeff Cheek at 121, Cheek played from 1972-75.
So far this year Yamane has earned a free pass 37 times. Those 37 base on balls ranks him second in the WAC and 52nd in the NCAA.
Every Day is Sunday
UNC may want to name every day of the week Sunday since that is when the Bears have won most of their games this year. The team is 8-2 on Sunday and 7-28 on any other day of the week.
Swiping Bags
The Bears have been on the run this year, swiping 46 bags so far this season, to rank 157th nationally and fifth in the WAC. Dean Lawson leads the team with nine stolen bases.
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 there will be live updates on the team's Twitter account @NCBearsBaseball.
For home games there 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
With the right outcomes this weekend, UNC will be heading to Arizona for the WAC Tournament next week. The team will compete in a six team double-elimination tournament over May 25-29.
| Series Information |
| Thursday, May 19 at 3 pm | RHP Alex Werbach (1-4, 6.70 ERA) vs RHP Marcel Renteria (5-3, 4.33 ERA) | Live Stats | Audio |
| Friday, May 20 at 2 pm | RHP Jacob Howard (1-1, 5.96 ERA) vs RHP Kyle Bradish (7-3, 4.06 ERA) | Live Stats | Audio |
| Saturday, May 21 at 12 pm | LHP Nick Tanner (4-1, 2.89 ERA) vs TBD | Live Stats | Audio |
Series Notes: Northern Coloraod | WAC
Leading Off
• Northern Colorado had a tough road trip to the Pacific Northwest, going 0-4 vs Seattle and Washington. The Bears were swept by the Redhawks and dropped the one game they played against the Huskies.
• UNC's offense struggled with runners on base last week, hitting just .224 as a team and stranding 29 runners.
• Nick Tanner continued his solid hitting leading the team with a .389 average for any of their regulars. He had seven hits total, one going for extra bases.
• Reliever Spencer Applebach had a pair of solid outings vs Seattle and Washington. He went a combined six innings allowing no runs on three hits while walking three and striking out four.
• The Bears are still looking to lock up a spot in the WAC Tournament next week after being swept over the weekend. UNC has three different scenarios that will put them in the tournament.
1) One win
2) One CSU Bakersfield loss
3) Two UT Rio Grande Valley loss
• With a pair of wins this weekend, Northern Colorado will finish above .500 in WAC play for the first time since joining the league in 2014.
• Before Sunday's game, UNC will be honoring its seniors in Ryan Yamane, Allen Cook, Rob Cashel, Joe Love, Spencer Applebach, Jacob Ek and Alex Werbach.
Scouting New Mexico State
Second year head coach Brian Green has done a good job building the Aggies up after missing out on the WAC Tournament last season. New Mexico State comes into the final weekend of WAC play just a game back of league leading Seattle with a 18-6 WAC record.
The Aggies have the second best offense in the conference, hitting .290 this season. They are led by Daniel Johnson who leads the WAC in hits (78), runs scored (56) and home runs (11) while being second in batting average (.368).
Along with Johnson, the duo of Dan Hetzel and Austin Botello are the run producers for NMSU. The trio have combined to drive in 133 runs this season.
On the mound, New Mexico State has done well as a team with 4.39 ERA. The pair of Joe Galindo and Tyler Erwin, shut it down late for the Aggies with 11 combined saves. Galindo has a team leading ERA at 1.82, while Erwin is at 2.27.
New Mexico State has clinched a spot in the WAC Tournament next week, and are looking to win the regular season championship. The Aggies enter the weekend a game back of Seattle for first place.
Series History vs the Aggies
Northern Colorado and New Mexico State have played against each other 31 times coming into the week. The Bears trail the series 12-19, including having dropped all six games played in Greeley. Last season the Bears swept NMSU in La Cruces scoring double digit runs in each game.
Lean Dean Hitting Machine
Dean Lawson ranks fifth in the WAC with a .358 average, and 148th in the nation. Two weeks ago he earned the WAC Hitter of the Week for his weekend against Grand Canyon. During it he recorded the first five hit game by a Bear since Jensen Park did so in 2013.
Tanner on a Terror
Nick Tanner has been terrorizing opposing pitchers since WAC play started in the middle of March. In WAC play he is hitting an outstanding slash line of .360/.453/.415. For the season he is leading the team with a .325 average.
He is not just making an impact in the batter's box, but every Sunday he is also been a constant starter for the team. On the year he is 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA, Tanner has walked just 13 players this season and struck out 33. He has earned a win in each of his past three starts he has earned a win posting a 1.35 ERA. In those three starts he has struck out 19 batters and walked only three.
Getting Offensive
Northern Colorado's offense had been firing on all cylinders when they took on North Dakota and Grand Canyon. The team has a slash line of .318/.438/.410 over the time. Three UNC batters are hitting over .400 in Dean Lawson (.467), Ryan Yamane (.462) and Cole Maltese (.409). The Bears are averaging 7.1 runs per game during this time.
Don't Call It A Comeback
UNC was in a 9-0 hole after the top of the fourth inning on last Saturday against Grand Canyon, before scoring 10 straight runs to earn the win. The team scored five runs in final two innings to earn the walk-off win. Dean Lawson had his fifth hit of the day, a double, to score the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth. He would come home on the next at-bat, when Cole Maltese hit a double to score Lawson and end the game.
Spring Cleaning
UNC has been doing some spring cleaning as of late, by breaking out the brooms. The team has recorded back-to-back weekend sweeps. The first at North Dakota, followed by a home sweep of Grand Canyon.
The trend of sweeps continued this week for UNC, but the team was on the wrong side of it this weekend. The Bears were swept by Seattle.
The Race to Mesa Heats Up
Northern Colorado remains just inches away from a return trip to Mesa, Arizona for the WAC Tournament. Following last weekend UNC is still 2.5 games ahead of CSU Bakersfield with three games to go to clinch a spot in the tournament. The Bears can make a return trip to Mesa with just one win over New Mexico State, or one CSU Bakersfield loss to North Dakota, or two losses by UT Rio Grande Valley against Grand Canyon.
Northern Colorado made its first trip to Mesa last season, and are looking to make a return trip this year. The WAC Tournament will take place over May 25-29 at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's.
Bash Brothers
Northern Colorado has a pair of bash brothers in Cole Maltese and Brett Minnick. Minnick hit a pair of long balls on Friday against Grand Canyon to increase his season total to nine. He is currently sits two behind Daniel Johnson of New Mexico State for the WAC lead. Maltese is four behind Minnick, having taken off during conference play with four.
Moving Runners Over
Northern Colorado has done a good job of playing small ball at times, moving runners over via sacrifice bunts. The team has 39 sac bunts this season, ranking second in the WAC behind Seattle's 44.
Turning Two
UNC has been doing a good job of turning two this season. The Bears have turned 36 double plays already for the year. Those 36 double plays rank 171st overall in the NCAA and fifth in the WAC. Utah Valley leads the conference with 53 turned.
Yamane The Man
Ryan Yamane set the UNC record for walks earlier this season, and currently sits at 147. The program record before Yamane was Jeff Cheek at 121, Cheek played from 1972-75.
So far this year Yamane has earned a free pass 37 times. Those 37 base on balls ranks him second in the WAC and 52nd in the NCAA.
Every Day is Sunday
UNC may want to name every day of the week Sunday since that is when the Bears have won most of their games this year. The team is 8-2 on Sunday and 7-28 on any other day of the week.
Swiping Bags
The Bears have been on the run this year, swiping 46 bags so far this season, to rank 157th nationally and fifth in the WAC. Dean Lawson leads the team with nine stolen bases.
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 there will be live updates on the team's Twitter account @NCBearsBaseball.
For home games there 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
With the right outcomes this weekend, UNC will be heading to Arizona for the WAC Tournament next week. The team will compete in a six team double-elimination tournament over May 25-29.
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