University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Wednesday, May 25
Mesa, Ariz.
4:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
vs
Sacramento State
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
@NCBearsBaseball Opens WAC Tournament Against Sacramento State
5/24/2016 11:01:00 AM | Baseball
UNC baseball opens the WAC Tournament Wednesday against Sacramento State
GREELEY, Colo. – The Northern Colorado baseball team opens the WAC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon with a first round matchup against Sacramento State. The Bears prepare for their second consecutive appearance in the Tournament.
WAC Tournament Central
Tournament Notes: Northern Colorado | WAC
Leading Off
• Northern Colorado is playing in its second consecutive WAC Tournament. Last season the Bears entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, and ended up going 0-2 in it. UNC fell to North Dakota and Sacramento State.
• The team closed out its regular season against New Mexico State going 1-2 in the three game series. The Bears avoided the sweep with a 6-3 win on Senior Day.
• Friday's game of the series between UNC and New Mexico State featured a big offensive affair with the Aggies coming out on top 18-16. The two teams combined for eight home runs in the game.
• Redshirt-freshman Cam Huber made the most of the opportunity he received last weekend going 3-for-11 at the plate with a pair of home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored. One of his RBIs came on a well-played squeeze play showing off his versatility in the batter's box.
• Senior Ryan Yamane enjoyed his final weekend at Jackson Field, hitting his first career home run on Friday.
• Wednesday's meeting between the Bears and Hornets will be the fourth of the year between the two teams. Sacramento State swept the regular season series at their home field.
• The pitching matchup for Wednesday's opening game of the WAC Tournament will feature RHP Corey Nakakura (3-3, 4.11 ERA) of UNC against RHP Max Karnos (7-3, 2.77 ERA).
About the WAC Tournament
The WAC Tournament will take place over May 25-29 at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. All games during the tournament will have a live video stream over the WAC Digital Network, and a live audio broadcast will be on UNCBears.com.
Scouting The WAC Tournament
Coming into this week's WAC Tournament, Seattle and New Mexico State look to be the favorites with Utah Valley and Sacramento State not far behind them.
Although those four are the considered the favorites, CSU Bakersfield is coming in as the hottest team. The Roadrunners won their past 10 of 11 games including eight straight in WAC play.
Seattle and New Mexico State are the top two seeds in the tournament. Both the Redhawks and Aggies are the top two hitting teams in the league. Seattle is ranked first both offensively and in pitching.
Third seed Utah Valley relies more on its offense, which is ranked third in the league, while four seed Sacramento State is the opposite.
The Hornets have the second best pitching staff in the WAC, led by Max Karnos' 2.77 ERA.
Both Northern Colorado and CSU Bakersfield are ranked in the middle of the conference, both offensively and defensively.
Bears' History in the WAC Tournament
Northern Colorado joined the WAC in 2014, missing the tournament that season. They have qualifed for it the next two seasons though, including this year. Last year the Bears went 0-2.
Everybody Scores!
Saturday's game against New Mexico State featured plenty of offense. The teams combined for 34 runs on 30 hits. Eleven of those 30 hits were for extra bases, included eight combined home runs. Two players hit multiple home runs in the game. UNC's Cam Huber and NMSU's Trey Stine each had two home runs.
Huber and teammate Ryan Yamane both hit their first career home runs in the game. For UNC Jacob Ek led the team with three hits in six at bats. New Mexico State's Daniel Johnson led all hitters in the game with four.
Cam You Believe It?
Redshirt Freshman Cam Huber earned a spot in the starting lineup last weekend, when teammates Nick Tanner and Rob Cashel had to sit out due to injury. Huber took advantage of this situation, including an excellent game two of the series. He went 2-for-4 on the day with five RBIs and two runs scored. His two hits were a pair of home runs, the first two of his career. He also had a very well-played squeeze bunt to bring in another run for the team.
Lean Dean Hitting Machine
Dean Lawson ranks sixth in the WAC with a .350 average, and 176th in the nation. Three 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 .364/.455/.417. For the season he is second on the team with a .327 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, posting a 1.35 ERA. In those three starts he has struck out 19 batters and walked only three.
Getting Offensive
As the weather has warmed up, so has Northern Colorado's offense. Against North Dakota and Grand Canyon, the team had a slash line of .318/.438/.410. Three UNC batters are hitting over .400 in Dean Lawson (.467), Ryan Yamane (.462) and Cole Maltese (.409) in that time span. The Bears are averaging 7.1 runs per game during this time.
The team's offense continued this trend last week when they took on New Mexico State. The team ended up with a slash line of .315/.509/.444. They averaged 9.33 runs a game. Ryan Yamane led the team offensively over the three games with a .400 batting average and .625 on-base percentage, including five walks.
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 a couple weeks ago. The first at North Dakota, followed by a home sweep of Grand Canyon.
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 three behind Daniel Johnson of New Mexico State for the WAC lead. Maltese is three behind Minnick, having taken off during conference play with five.
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 44 sac bunts this season, ranking second in the WAC behind Seattle's 48. The duo of Jacob Ek and Dean Lawson have combined for 16 of them.
Turning Two
UNC has been doing a good job of turning two this season. The Bears have turned 38 double plays already for the year. Those 38 double plays rank 176th overall in the NCAA and sixth in the WAC. Utah Valley leads the conference with 55 turned.
Yamane The Man
Ryan Yamane set the UNC record for walks earlier this season, and currently sits at 152. 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 42 times. Those 42 base on balls ranks him first in the WAC and 31st in the NCAA.
He showed he is more than just a walking machine over last weekend, hitting his first career home run against New Mexico State.
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 8-30 on any other day of the week.
Swiping Bags
The Bears have been on the run this year, swiping 48 bags so far this season, to rank 166th nationally and sixth in the WAC. Dean Lawson leads the team with 10 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.
WAC Tournament Central
Tournament Notes: Northern Colorado | WAC
Leading Off
• Northern Colorado is playing in its second consecutive WAC Tournament. Last season the Bears entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, and ended up going 0-2 in it. UNC fell to North Dakota and Sacramento State.
• The team closed out its regular season against New Mexico State going 1-2 in the three game series. The Bears avoided the sweep with a 6-3 win on Senior Day.
• Friday's game of the series between UNC and New Mexico State featured a big offensive affair with the Aggies coming out on top 18-16. The two teams combined for eight home runs in the game.
• Redshirt-freshman Cam Huber made the most of the opportunity he received last weekend going 3-for-11 at the plate with a pair of home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored. One of his RBIs came on a well-played squeeze play showing off his versatility in the batter's box.
• Senior Ryan Yamane enjoyed his final weekend at Jackson Field, hitting his first career home run on Friday.
• Wednesday's meeting between the Bears and Hornets will be the fourth of the year between the two teams. Sacramento State swept the regular season series at their home field.
• The pitching matchup for Wednesday's opening game of the WAC Tournament will feature RHP Corey Nakakura (3-3, 4.11 ERA) of UNC against RHP Max Karnos (7-3, 2.77 ERA).
About the WAC Tournament
The WAC Tournament will take place over May 25-29 at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. All games during the tournament will have a live video stream over the WAC Digital Network, and a live audio broadcast will be on UNCBears.com.
Scouting The WAC Tournament
Coming into this week's WAC Tournament, Seattle and New Mexico State look to be the favorites with Utah Valley and Sacramento State not far behind them.
Although those four are the considered the favorites, CSU Bakersfield is coming in as the hottest team. The Roadrunners won their past 10 of 11 games including eight straight in WAC play.
Seattle and New Mexico State are the top two seeds in the tournament. Both the Redhawks and Aggies are the top two hitting teams in the league. Seattle is ranked first both offensively and in pitching.
Third seed Utah Valley relies more on its offense, which is ranked third in the league, while four seed Sacramento State is the opposite.
The Hornets have the second best pitching staff in the WAC, led by Max Karnos' 2.77 ERA.
Both Northern Colorado and CSU Bakersfield are ranked in the middle of the conference, both offensively and defensively.
Bears' History in the WAC Tournament
Northern Colorado joined the WAC in 2014, missing the tournament that season. They have qualifed for it the next two seasons though, including this year. Last year the Bears went 0-2.
Everybody Scores!
Saturday's game against New Mexico State featured plenty of offense. The teams combined for 34 runs on 30 hits. Eleven of those 30 hits were for extra bases, included eight combined home runs. Two players hit multiple home runs in the game. UNC's Cam Huber and NMSU's Trey Stine each had two home runs.
Huber and teammate Ryan Yamane both hit their first career home runs in the game. For UNC Jacob Ek led the team with three hits in six at bats. New Mexico State's Daniel Johnson led all hitters in the game with four.
Cam You Believe It?
Redshirt Freshman Cam Huber earned a spot in the starting lineup last weekend, when teammates Nick Tanner and Rob Cashel had to sit out due to injury. Huber took advantage of this situation, including an excellent game two of the series. He went 2-for-4 on the day with five RBIs and two runs scored. His two hits were a pair of home runs, the first two of his career. He also had a very well-played squeeze bunt to bring in another run for the team.
Lean Dean Hitting Machine
Dean Lawson ranks sixth in the WAC with a .350 average, and 176th in the nation. Three 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 .364/.455/.417. For the season he is second on the team with a .327 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, posting a 1.35 ERA. In those three starts he has struck out 19 batters and walked only three.
Getting Offensive
As the weather has warmed up, so has Northern Colorado's offense. Against North Dakota and Grand Canyon, the team had a slash line of .318/.438/.410. Three UNC batters are hitting over .400 in Dean Lawson (.467), Ryan Yamane (.462) and Cole Maltese (.409) in that time span. The Bears are averaging 7.1 runs per game during this time.
The team's offense continued this trend last week when they took on New Mexico State. The team ended up with a slash line of .315/.509/.444. They averaged 9.33 runs a game. Ryan Yamane led the team offensively over the three games with a .400 batting average and .625 on-base percentage, including five walks.
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 a couple weeks ago. The first at North Dakota, followed by a home sweep of Grand Canyon.
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 three behind Daniel Johnson of New Mexico State for the WAC lead. Maltese is three behind Minnick, having taken off during conference play with five.
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 44 sac bunts this season, ranking second in the WAC behind Seattle's 48. The duo of Jacob Ek and Dean Lawson have combined for 16 of them.
Turning Two
UNC has been doing a good job of turning two this season. The Bears have turned 38 double plays already for the year. Those 38 double plays rank 176th overall in the NCAA and sixth in the WAC. Utah Valley leads the conference with 55 turned.
Yamane The Man
Ryan Yamane set the UNC record for walks earlier this season, and currently sits at 152. 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 42 times. Those 42 base on balls ranks him first in the WAC and 31st in the NCAA.
He showed he is more than just a walking machine over last weekend, hitting his first career home run against New Mexico State.
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 8-30 on any other day of the week.
Swiping Bags
The Bears have been on the run this year, swiping 48 bags so far this season, to rank 166th nationally and sixth in the WAC. Dean Lawson leads the team with 10 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.
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