University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, February 23
Stockton, Calif.
1:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
vs
BYU
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
UT
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
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INF
/ Baseball
Photo by: Rob Trubia
@NCBearsBaseball Prepares for Week Two Against BYU and San Jose State
2/22/2017 7:33:00 PM | Baseball
Northern Colorado baseball finishes it road trip against BYU and San Jose State
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Northern Colorado baseball team closes out its two week trip to Northern California when they take on BYU and San Jose State in Stockton this week due to a change of venue.
Game Notes: Northern Colorado | BYU | WAC
Leading Off
• Rain has been a story all the first two weeks for Northern Colorado and caused a change for this week's games. The team will be headed to Stockton, Calif. to face BYU and SJSU instead of playing at San Jose State. Thursday and Friday's games will be played at Billy Herbert Field, while Saturday's at San Joaquin Delta College.
• After losing the first three games of the season, the Bears finished their rain-delayed opening weekend with two wins. First, they avoided the sweep by San Francisco with a 3-2 win in 10 innings early on Tuesday. UNC followed it up with a commanding 12-4 victory over San Francisco State later that day.
• Northern Colorado's offense was productive in the first weekend, manufacturing 28 runs including 6 home runs.
• Northern Colorado is finishing up a nine-game road trip to open the season.
• The Bears are coming off their second straight trip to Mesa, Arizona for the WAC Tournament.
• Last season's ERA leader in Nick Tanner is back. The lefty finished the 2016 season with a 4-1 record and 2.89 ERA.
• Northern Colorado has its batting average leader from last year back as well in Dean Lawson. Last season Lawson hit .357 for the Bears in 43 games.
• Head coach Carl Iwasaki is entering his seventh season with Northern Colorado. Over that time he has helped take the team from the Great West Conference into the Western Athletic Conference.
Scouting BYU
BYU enters the week with a 1-2 record after playing a trio of games in Georgia last week against Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and Georgia State. The lone win for the team came against Kennesaw State 13-4. Early returns on the year for the Cougars is they have a strong offense with five batters hitting over .300 after one week. Leading the charge is Nate Favero and his .571 batting average. Over the three games the team had 12 extra base hits, including four home runs. On the mound BYU comes in with a 3.38 ERA, and an impressive 23-6 strike out-to-walk ratio. Coming into the 2017 season the Cougars were projected to finish fourth in the WCC.
Scouting San Jose State
The Spartans are under new leadership this season in Jason Hawkins. He came to SJSU from Utah where he helped lead the Utes to their first Regional appearance in seven years. Like the Bears, San Jose State was battling the elements for opening weekend. The Spartans traveled to UCLA to open the season and ended up playing two of the three scheduled games. SJSU dropped both games to the Bruins, struggling to get hits, ending the series with a .121 batting average. UCLA also got to San Jose State's pitching staff, giving them a 7.02 ERA. The Spartans were picked to finish seventh out of seven teams in the Mountain West this season.
History Against BYU
UNC and BYU have a long history of facing each other dating back to 1952. Over the 65 years the teams have met 72 times, with the Cougars holding a 52-20 advantage. The last time the teams met was in 2013 in Lubbock, Texas splitting the two games they played. When playing at neutral sites against Brigham Young, Northern Colorado is 1-4.
History Against San Jose State
Northern Colorado and San Jose State have only met in one other series prior to this, that came in 2015 when UNC opened the season in San Jose. The Spartans took that series 3-1, but it featured a pair of one score games.
History Against WCC Teams
Northern Colorado is 26-63 all-time against teams from the WCC. The majority of those games have come against BYU who holds a 20-52 record in the series.
History Against Mountain West Teams
Northern Colorado has a long and extensive history against teams from the Mountain West posting a 263-213-3 record. That record includes programs that no longer exist in Colorado State and Wyoming. When taking away those two teams UNC's record is 109-119-1.
New Faces
Fans are going to need to keep a roster page handy for the first few weeks of the season as UNC welcomes 19 newcomers this year. The group of 19 is a mixture of true freshmen and junior college transfers.
Three of the fresh faces for the Bears are receiving some attention nationally. They are RHP Aaron Hamilton, OF Jack Pauley and RHP Troy Watson. DIBaseball.com rated both Hamilton and Pauly as some of the top draft prospects for the 2017 and 2018 draft, respectively from the WAC. Watson was ranked the No. 3 impact freshman for this season.
UNC also welcomes Nate Rasmussen as a volunteer assistant to staff. Rasmussen will serve as outfield coach, first base coach, and camp director as well as assisting hitters.
During the first weekend of play, Northern Colorado saw 12 different newcomers make their debut for the team. In that group included starters Jack Pauley, Evan Johnson, Alex Kiel and pitchers Sam Leach, Aaron Hamilton and Troy Watson.
Lean Dean Hitting Machine Continues
Dean Lawson had a strong 2016 campaign, has brought that same effort into the 2017 season. Last year, he hit a team leading .357 batting average. His average was good for fifth in the conference and 126th in the nation. Lawson also batted in 16 runs during the season. Through the first five game this season he has recorded at least one hit, and leading the team with a .353 batting average.
Bears Dig The Long Ball
If their is only one thing people take away from UNC after week one, it is that they can hit the long ball. The team had six home runs over the five games, including a pair of multi-home run games.
Leading the charge in long-balls is Evan Johnson. He hit his first career home run against San Francisco, and then added to his total on Tuesday with a grand slam. It was the first grand slam for Northern Colorado since Nick Miller against New York Institute of Technology in May of 2013.
Two other Bears hit their first career home runs, in Jack Pauley and Tyler Yamaguchi.
Say W(h)atson?
Freshman Troy Watson earned his first career start Tuesday when UNC took on San Francisco State. The righty from Texas didn't disappoint either. He went five and a third innings without allowing a hit to the Gators. His final line was six innings, two hits, two runs, both earned and three strike outs and walks. He ended up getting the win.
Tanner on a Terror
Nick Tanner was the best Bear last season, earning second team All-WAC. He finished the 2016 season with a slash line of .327/.401/.388 and added one home run along with 15 RBIs. Tanner was also one of UNC's key pitchers, finishing with a 4-1 record. His team leading 2.89 ERA was good for third in the conference and 158th in the nation. Tanner pitched in a team-high 53 innings with 33 strikeouts and 13 walks during the season.
Interesting Ending
Northern Colorado's final game against San Francisco had a very interesting ending. First, the conclusion of the game was pushed to two days after it began due to darkness and weather. Then in the bottom of the 10th San Francisco's final two outs came when they were caught trying to steal second base.
Less Free Passes
UNC pitchers struggled with their command at times, allowing 28 free passes in the first week of action. That is something they will look to improve upon as the season progresses.
Exceeding Expectations
In the preseason WAC coaches poll, Northern Colorado has been picked to finish eighth in the conference for the second consecutive year. The Bears will need to surprise the teams in the conference in order to book a trip to Mesa, Arizona at the end of May.
UNC has been able to exceed expectations the past two seasons. Last year the team was picked to finish eighth and ended up fifth in the conference. While in 2014 Northern Colorado was picked last, but finished seventh in the WAC.
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.
Making the Grades
There were seven UNC players who earned spots on the 2016 Academic Honors list. Those earning honors are Jake Garcia, Cam Huber, Brett Minnick, Cole Maltese, Dan Reese, Payton Tapia, Corey Nakakura.
Wild Wild West
The Bears roster is comprised of almost every state in the western part of the US. Eleven different states are represented on the roster, as far east as Nebraska and as west as Hawaii.
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 35 hail from the Centennial State.
Hawaiian Connection
The Bears have four players who hail from Hawaii plus head coach Carl Iwasaki and assistant Kaiona Correa all coming to Colorado from the islands.
Class of 2018
Help arrives for Northern Colorado with eight new players joining their roster for the 2018 season. The Bears add three infielders, a catchers, two utility players and a pair of right handed pitchers.
On Deck
Northern Colorado opens up their first home series of the 2017 season against North Dakota State. The Bears and Bison are even at 11-11 in their all-time series. They last met in March of 2015 with NDSU taking three of four games from UNC in Greeley. The home opener at Jackson Stadium is set for Friday, March 3 at 2 pm.
In the Hole
It will be a busy week for UNC as they head to the Cornhusker state for five games. The trip starts with a pair of mid-week games at Nebraska. They will then go an hour up the road to Omaha to face Nebraska Omaha for three games over March 10-12.
| Game | Probable Pitchers | Game Links |
| Thursday, Feb. 23 at 1 pm vs BYU | RHP Cody Carroll (0-0, 15.43 ERA) vs RHP Maverik Buffo (0-1, 7.20 ERA) | Live Stream |
| Friday, Feb. 24 at 1 pm vs BYU | LHP Keenan Lum (0-1, 8.31 ERA) vs RHP Connor Williams (0-0, 0.00 ERA) | Live Stats |
| Friday, Feb. 24 at 6 pm vs SJSU | RHP Aaron Hamilton (0-1, 18.00 ERA) vs LHP Graham Gomez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) | Live Stats |
| Saturday, Feb. 25 at 11 am vs SJSU | TBA vs RHP Matt Brown (0-1, 6.23 ERA) | Live Stats |
Game Notes: Northern Colorado | BYU | WAC
Leading Off
• Rain has been a story all the first two weeks for Northern Colorado and caused a change for this week's games. The team will be headed to Stockton, Calif. to face BYU and SJSU instead of playing at San Jose State. Thursday and Friday's games will be played at Billy Herbert Field, while Saturday's at San Joaquin Delta College.
• After losing the first three games of the season, the Bears finished their rain-delayed opening weekend with two wins. First, they avoided the sweep by San Francisco with a 3-2 win in 10 innings early on Tuesday. UNC followed it up with a commanding 12-4 victory over San Francisco State later that day.
• Northern Colorado's offense was productive in the first weekend, manufacturing 28 runs including 6 home runs.
• Northern Colorado is finishing up a nine-game road trip to open the season.
• The Bears are coming off their second straight trip to Mesa, Arizona for the WAC Tournament.
• Last season's ERA leader in Nick Tanner is back. The lefty finished the 2016 season with a 4-1 record and 2.89 ERA.
• Northern Colorado has its batting average leader from last year back as well in Dean Lawson. Last season Lawson hit .357 for the Bears in 43 games.
• Head coach Carl Iwasaki is entering his seventh season with Northern Colorado. Over that time he has helped take the team from the Great West Conference into the Western Athletic Conference.
Scouting BYU
BYU enters the week with a 1-2 record after playing a trio of games in Georgia last week against Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and Georgia State. The lone win for the team came against Kennesaw State 13-4. Early returns on the year for the Cougars is they have a strong offense with five batters hitting over .300 after one week. Leading the charge is Nate Favero and his .571 batting average. Over the three games the team had 12 extra base hits, including four home runs. On the mound BYU comes in with a 3.38 ERA, and an impressive 23-6 strike out-to-walk ratio. Coming into the 2017 season the Cougars were projected to finish fourth in the WCC.
Scouting San Jose State
The Spartans are under new leadership this season in Jason Hawkins. He came to SJSU from Utah where he helped lead the Utes to their first Regional appearance in seven years. Like the Bears, San Jose State was battling the elements for opening weekend. The Spartans traveled to UCLA to open the season and ended up playing two of the three scheduled games. SJSU dropped both games to the Bruins, struggling to get hits, ending the series with a .121 batting average. UCLA also got to San Jose State's pitching staff, giving them a 7.02 ERA. The Spartans were picked to finish seventh out of seven teams in the Mountain West this season.
History Against BYU
UNC and BYU have a long history of facing each other dating back to 1952. Over the 65 years the teams have met 72 times, with the Cougars holding a 52-20 advantage. The last time the teams met was in 2013 in Lubbock, Texas splitting the two games they played. When playing at neutral sites against Brigham Young, Northern Colorado is 1-4.
History Against San Jose State
Northern Colorado and San Jose State have only met in one other series prior to this, that came in 2015 when UNC opened the season in San Jose. The Spartans took that series 3-1, but it featured a pair of one score games.
History Against WCC Teams
Northern Colorado is 26-63 all-time against teams from the WCC. The majority of those games have come against BYU who holds a 20-52 record in the series.
History Against Mountain West Teams
Northern Colorado has a long and extensive history against teams from the Mountain West posting a 263-213-3 record. That record includes programs that no longer exist in Colorado State and Wyoming. When taking away those two teams UNC's record is 109-119-1.
New Faces
Fans are going to need to keep a roster page handy for the first few weeks of the season as UNC welcomes 19 newcomers this year. The group of 19 is a mixture of true freshmen and junior college transfers.
Three of the fresh faces for the Bears are receiving some attention nationally. They are RHP Aaron Hamilton, OF Jack Pauley and RHP Troy Watson. DIBaseball.com rated both Hamilton and Pauly as some of the top draft prospects for the 2017 and 2018 draft, respectively from the WAC. Watson was ranked the No. 3 impact freshman for this season.
UNC also welcomes Nate Rasmussen as a volunteer assistant to staff. Rasmussen will serve as outfield coach, first base coach, and camp director as well as assisting hitters.
During the first weekend of play, Northern Colorado saw 12 different newcomers make their debut for the team. In that group included starters Jack Pauley, Evan Johnson, Alex Kiel and pitchers Sam Leach, Aaron Hamilton and Troy Watson.
Lean Dean Hitting Machine Continues
Dean Lawson had a strong 2016 campaign, has brought that same effort into the 2017 season. Last year, he hit a team leading .357 batting average. His average was good for fifth in the conference and 126th in the nation. Lawson also batted in 16 runs during the season. Through the first five game this season he has recorded at least one hit, and leading the team with a .353 batting average.
Bears Dig The Long Ball
If their is only one thing people take away from UNC after week one, it is that they can hit the long ball. The team had six home runs over the five games, including a pair of multi-home run games.
Leading the charge in long-balls is Evan Johnson. He hit his first career home run against San Francisco, and then added to his total on Tuesday with a grand slam. It was the first grand slam for Northern Colorado since Nick Miller against New York Institute of Technology in May of 2013.
Two other Bears hit their first career home runs, in Jack Pauley and Tyler Yamaguchi.
Say W(h)atson?
Freshman Troy Watson earned his first career start Tuesday when UNC took on San Francisco State. The righty from Texas didn't disappoint either. He went five and a third innings without allowing a hit to the Gators. His final line was six innings, two hits, two runs, both earned and three strike outs and walks. He ended up getting the win.
Tanner on a Terror
Nick Tanner was the best Bear last season, earning second team All-WAC. He finished the 2016 season with a slash line of .327/.401/.388 and added one home run along with 15 RBIs. Tanner was also one of UNC's key pitchers, finishing with a 4-1 record. His team leading 2.89 ERA was good for third in the conference and 158th in the nation. Tanner pitched in a team-high 53 innings with 33 strikeouts and 13 walks during the season.
Interesting Ending
Northern Colorado's final game against San Francisco had a very interesting ending. First, the conclusion of the game was pushed to two days after it began due to darkness and weather. Then in the bottom of the 10th San Francisco's final two outs came when they were caught trying to steal second base.
Less Free Passes
UNC pitchers struggled with their command at times, allowing 28 free passes in the first week of action. That is something they will look to improve upon as the season progresses.
Exceeding Expectations
In the preseason WAC coaches poll, Northern Colorado has been picked to finish eighth in the conference for the second consecutive year. The Bears will need to surprise the teams in the conference in order to book a trip to Mesa, Arizona at the end of May.
UNC has been able to exceed expectations the past two seasons. Last year the team was picked to finish eighth and ended up fifth in the conference. While in 2014 Northern Colorado was picked last, but finished seventh in the WAC.
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.
Making the Grades
There were seven UNC players who earned spots on the 2016 Academic Honors list. Those earning honors are Jake Garcia, Cam Huber, Brett Minnick, Cole Maltese, Dan Reese, Payton Tapia, Corey Nakakura.
Wild Wild West
The Bears roster is comprised of almost every state in the western part of the US. Eleven different states are represented on the roster, as far east as Nebraska and as west as Hawaii.
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 35 hail from the Centennial State.
Hawaiian Connection
The Bears have four players who hail from Hawaii plus head coach Carl Iwasaki and assistant Kaiona Correa all coming to Colorado from the islands.
Class of 2018
Help arrives for Northern Colorado with eight new players joining their roster for the 2018 season. The Bears add three infielders, a catchers, two utility players and a pair of right handed pitchers.
On Deck
Northern Colorado opens up their first home series of the 2017 season against North Dakota State. The Bears and Bison are even at 11-11 in their all-time series. They last met in March of 2015 with NDSU taking three of four games from UNC in Greeley. The home opener at Jackson Stadium is set for Friday, March 3 at 2 pm.
In the Hole
It will be a busy week for UNC as they head to the Cornhusker state for five games. The trip starts with a pair of mid-week games at Nebraska. They will then go an hour up the road to Omaha to face Nebraska Omaha for three games over March 10-12.
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