@NCBearsBaseball Starts Five-Game Homestand Against Seattle

Friday, April 7

Greeley, Colo.

2:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Seattle

4/5/2017 4:43:00 PM | Baseball

Northern Colorado Notes WAC Notes

Northern Colorado begins a five-game homestand starting with a three-game series against Seattle

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY – Northern Colorado baseball returns home for a five-game homestand beginning this weekend. The Bears will host Seattle University for three games starting on Friday at 2 pm. It will be both team's third WAC series of the season, with UNC coming in with a 3-3 record, while SU is 1-5.

Games	Probable Pitchers	Game Links
Friday, April 7 at 2 pm	RHP Aaron Hamilton (2-2, 4.31 ERA) vs LHP Jake Prizina (3-1, 3.80 ERA)	Video \| Audio \| Live Stats
Saturday, April 8 at 2 pm	RHP Troy Watson (3-2, 6.29 ERA) vs RHP Janson Junk (3-4, 5.36 ERA)	Video \| Audio \| Live Stats
Sunday, April 9 at 12 pm	RHP Connor Leedholm (0-1, 5.91 ERA) vs TBA	Video \| Audio \| Live Stats

Leading Off
• Northern Colorado dropped to 3-3 in conference and 11-15 overall after being swept by Grand Canyon University over the weekend.
• UNC's offense struggled over the weekend and was outscored 31-5 and outhit 40-17 by Grand Canyon.
• Tyler Yamaguchi added to UNC's home run totals with a two-run and solo home run over the weekend, giving him 3 total on the season. Northern Colorado is tied for 77th nationally in home runs with 23.
• Northern Colorado has played well at home this year, going 6-2 at the Jack. UNC is begging a five-game homestand Friday against Seattle, and it concludes next Friday against Metro State.
• Tuesday's game against Air Force was postponed to due snow in Colorado Springs. The Bears and Falcons will now play that game on Tuesday, May 16 at 1 pm on the Air Force Academy.

Scouting Seattle
Seattle enters the series against UNC with a 9-18 record and 1-5 in WAC conference play. The Redhawks recently were swept at home in their weekend series against conference opponent New Mexico State. Seattle, however, did pick up a 4-2 victory against Washington on Tuesday (4/4). Aaron Stroosma (Sr.) has been a key part of the Redhawks offense with a .311 average, 3 home runs, 2 triples, 4 doubles and a team-leading 23 RBIs. Stroosma also swiped 11 bases. Dalton Hurd (Jr.) has also been a major contributor for the Redhawks with a .309 average, 3 home runs, 8 doubles, and 15 RBIs, as well as 7 stolen bases. Seattle has another two hitters batting above .300 with Austin Lively's (Fr.) team-leading .351 and Jack Reisinger (Jr.) at .321. The pitching staff for Seattle has struggled with a team ERA of 5.24. Jack Prizina (So.) has 3-1 record in 7 starts for the Redhawks with a 3.80 ERA in 47.1 innings and 34 strikeouts to 16 walks. Tyler Oldenberg (So.) has pitched well out of the bullpen with 9 appearance and a 2.78 ERA in 22.2 innings and 18 strikeouts to only 5 walks.

History Against Seattle
Northern Colorado has just picked up one win in 12 tries against Seattle. That win came in the first ever game between the teams in 2012. The Bears won the game 4-1 in Seattle. Sine that game the Redhawks have won 11 straight. Since joining the WAC in 2014, UNC is 0-9 against SU.

March to Mesa
Two weeks into the WAC season, UNC sits with an even 3-3 record. Grand Canyon leads the league with a 6-0 record. The Lopes are eligible to win the regular season title, but unable to compete in the WAC tournament as the continue their transition to Division I. Following GCU is New Mexico State at 3-0.

The WAC Tournament will take place May 24-28 at Hohokum Park, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. The top six teams in the conference qualify for the tournament.

Along Came Pauley
Redshirt sophomore, Jack Pauley has made an instant impact for Northern Colorado this season. He leads the team in batting average (.374) and RBI (25).

Pauley had a monster opening WAC weekend hitting .615 against Sacramento State. He had eight hits on the weekend, including four doubles and two triples. Pauley also had five RBI and scored five times. He came up with the game-tying hit against Sac St on Sunday on one of his three doubles in the game.

He earned his first career WAC Hitter of the Week honor for his performance against NDSU at the beginning of March. He hit .538 in the series with three extra base hits including a pair of homers. He led the team seven RBI and six runs scored.

Jackson Magic
Jackson Magic was in full force on Sunday, March 26th afternoon as UNC scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to earn the comeback win and sweep of Sacramento State. The Bears trailed by as much as seven in the game as the Hornets scored at least one run in five of the first six innings. The trio of Evan Johnson, Jack Pauley and Nick Tanner came up with big hits for the Bears in the comeback. Johnson put UNC within one on a bases loaded clearing double, while Pauley tied the game up on his third double of the game. Nick Tanner had the walk-off hit with a single to left scoring Cole Maltese.

Bears Dig The Long Ball
UNC can hit the long ball. The team has 23 home runs this season including six of multi-home run games. They are ranked 77th in the NCAA in home runs hit.

Nine different Bears have hit a long ball this season, led by Cole Maltese's six, which puts him 90th in the nation.

Minnick Doubling Up
Brett Minnick has be a doubles machine this year for UNC. The junior has 11 doubles averaging one every other game. That ranks second in the WAC and 22nd nationally.

14 K Gold Performance
Aaron Hamilton turned in a performance for the ages against San Jose State. He pitched a complete game two-hit shutout striking out 14, and allowing no walks. The 14 strikeouts tied a school-record, with Donnie Alexander.

He went mono-a-mono with Sacramento State ace Justin Dillion as both put up zeros through the first five innings. Hamilton allowed two runs in the sixth, while Dillion five, ending both of there days and Hamilton earning the win.

For the season Hamilton is 2-2 with a 4.31 ERA, he has struck out 31 and walked 13 over 31.1 innings pitched.

Close Calls
One or two run ball games have been common for Northern Colorado this season, through 23 games, 10 have been decided by that margin. UNC is 6-4 in those games.

Three of them have gone into extra innings all lasting just 10 innings. UNC is 1-2 in those games winning at San Francisco while falling to BYU and Regis.

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 Pauley 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.

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.

Schedule Additions
UNC added a pair of games to its schedule after weather has canceled some. The Bears will now play a doubleheader against Metro State at Metro on April 15 starting at noon. There is also an additional game at Jackson Field this season on April 18. UNC will welcome first year DII program UCCS at 3 pm on the date.

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 stram and 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 Kianoa 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
UNC will play its first of three games against Air Force on Tuesday, April 11. The first game of the series between the Bears and Falcons was scheduled for last Tuesday, but mother nature intervened. This is the long game between the two teams played in Greeley this season.

In the Hole
The Bears have a weekend off from WAC play, as they will take on Metro State. UNC will host the Roadrunners on Friday at 2 pm, then play at doubleheader at Metro on Saturday beginning at noon.