University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, May 18
Pueblo, Colo.
3:00 pm
University of Northern Colorado
vs
Chicago State
@NCBearsBaseball Ready For Big Weekend Against Chicago State
5/17/2017 2:00:00 PM | Baseball
UNC baseball faces Chicago State looking to punch their ticket to Mesa and next week's WAC Tournament
GREELEY – Northern Colorado baseball faces Chicago State this weekend in a big series as they look to punch their ticket to the WAC Tournament. The Bears and Cougars are in a four-way tie with UT Rio Grande Valley and Seattle U for the final two spots in the tournament. Weather has caused some changes to the schedule as the first two games of the series will be played in Pueblo, Colorado at Rawlings Field. Thursday's and Friday's game is set for 3 pm and 1 pm MT. Saturday's game will be played at Jackson Field at 12 pm.
Game Day Happenings
Saturday is chalk full of events and promotions. It is both Senior Day and Tom Petroff Day. The Bears will say thank you to its six seniors following the conclusion of game. Before the game UNC will retire the jersey of long-time coach Tom Petroff. He will be in attendance for the event, along with many former Bears.
Fan Appreciation Day is also on Saturday. To say thank you for your support all season long, those in attendance will receive a free popcorn with the purchase of a drink. UNC baseball will also be collecting money for the Vs. Cancer Foundations. Fans can also donate by clicking here.
Leading Off
• Mother Nature has caused a shift in sites for this weekend's games, with the first two games of the series being played in Pueblo, Colorado at the home of the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves. Times for those two games are set for 3 pm Thursday and 1 pm Friday. Saturday's game is going on as scheduled at 12 pm at Jackson Field.
• Northern Colorado is coming off a slugfest Tuesday afternoon against in-state rival Air Force. The Bears outlasted the Falcons 13-11. Evan Johnson had a career-day going 5-for-5 with five RBIs and run scored including a double and home run.
• UNC is in a four way tie with Chicago State, Seattle U and UT Rio Grande Valley for the final two spots in the WAC Tournament next week. The Bears are looking to qualify for their third straight WAC Tournament.
• Northern Colorado kept those WAC Tournament hopes alive last weekend by taking two of three from UT Rio Grande Valley. The team won a pair of 10 inning games by the scores of 5-4 and 6-5.
• Jacob Howard is coming off a WAC Pitcher of the Week performance. He was key in the Bears pair of wins going 1-0 with a save, allowing no runs on just three hits in four innings pitched.
Scouting Chicago State
Chicago State has struggled when outside of conference play, posting an overall record of 11-38, but is 7-14 in WAC play and right in the mix for a spot in the WAC Tournament next week. CSU is coming off a weekend in which they were swept by New Mexico State in Chicago. The Cougars have picked up some good wins in WAC play taking the series against Seattle, while also picking up a win over Grand Canyon and CSU Bakersfield who are both in the top half of the conference.
Matt Sullivan paces the Chicago State offense, hitting .312 on the season, and .333 in WAC play. Teammates Matt Paciello and Jacob Vanitvelt bring the big bats for the team with 58 combined RBIS and 31 extra base hits. The team has struggled at times in the batters box though, hitting .246 on the year.
On the mound, the trio of Jake Perkins, Brad Moore and Grant Tower have been the rotation for the team. Perkins is 2-6 on the season for the team with a 4.19 ERA and 60-30 strikeout to walk ratio. As a staff overall, the Cougars have a 5.70 ERA with opponents hitting .304 against them.
History Against Chicago State
Northern Colorado holds a demanding 22-4 record against Chicago State all-time. CSU got the best of the Bears last year, taking two of the three game series. UNC is 10-1 when playing in Greeley against the Cougars and 3-0 on neutral site fields.
March to Mesa
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, all eight eligible teams are still in contention for a trip to Mesa. Two teams have clinched as NM State will come to Hohokam Stadium as the top seed and CSU Bakersfield will be the second seed. Utah Valley and Sacramento State are currently tied for the third seed but a quartet of teams is just two games back of them as Chicago State, Northern Colorado, Seattle U and UT Rio Grande Valley are in a four-way tie for the fifth seed. This week, Chicago State heads to Northern Colorado, Utah Valley travels to Seattle U, UT Rio Grande Valley makes the trip to Sacramento State and CSU Bakersfield will be at NM State to wrap up WAC play. Grand Canyon, who clinched at least a share of the regular season title in their final year of transition to Division I.
The WAC Tournament will take place May 24-28 at Hohokam Park, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. The top six teams in the conference qualify for the tournament.
Honoring a Legend
Northern Colorado baseball will honor a legend on Saturday by retiring from head coach Tom Petroff's jersey. The coach complied a 367-198-1 with six conference titles, three NCAA Division II regional playoff appearances and three NCAA Division I regional appearances. His 1974 club upset No. 1 ranked Arizona at Jackson Field to advance to the College World Series, where they finished fifth. Named the 1971 College Division Coach of the Year. He received the Lefty Gomez Award in 1974. Member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the UNC Hall of Fame, class of 1994.
Coming up Big
Evan Johnson has come up with the big hits for Northern Colorado recently having a big past week. Over the team's last four games he is hitting .611 with nine RBIs and two runs scored, including four extra base hits. Johnson drove home the game-winning run last Friday in the 10th with a double. He then followed it up the next night with another big double, this time in the 10th to set up the game-winning run to score. Against Air Force on Tuesday he went 5-for-5 with five RBIs and a run scored. In those five hits against the Falcons he had a double and three-run home run.
Close Calls
One or two run ball games have been common for Northern Colorado this season, through 47 games, 19 have been decided by that margin. UNC is 12-7 in those games.
Five of them have gone into extra innings all lasting just 10 innings. UNC is 3-2 in those games winning at San Francisco and twice at UT Rio Grand Valley, while falling to BYU and Regis.
In the team's last four games all have been decided by two-runs or less. The Bears and UTRGV played within one run of each other all three games, while UNC won by two at Air Force. In those games against Rio Grande Valley, two went to extras, while the other was decided on a walk-off.
Lords of the (SAC) Flys
Northern Colorado baseball has become the Lords of the Sac Fly this season recording 23 on the season ranking third the WAC, and rank 78th in the NCAA. Leading the Bears is Jack Pauley and his seven, ranking second in the WAC and 14th in the nation. Tyler Yamaguchi and Cole Maltese are also in the Top 75 of the rankings with six and five, each.
Bears Dig The Long Ball
UNC can hit the long ball. The team has 42 home runs this season including 12 of multi-home run games. They are ranked 97th in the NCAA in home runs hit. Eleven different Bears have hit a long ball this season, led by Cole Maltese's nine.
The Bears had a day of long balls against Air Force on April 11th. They hit five home runs in the game, including back-to-back-to-back solo shots from Maltese, Jack Pauley and Brett Minnick. Maltese ended up hitting two dingers in the game.
Along Came Pauley
Redshirt sophomore, Jack Pauley has made an instant impact for Northern Colorado this season. He leads the team in batting average (.332) and RBIs (39).
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 has made a few appearances this season for Northern Colorado as they have earned a pair of big comeback victories at home. The first against Sacramento State on March 26, and then again on April 14 against Metro State. For the year the Bears have enjoyed the friendly confines of Jackson going 11-6 in home games.
On Sunday, March 26th afternoon 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.
Having trailed all game long, Northern Colorado scored four in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win. Alex Kiel hit his first career home run, a three run shot to end the game.
Minnick Doubling Up
Brett Minnick has been a doubles machine this year for UNC. The junior has 22 doubles averaging one every other game. That ranks first in the WAC and eighth nationally. Those 22 doubles this year also have him tied for third most in the single season records for doubles at UNC. Minnick is currently five behind record holder Patrick Perry and his 27 in 2004.
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.
Hamilton combined for UNC's second shutout of the season with a strong 7.0 innings pitched allowing six hits while striking out six as well. Dylan Shiraki closed out the shutout for the team facing the minimum over the final two innings.
For the season Hamilton is 3-5 with a 4.84 ERA, he has struck out 55 and walked 26 over 61.1 innings pitched.
New Faces
Three of the fresh faces for the Bears are receiving some attention nationally. They are RHP Aaron Hamilton, OF Jack Pauly 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.
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 stream 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 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
UNC will look to wrap up a spot in the WAC Tournament this weekend and head to Mesa, Arizona. The Tournament is set for May 24-28.
| Game | Probable Starters | Game Links |
| Thursday, May 18 at 3 pm in Pueblo | RHP Troy Watson (3-2, 5.84 ERA) vs LHP Brad Moore (3-7, 6.38 ERA) | Audio | Live Stats |
| Friday, May 19 at 1 pm in Pueblo | RHP Aaron Hamilton (3-5, 4.84 ERA) vs LHP Grant Trower (2-6, 6.63 ERA) | Audio | Live Stats |
| Saturday, May 20 at 12 pm in Greeley | LHP Nick Tanner (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs LHP Jake Perkins (2-6, 4.19 ERA) | Video | Audio | Live Stats |
Game Day Happenings
Saturday is chalk full of events and promotions. It is both Senior Day and Tom Petroff Day. The Bears will say thank you to its six seniors following the conclusion of game. Before the game UNC will retire the jersey of long-time coach Tom Petroff. He will be in attendance for the event, along with many former Bears.
Fan Appreciation Day is also on Saturday. To say thank you for your support all season long, those in attendance will receive a free popcorn with the purchase of a drink. UNC baseball will also be collecting money for the Vs. Cancer Foundations. Fans can also donate by clicking here.
Leading Off
• Mother Nature has caused a shift in sites for this weekend's games, with the first two games of the series being played in Pueblo, Colorado at the home of the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves. Times for those two games are set for 3 pm Thursday and 1 pm Friday. Saturday's game is going on as scheduled at 12 pm at Jackson Field.
• Northern Colorado is coming off a slugfest Tuesday afternoon against in-state rival Air Force. The Bears outlasted the Falcons 13-11. Evan Johnson had a career-day going 5-for-5 with five RBIs and run scored including a double and home run.
• UNC is in a four way tie with Chicago State, Seattle U and UT Rio Grande Valley for the final two spots in the WAC Tournament next week. The Bears are looking to qualify for their third straight WAC Tournament.
• Northern Colorado kept those WAC Tournament hopes alive last weekend by taking two of three from UT Rio Grande Valley. The team won a pair of 10 inning games by the scores of 5-4 and 6-5.
• Jacob Howard is coming off a WAC Pitcher of the Week performance. He was key in the Bears pair of wins going 1-0 with a save, allowing no runs on just three hits in four innings pitched.
Scouting Chicago State
Chicago State has struggled when outside of conference play, posting an overall record of 11-38, but is 7-14 in WAC play and right in the mix for a spot in the WAC Tournament next week. CSU is coming off a weekend in which they were swept by New Mexico State in Chicago. The Cougars have picked up some good wins in WAC play taking the series against Seattle, while also picking up a win over Grand Canyon and CSU Bakersfield who are both in the top half of the conference.
Matt Sullivan paces the Chicago State offense, hitting .312 on the season, and .333 in WAC play. Teammates Matt Paciello and Jacob Vanitvelt bring the big bats for the team with 58 combined RBIS and 31 extra base hits. The team has struggled at times in the batters box though, hitting .246 on the year.
On the mound, the trio of Jake Perkins, Brad Moore and Grant Tower have been the rotation for the team. Perkins is 2-6 on the season for the team with a 4.19 ERA and 60-30 strikeout to walk ratio. As a staff overall, the Cougars have a 5.70 ERA with opponents hitting .304 against them.
History Against Chicago State
Northern Colorado holds a demanding 22-4 record against Chicago State all-time. CSU got the best of the Bears last year, taking two of the three game series. UNC is 10-1 when playing in Greeley against the Cougars and 3-0 on neutral site fields.
March to Mesa
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, all eight eligible teams are still in contention for a trip to Mesa. Two teams have clinched as NM State will come to Hohokam Stadium as the top seed and CSU Bakersfield will be the second seed. Utah Valley and Sacramento State are currently tied for the third seed but a quartet of teams is just two games back of them as Chicago State, Northern Colorado, Seattle U and UT Rio Grande Valley are in a four-way tie for the fifth seed. This week, Chicago State heads to Northern Colorado, Utah Valley travels to Seattle U, UT Rio Grande Valley makes the trip to Sacramento State and CSU Bakersfield will be at NM State to wrap up WAC play. Grand Canyon, who clinched at least a share of the regular season title in their final year of transition to Division I.
The WAC Tournament will take place May 24-28 at Hohokam Park, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. The top six teams in the conference qualify for the tournament.
Honoring a Legend
Northern Colorado baseball will honor a legend on Saturday by retiring from head coach Tom Petroff's jersey. The coach complied a 367-198-1 with six conference titles, three NCAA Division II regional playoff appearances and three NCAA Division I regional appearances. His 1974 club upset No. 1 ranked Arizona at Jackson Field to advance to the College World Series, where they finished fifth. Named the 1971 College Division Coach of the Year. He received the Lefty Gomez Award in 1974. Member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the UNC Hall of Fame, class of 1994.
Coming up Big
Evan Johnson has come up with the big hits for Northern Colorado recently having a big past week. Over the team's last four games he is hitting .611 with nine RBIs and two runs scored, including four extra base hits. Johnson drove home the game-winning run last Friday in the 10th with a double. He then followed it up the next night with another big double, this time in the 10th to set up the game-winning run to score. Against Air Force on Tuesday he went 5-for-5 with five RBIs and a run scored. In those five hits against the Falcons he had a double and three-run home run.
Close Calls
One or two run ball games have been common for Northern Colorado this season, through 47 games, 19 have been decided by that margin. UNC is 12-7 in those games.
Five of them have gone into extra innings all lasting just 10 innings. UNC is 3-2 in those games winning at San Francisco and twice at UT Rio Grand Valley, while falling to BYU and Regis.
In the team's last four games all have been decided by two-runs or less. The Bears and UTRGV played within one run of each other all three games, while UNC won by two at Air Force. In those games against Rio Grande Valley, two went to extras, while the other was decided on a walk-off.
Lords of the (SAC) Flys
Northern Colorado baseball has become the Lords of the Sac Fly this season recording 23 on the season ranking third the WAC, and rank 78th in the NCAA. Leading the Bears is Jack Pauley and his seven, ranking second in the WAC and 14th in the nation. Tyler Yamaguchi and Cole Maltese are also in the Top 75 of the rankings with six and five, each.
Bears Dig The Long Ball
UNC can hit the long ball. The team has 42 home runs this season including 12 of multi-home run games. They are ranked 97th in the NCAA in home runs hit. Eleven different Bears have hit a long ball this season, led by Cole Maltese's nine.
The Bears had a day of long balls against Air Force on April 11th. They hit five home runs in the game, including back-to-back-to-back solo shots from Maltese, Jack Pauley and Brett Minnick. Maltese ended up hitting two dingers in the game.
Along Came Pauley
Redshirt sophomore, Jack Pauley has made an instant impact for Northern Colorado this season. He leads the team in batting average (.332) and RBIs (39).
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 has made a few appearances this season for Northern Colorado as they have earned a pair of big comeback victories at home. The first against Sacramento State on March 26, and then again on April 14 against Metro State. For the year the Bears have enjoyed the friendly confines of Jackson going 11-6 in home games.
On Sunday, March 26th afternoon 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.
Having trailed all game long, Northern Colorado scored four in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win. Alex Kiel hit his first career home run, a three run shot to end the game.
Minnick Doubling Up
Brett Minnick has been a doubles machine this year for UNC. The junior has 22 doubles averaging one every other game. That ranks first in the WAC and eighth nationally. Those 22 doubles this year also have him tied for third most in the single season records for doubles at UNC. Minnick is currently five behind record holder Patrick Perry and his 27 in 2004.
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.
Hamilton combined for UNC's second shutout of the season with a strong 7.0 innings pitched allowing six hits while striking out six as well. Dylan Shiraki closed out the shutout for the team facing the minimum over the final two innings.
For the season Hamilton is 3-5 with a 4.84 ERA, he has struck out 55 and walked 26 over 61.1 innings pitched.
New Faces
Three of the fresh faces for the Bears are receiving some attention nationally. They are RHP Aaron Hamilton, OF Jack Pauly 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.
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 stream 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 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
UNC will look to wrap up a spot in the WAC Tournament this weekend and head to Mesa, Arizona. The Tournament is set for May 24-28.
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