2020 Baseball Notebook - Week 5

LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO: Live Stats and Live Video of all four games of the weekend series in Oregon will be available through Corban's Stretch Internet Portal.

COMPLETE MEDIA GAME NOTES

SERIES MOVED UP 24 HOURS: Due to the forecast of weekend rain in the Willamette Valley, the C of I-Corban 4-game series has been pushed up 24 hours. Games will now be played Friday and Saturday - with both doubleheaders at 11 a.m.
 
NOTE THE VENUE: The weekend series will be played at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore., the off-campus home of Corban. The 4,500-seat facility is the summer home of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the Class-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
 
VAN HORNE HAS BIG WEEKEND ON THE MOUND, AT THE PLATE: Headlining the weekend for the Coyotes was senior Austin Van Horne, who dominated Simpson in Game 3 of the series – tossing six shutout innings in the 10-4 victory. The right-hander allowed four hits and struck out a career-high 11 batters – and is averaging two strikeouts per inning pitched this season. Van Horne helped his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI in the win – finishing the weekend 6-for-15 with two doubles, three RBI and five stolen bases.
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT STRIKEOUTS: Austin Van Horne became the 44th Coyote pitcher to record 10-or-more strikeouts in a game – with his 11 strikeouts the most by a C of I hurler since Zach Draper fanned 12 batters vs. Oregon Tech in 2017. Denny Gilich holds the school record with seven games with 10-plus strikeouts, with Levi Lacey recording six 10-strikeout games.
 
NOLAN CONTINUES HOT STREAK: Middle infielder Ryan Nolan is making the most out of being an everyday player for the Coyotes – extending a hit streak to eight games – going a combined 7-for-17 in the series. Nolan, who posted a combined 16 hits in two seasons as a reserve at the College of Southern Idaho, leads the NAIA West with 22 hits and nine stolen bases on the season and leads the Yotes with a .393 batting average.
 
FRESHMEN SOLID: Three Coyote freshmen were in the lineup throughout the Simpson series, as Jonah Hultberg, Ben Hansen and Jake Denison started all four games. Hultberg had a pair of doubles and drove in four runs during the series – but had his 11-game hit streak snapped in Sunday's opener. Hansen hit safely in all four games, going 5-for-17 with a double and two RBI, while recording 16 defensive chances without an error. Denison finished the weekend 4-for-13 with three RBI, improving his batting average to .268.
 
BOWMAN OFF TO A GREAT START: After pitching just 11 innings last season, sophomore Jared Bowman has been key out of the Coyote bullpen – parlaying the success into his first career start. Bowman tossed three innings of one-run relief in Game 2 of the series, following it up by starting Game 4, throwing four-plus innings, allowing an unearned run. The local product has allowed just two earned runs over his last five appearances (spanning 14.2 innings), striking out 15 men.
 
WOOD WORKS INTO THE EIGHTH: Pitcher Dimick Wood recorded his third-straight quality start against Simpson, tossing a season-high 7.2 innings in the series opener. The right-hander limited Simpson to just five hits and struck out a season-high eight batters – pushing his season total to 24, tops in the NAIA West, with his 23.2 innings pitched in 2020 ranking No. 2 in the league.
 
DEBUTS AND DEPARTURE: Two players made their season debut against Simpson – as transfer Tanner McGrath went 1-for-3 with an RBI single and freshman Tobey Summers went 0-for-2 with a walk. On the flip side, transfer pitcher Andrew Kirchmeier has left the program for personal reasons.
 
SPEED ON THE BASE PATHS: The Coyotes used their speed in the Simpson series, combining to steal 16 bases in the 4-game series. C of I stole eight bases in Game 3 of the series, the 20th time a C of I has stolen 8-or-more bases in a game. The Yotes lead the NAIA West with 43 stolen bases on the season – averaging nearly three stolen bases per game.
 
SUPERLATIVES: C of I scored 10 runs in Game 3 of the series, their second game in 2020 with double-digit runs – improving to 2-0 in such games…Saturday's Game 2 marked the Yotes first extra-inning game of the season – coming off a season where the team went 1-1 in extra innings games…C of I hit .178 with 2-outs in the series, recording just three 2-out RBI…the Yotes issued three intentional walks in Game 2 of the series – the most intentional free passes in a game in program history.
 
AROUND THE NAIA WEST: It was a solid week for the NAIA West, as Corban and Lewis-Clark State each earned series wins against Division II teams, with British Columbia splitting a series with a Top-25 foe. Corban opened their home slate taking 2-of-3 from Central Washington; Lewis-Clark State swept a 3-game set at Concordia; Oregon Tech went 2-4 in California, splitting a doubleheader at La Sierra and losing 3-of-4 vs. Marymount; with UBC splitting a 4-game series at Benedictine Mesa. This weekend, UBC travels to Lewis-Clark State and C of I heads to Corban, with OIT having a bye weekend.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – CORBAN: C of I opens the NAIA West season at Corban, as the Warriors (4-11) have rebounded from a 0-8 start to win four of their last seven games. Pitching has kept Corban in every game this season, with the team posting a 5.32 ERA – making up for a .218 team batting average. Jackson Arnsdorf (1-2 3.50 ERA) is the ace of the staff, with Hector Sepulveda (1-3 6.28 ERA) and Jacob Bowser (0-2 3.27 ERA) key to the Warriors success. Middle infielder Estenio Sede (.293 3 HR 9 RBI) returns after a solid 2019, with Nate Cantonwine (.364 1 HR 4 RBI) and Kairos Torres-Umi (.300 2 HR 10 RBI) key bats in the order. Last season, Corban won the season series with C of I, 5-3, though the Yotes took 3-of-4 games in Oregon.
 
RECORD BOOK: One Coyote player is currently in the Top-25 career record book – as Austin Van Horne is currently No. 12 in games started (168) and in at bats (614), No. 22 in both triples (4) and walks (59), along with No. 24 in games played (169).
 
HISTORY: C of I has had a rich history of baseball, dating back to the era when C of I was an academy. In recorded history (since 1934), the Yotes have posted a 1,576-1,254-7 all-time record, including 34 trips to the postseason (including playoff appearances in 30 of the last 33 seasons. C of I won the 1948 and 1949 Northwest Conference titles, with the 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2017 teams advancing out of conference/regional/grouping tournaments – making five trips to the NAIA World Series – winning the 1998 national title and placing second in 1999. The Yotes have had multiple players drafted and play in professional baseball – with Jason Simontacchi ('96) the last C of I player to see action in the major leagues, and both Riley O'Brien and Zach Draper (in 2017) the last players to be drafted in the MLB First-Year Players Draft – with O'Brien finishing 2019 at Class-AA Montgomery in the Rays organization and Draper at Class-A Great Lakes in the Indians farm system.
 
LOOKING AHEAD: The Coyotes will continue their road trip next weekend with a 4-game series in Lewiston at Lewis-Clark State, before returning home on March 6 to host Park University Gilbert in a 4-game series.