2021 Baseball Notebook (Week 2)

COMING UP: vs. Oregon Tech (DH), Friday, 2 p.m.; vs. Oregon Tech (DH), Saturday, 11 a.m.

COMPLETE MEDIA GAME NOTES
 
NO FANS TO START 2021, GAMES TO BE STREAMED: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The College of Idaho and the Cascade Conference have implemented a no spectator policy for all events at the current time. All Coyote home baseball games will be broadcast live on the Yotes Digital Network with Mike Safford and Sven Alskog calling the action. The pay-per-view service is $7.99 per game; $8.99 per day or $39.99 for the 26-game season package.
 
SEASON OPENING WIN: Last Wednesday's 13-12 win over Midland in the Yotes season opener improved the team to 45-31-1 in season openers – dating back to the 1933 season. C of I has won three of their last four season openers.
 
HOME OPENERS: Friday marks C of I's home opener, with the squad 28-6 in home openers since baseball returned to the College in 1987 – including a 22-game win streak from 1987-2008.
 
NEW LOOK WOLFE FIELD TURNS 13: The 2021 season marks the Coyotes 13th season at Wolfe Field – the first facility in the State of Idaho to feature an artificial turf mound and infield surface. C of I has a 177-122 all-time record at the stadium, including a 26-4 record in 2010. Since baseball returned to the College in 1987, the Yotes have posted a 539-236 home record between dates at Simplot Stadium and Wolfe Field – including 23-1 marks during the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The new addition to Wolfe Field is state-of-the-art lighting, which will allow C of I to play night games – and has helped the facility earn a new tenant, the Canyon County Spuds, a summer collegiate team in the Expedition League.
 
NON CONFERENCE GAMES VS. CONFERENCE TEAM: With limits set forth by the Division II and Division III conferences in the Northwest due to COVID-19, C of I has turned to fellow Cascade Conference teams to fill the non-league portion of the schedule – hosting Oregon Tech this weekend and Eastern Oregon on Feb. 13-14. It is the first time since the 2017 season that C of I has played non-league games against conference foes – which was a common occurrence prior to the 2015 season, as the Yotes played at least one non-league game against a conference team every season from 1987-2015.
 
HISTORY VS. OIT: C of I and Oregon Tech have played 131 times on the diamond, with the Yotes holding a commanding 100-31 series edge. The two teams were members of the Timber-Prairie Athletic Conference from 1987-91 and members of the CCC/NAIA West since 2002. C of I holds a 21-3 edge in non-league games vs. OIT and a commanding 55-7 edge in games in Caldwell.
 
ABOUT OREGON TECH: OIT (0-2) looks to bounce back after a tough 4-20 season in 2020, opening the season in California, dropping a pair of game at William Jessup, 14-9 and 6-5. The Owls return two of their top three hitters in former All-NAIA West second baseman Micah Jio (.297 0 HR 12 RBI in 2020) and outfielder Alex Malcom (.309 0 HR 9 RBI in 2020), along with their closer Trask Telemanich (1-4 10.80 ERA in 2020). Tech features 20 new players on their roster of 36 – including a pair of Division I transfers – with one of the newcomers, Mitchell Swanson, going 4-for-9 with a homer and four RBI against WJU.
 
FORMER COYOTE LEADS TECH: The Owls have a new skipper in 2021, as Jacob Garsez takes over the reins of the program. Garsez, a Caldwell native, is a C of I graduate – playing for the Yotes in 2007-09, posting a career .273 batting average in 89 games. He previously was an assistant at Corban University before becoming head coach at the University of Antelope Valley, leading the team to the 2018 NAIA World Series.
 
LATE INNING RALLY IN ARIZONA: It was a record-setting win for the Yotes last Wednesday, as C of I rallied from deficits of 7-0 and 10-2 to pick up a 13-12 win over Midland. The 8-run deficit erased by the Coyotes was the biggest rally by the team since the 2012 season, when C of I trailed at NNU, 11-2, before scoring 11 unanswered runs to topple the then Crusaders, 13-11. During the 2018 season, the Yotes had two big comeback wins, erasing a 7-0 Montana State-Billings lead to earn a 13-12 win, while battling back from a 6-0 deficit to win at Ottawa, 12-10.
 
SOPHOMORES START HOT WITH THE STICKS: A pair of sophomores took advantage of their opportunities on the trip and paced the C of I offensive attack. Caden Leibelin came off the bench against Arizona Christian and delivered a pinch hit 2-run single and followed it up with an RBI double vs. San Diego Christian, finishing the trip, 3-for-5 at the plate. Tobey Summers earned the start at first base in two of the three games, going 3-for-8 with a triple and three RBI, posting a .455 on base percentage.
 
CLAY EXTENDS STREAK: Senior Matthew Clay ended the 2020 season on a hot streak, hitting .333 over the final 10 games – earning the final NAIA West Player of the Week honors of the season. He picked up right where he left off, going 5-for-14 in Arizona with two RBI – extending a hitting streak to five games.
 
FRESHMEN DEBUT IN THE LINEUP: Both Tanner Leaf and Dillon Danner were penciled in on the lineup card in all three Arizona games – as the true freshmen made their college debuts. Leaf, an outfielder, led the team with five runs scored, adding three hits and three RBI, while Danner, added two RBI and three runs scored, while throwing out three base runners from behind the plate.
 
BREWER SAVES THE DAY: Given a 1-run lead to protect against Midland, sophomore Luke Brewer entered the game in a high-leverage situation and recorded his best outing as a Coyote. The left-hander tossed two shutout innings, erasing a base runner in the eighth with a double-play ball and working around a 2-out walk in the ninth, to notch his first career save.
 
NEWCOMERS ON THE MOUND: Seven different players made their Coyote debut on the mound, including four true freshmen making their collegiate debut. Hunter Kirkpatrick earned the Game 2 start, allowing one earned run on four hits in three innings of work, while Jaden Trueblood pitched 2.2 innings of relief in the opener, allowing two earned runs and fanning a pair. Freshmen Colby Durski and Jack Stewart made their first appearances in college, while transfers Wyatt Hankard, Brendan Boily and Erik Wisenor each seeing time on the mound.
 
FINAL GAME POSTPONED: A rare January rainstorm hit the Phoenix area on Friday night, forcing the tournament staff to push all Saturday games back by two hours. Unfortunately for the Yotes, the delay forced C of I to cancel their match-up with St. Katherine – as the new start time would force the Coyotes to miss their return flight to Boise.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: As a team, the Coyotes averaged nearly eight runs per game – over three runs per game more than their average of 4.61 runs per game in 2020. C of I hit .312 against left-handed pitchers and saw their leadoff batters reach base in 15-of-27 innings played. The Yotes were outscored 18-3 in the first three innings, but outscored opponents 11-3 in the final three frames. Pitchers allowed just 11 earned runs in the three games – but 32 total runs – as the team combined for 14 errors on the trip.
 
RECORD BOOK: Austin Van Horne ranks among the C of I career Top-25 in five statistical categories – No. 8 in games started (183), No. 9 in at bats (664), No. 14 in triples (5) and No. 15 in both walks (68) and games played (184).
 
WELCOME BACK CASCADE CONFERENCE: 2021 marks the return of the Cascade Conference as a baseball league for the first time since 2009, when the circuit rebranded as the NAIA West Grouping. Longtime rival, Lewis-Clark State, has joined the league in all sports, while Eastern Oregon returns to the diamond for the first time in 16 years. Oregon Tech and Corban round out the league this year, as British Columbia has opted out for the season due to travel restrictions due to COVID-19. The Top-3 teams in the league will advance to the CCC Championships, with the league champ earning a bid to the NAIA National Championships Opening Round.
 
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 1,582-1,262-7 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 currently on the Cincinnati Reds 40-man roster and Draper in the Cleveland Indians farm system.