2021 Baseball Notebook (Week 5)

COMING UP: at Corban (DH), Saturday, 11 a.m. (PT); at Corban (DH), Sunday, 11 a.m. (PT)

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
OFF TO OREGON – NO FANS: For the first time since January, the Yotes will hit the road for a 4-game series at Corban, tentatively to be played at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Oregon and the Cascade Conference COVID-19 Protocol, fans will not be permitted to attend.
 
WATCH LIVE: Fans of both teams are encouraged to follow along through Corban's Presto Sports Portal – for both Live Video and Live Stats. For C of I fans, the season pass to watch home games on the Yotes Digital Network does not provide access to road games.
 
HULTBERG HONORED BY CASCADE CONFERENCE: The Yotes were honored by the Cascade Conference this week, as outfielder Jonah Hultberg was named Embrace Health/Santiam Hospital Player of the Week, after his performance against Eastern Oregon and Northwest Nazarene. The second-year player hit recorded multiple hits in all four games during the weekly cycle, going a combined 11-for-16 with four runs scored and two RBI. Hultberg added three walks and finished the week with a .700 on-base percentage.
 
HULTBERG'S MULTI-GAME HIT STREAK: To say that Jonah Hultberg was in a hitting zone would be an understatement – as he recorded one of the best runs by a Coyote hitter in the last decade. Currently riding a 10-game hit streak, Hultberg posted 7-straight multi-hit games – including two 3-hit games against both Eastern and NNU, along with his first career 4-hit game vs. EOU. The seven consecutive multi-hit games tied the school record, first established by Branden Florence during the 1999 season, with only three other players (Greg Stalling in 2004, Pat Burke in 2007, Mitch Viydo in 2015) recording multi-hit games in six consecutive games. Hultberg has five games with 3-or-more hits this season, with no player recording more than five 3-hit games each of the last three seasons.
 
VAN HORNE GOES DEEP: The Yotes found some power in the form of fifth-year senior Austin Van Horne, who hit a pair of home runs last week – one against Eastern Oregon and one against NNU. Van Horne has hit at least one home run in each of his five seasons with the Coyotes and currently has 13 bombs for his career.
 
VIEIRA LOGS 3-HIT GAMES: Carter Vieira has done just about everything this season for the Yotes – played centerfield, played second-base and made multiple appearances as a relief pitcher. His bat was key over the last week, posting three 3-hit games – including two in the series with NNU. Vieira saw his batting average climb from .200 at the start of the EOU series to .333 and currently leads the team with five stolen bases.
 
WOOD SPINS MASTERPIECE: C of I got their best pitching performance of the season on Monday, as Dimick Wood was nearly unhittable against the Division II Nighthawks. Wood, who has spent most of the season working out of the bullpen, earned the Game 3 start and pitched six shutout innings, limiting NNU to just one hit and striking out six. Since a rough season opener in Arizona, Wood has been outstanding, allowing just one earned run in 11.1 innings of work, walking two and striking out 14.
 
BOWMAN KEY OUT OF THE PEN: The Yotes have also got quality appearances from Jared Bowman out of the pen, as the right-hander has not allowed a run in each of his last four outings. Bowman has allowed just two hits and one walk in four innings of work, striking out five.
 
NINE PITCHERS COMBINE ON WIN: C of I had an anomaly in Game 3 of the EOU series, as skipper Shawn Humberger predetermined that nine different pitchers would throw one inning. The strategy worked, as the Yotes handcuffed the Mountie hitters, limiting them to seven hits, while striking out 12 – as Erik Wisenor fanned three and Hunter Kirkpatrick, Jared Bowman and Ben Tighe each struck out two.
 
A 4-GAME SWEEP: The Wednesday wins over Eastern Oregon marked C of I's first 4-game sweep of an opponent since the 2016 season, when the Yotes took all four games of a late-April series vs. Simpson.
 
TWO WALKOFF WINS: Late inning heroics were the ticket for the Coyotes, as C of I posted not one, but two wins in their final plate appearance. In the series finale against EOU, the Yotes trailed 11-8 heading into the ninth inning, but battled back, scoring four in the ninth – capped by a Matthew Clay infield single – to win 12-11. It marked the largest ninth inning comeback for C of I since rallying from a 7-2 deficit in their final at bats vs. St. Martin's in 2015 to force extra innings, eventually winning 9-8. This Monday, C of I squandered a 2-0 ninth inning lead, having to get a Carter Vieira RBI infield single with two outs in the ninth to force extra innings – then needed a Jonah Hultberg RBI double in the 12th to tie the score again – before Hultberg scored the winning run on a wild pitch.
 
IN EXTRA INNINGS: The 12 inning affair was the Yotes first extra-inning game of 2021, a year removed from going 1-3 in extra-inning affairs. The win snapped a 5-game losing streak by C of I in games 12 innings or longer, dating back to a 6-5 victory over Concordia in 2010.
 
OFFENSE THE KEY: Through 15 games, the Coyotes have already surpassed their offensive totals from the entire 29-game 2020 season – recording nine games with 10-or-more hits and seven games with seven or more runs (including five games with 10-or-more runs). As a team, the club is hitting .290 heading into the weekend – their highest team batting average through 15 games since the 2016 season.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Coyotes are 3-0 this season when allowing four runs or less, with C of I a perfect 4-0 this season in 1-run games. The Yotes are undefeated this season when leading after the fifth inning – posting marks of 7-0 when leading after five innings, 6-0 when leading after six and seven innings, and 7-0 when leading after eight innings. Monday's Game 1 win vs. NNU marked the first game this season where the Yotes did not commit an error, while it was their fifth game where pitchers combined to strike out 10 or more men.
 
CASCADE CONFERENCE RETURNS THIS WEEKEND: The Cascade Conference returns on the diamond as an official league sponsored sport for the first time since 2008 – as the five baseball playing schools embark on a 32-game schedule. The CCC has competed from 2009-20 as part of the NAIA West Grouping – pairing with the California Pacific Conference for postseason eligibility – since the CCC had dropped below the 6-team minimum for an automatic qualifying berth to the NAIA Championships. With the addition of Lewis-Clark State as a full member and British Columbia as an affiliated member, along Eastern Oregon adding the sport – the CCC is now at six baseball playing schools (with Bushnell set to begin play next year). C of I has won 10 of the 16 CCC titles in baseball, claiming the crown every year from 1996-00 and 2005-08, along with the 2002 season (George Fox, Western Oregon and Concordia all have won two titles).
 
ABOUT CORBAN: The league schedule begins at Corban, as the Warriors (1-11) look to rebound after a woeful non-conference schedule – including a home series loss to Oregon Tech. Offense has been the issue for fourth-year head coach Derek Legg, as Corban is hitting just .214 as a team, with a nearly 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and just one game with 10-or-more hits. Only three players are hitting over .250 – paced by newcomer Kyle Clay (.395 0 HR 3 RBI) and returners Estenio Sede (.255 3 HR 9 RBI) and Maxwell Jeffrey (.367 1 HR 8 RBI), while pitcher Zack Simon (1-2 3.71 ERA) is a veteran arm that leads the staff. The two teams split a series in Oregon last season, with C of I holding a commanding 122-43 all-time series edge.
 
RECORD BOOK: Austin Van Horne ranks among the C of I career Top-25 in 10 statistical categories – No. 4 in games started (195), No. 6 in triples (7) and in at bats (712), No. 8 in games played (196), No. 9 in walks (76), No. 14 in doubles (35), No. 15 in hits (169), No. 17 in runs scored (116), No. 19 in stolen bases (37) and No. 25 in home runs (13) – ranking just outside the Top-25 in RBI (93).
 
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 1,589-1,267-7 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.