By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – Winners of seven of their last eight games, the Montana State Billings baseball team was selected as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Team of the Week on Monday.
 
The Yellowjackets’ latest series was a 3-1 triumph over Western Oregon, as they bounced back from an opening-game defeat to win the next three games behind stellar pitching performances. The most recent series win came after a four-game sweep of Saint Martin’s the week before, as MSUB made the most of its eight-game home stand at Dehler Park to climb the GNAC standings.
 
Entering this week’s games, which signal the end of the first half of the conference season, MSUB is 18-10 overall and sits second in the GNAC standings at 9-3 in league contests. “The guys have an expectation to win right now, and they have shown good resilience and grit to bounce back,” said sixth-year MSUB head coach Derek Waddoups. “Putting up runs in the first inning of game two last week got it off and going. The ability to score early and have production one through nine in our lineup has been a key to our offensive success.”
 

Riding the momentum of a four-game sweep of the Saints, the Yellowjackets looked to parlay that into the series opener against the Wolves (5-16, 2-10 GNAC). Adversity struck however, as WOU rallied for seven runs in the top of the ninth inning to snag an 11-8 comeback victory in the opener. What could have been a tone-setter for the rest of the series proved to be nothing more than a hiccup, as MSUB went on to allow just five runs over the next three games to secure the series. The Yellowjacket pitching staff allowed no more than two runs in an inning after the bump in the road in the series opener.
 
“We got four quality starts, and it all started with our pitching,” Waddoups said. “We let game one get away from us, but our bullpen was outstanding all weekend. All four starters went deep into games. We kept putting the ball in play and put pressure on them, and we did a good job of taking quality at-bats. It really comes back to four quality starts on the weekend.”
 
Senior ace Jackson Betancourt delivered the first quality start of the weekend, striking out six in six innings while limiting the Wolves to three runs on five hits in a 103-pitch no decision. A staple in the Yellowjacket rotation since the spring of 2022, Betancourt has struck out 176 hitters in 218 innings of work over 42 starts in his tenure in Billings. “Jackson does a good job commanding change of speeds, and helps our other guys buy into that,” Waddoups said. “He has had to learn to pitch, and his leadership shows by other guys following suit. In today’s game everyone wants to talk about velo, and he has been a good example of a guy who can throw off-speed pitches for strikes. He has been consistent for us and given us quality starts all year.”
 
The Yellowjackets had a short memory after losing the opener, as GNAC Pitcher of the Week Brennen Chappell backed up Betancourt with a five-hit shutout in his team’s 6-0 triumph to split the opening doubleheader. Chappell allowed just seven baserunners while striking out six and going the distance on 95 pitches. “He kept attacking the zone,” Waddoups said of the first-year Yellowjacket. “They had a couple baserunners, but it didn’t change how he goes about it. He is real methodical in how he pitches, kept the ball down and was able to make pitches in tough spots.”
 
Sam Coxen collected his fourth win of the season in game three of the series, delivering another quality start with three runs (two earned) on seven hits while adding five strikeouts in six innings of work. Another newcomer to the rotation, Coxen has made six starts this spring and holds a 4.44 ERA in 26 1/3 innings pitched. “Sam has really matured,” said Waddoups. “He’s our one true freshman in the rotation. He has learned to trust his stuff and to manage those in-game situations. He continues to develop and grow each outing and continues to get better.”
 
 
Securing the series win was a masterful performance from senior lefty Cy Miller, who came through with the

team’s second complete game of the weekend. Throwing 98 pitches, Miller limited WOU to one unearned run while scattering three hits and two walks and striking out five in seven innings. Miller joins Betancourt as the only other Yellowjacket arm to make a start in each of the seven series thus far in 2025. “Cy has settled in,” Waddoups said on the lefty’s best start of the campaign to date. “He always has the ability to go deep into the game. He pitched through some adversity early on, but was lights out after the third inning. He got his slider going and made it tough on hitters. They didn’t know when it was coming.”
 
While the Yellowjacket pitching staff had perhaps its best collective series of the season, the offense came through with seven runs per game to provide plenty of support. Leading the way was GNAC Player of the Week Jack Nehler, who slashed .647/.667/.882 and led all GNAC players with seven RBIs, 11 hits and seven runs scored in last week’s games. He was 4-for-4 with four RBIs in the 6-0 win, before going 5-for-5 with three runs scored in the 7-4 win on day two. Nehler bumped his season batting average up to .430, which leads the conference. “Jack is a pure hitter,” Waddoups said on the fourth-year Yellowjacket. “He is tough to pitch to, and it’s great having protection behind him. He finds a way to barrel baseballs, and he did it again this weekend. He consistently puts the ball in play with hard, loud contact.”
 
MSUB’s lineup features five other regular starters who are hitting north of .300 this season, and the ‘Jackets lead the GNAC in slugging at .462 with 20 home runs, 187 RBIs and a team batting average of .314. Newcomer Ryker Fortier is hitting .393 with 10 doubles and a team-best eight stolen bases, while reaching base at a clip of .446. Bodee Wright is batting .371 with a GNAC-leading four triples and Ryan Jeffrey owns a .366 average to go along with 28 RBIs. Senior veteran Kaden Kirshenbaum has a team-leading five home runs and 28 RBIs while hitting .352, with his slugging percentage of .629 ranking third in the GNAC. “Kirsh is the biggest threat in our lineup,” Waddoups said on Kirshenbaum. “He hits for the most power, and it’s nice being able to sandwich him in between guys. He gets a lot of RBI opportunities, and he’s a professional hitter. He understands when to shorten up and put the ball in play, but also when to attack and let the barrel fly for a little bit of power.”
 
Waddoups collected his 100th career victory in last week’s series against Saint Martin’s and has his team in the driver’s seat in securing a trip to the GNAC Championships for the first time since the 2022 campaign. The Yellowjackets are four-time champions of the conference, with regular-season titles in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 and a conference tournament crown in 2019 as well.
 
MSUB hits the road this week, where it will square off against Central Washington (14-11, 7-5) in its final series of the first half of the campaign. “We have been playing good baseball,” said Waddoups. “We have seen everybody but Central now. They are really offense-minded, it’s a tough place to play and I’m excited to go compete there. Our guys have been able to bounce back from adversity and different challenges. We played really well last week and we just need to continue that and take that on the road with us.”