Baseball | 3/10/2010 12:18:28 PM

What's happening…
After six weeks, 17 games and 4,000 miles on the bus the Western Oregon University baseball team will finally get a chance to play in front of the hometown fans when Montana State Billings comes to Monmouth for a four-game series, Mar, 13-14. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon and Sunday's will start at 11:00 a.m.

The series was originally scheduled for Friday-Saturday, but was moved to Saturday-Sunday because of the expectation of rain.

A look at Western Oregon…
The Wolves have bounced back nicely from slow start to the season. They have won eight of their last 10 games and now stand at 8-9 on the season. Last weekend, WOU went into Nampa, Idaho, and took three of four games from Northwest Nazarene in its opening GNAC series. During the four games, the Wolves received three complete game performances, as Michael Ward, Blake Keitzman and Kirk Lind all went the distance to pick up the win. The Wolves' offense also came through with 40 runs over the four games. It racked up 11 doubles, 13 home runs and drew 20 walks compared to 15 strikeouts.

Kyle Boe leads the team with a .355 batting average and is second in stolen bases (four). He is also tied with Cesar Lopez for second on the club with 13 runs batted in. Lopez leads the Wolves in slugging percentage (.594) and is tied for the team lead with five home runs. He has also reached base safely in all 17 games. Logan Lotti is the team's leading RBI man with 14 to go along with his five home runs. Daniel Dillard leads the squad in runs scored with 18. Cody Reeves started all four games at first base for the Wolves at NNU and went 4-for-9, with three home runs, 4 RBI, six runs scored and a stolen base. He also received five walks without striking out.

Michael Ward (2-1) leads the Western Oregon starters with a 2.57 ERA and .194 batting average against. He has given up just 19 hits in 28 innings pitched while striking out 17 and walking four. Blake Keitzman (2-1) leads the team with 22 strikeouts. Jacob Pettit is also 2-1 on the season. Dustin Fulks leads the bullpen corps with a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings pitched. He also has one of the Wolves' four saves on the season.

Run on weekly honors…
Cesar Lopez was named the GNAC Player of the Week for the week of Mar. 1-8. He had seven hits, including a double and two home runs, to lead the eight-time defending conference champions to three wins in four games in their conference opening series at Northwest Nazarene. Lopez hit for a .389 average and posted .450 and .778 on-base and slugging percentages in the series. He scored six runs, drove in five and posted a perfect fielding percentage handling 14 chances without an error.

This also marks the third consecutive time in three weeks of eligibility that a Western Oregon student-athlete has received a weekly conference honor. Two weeks ago, Kyle Boe was named the player of the week after he batted .400 (6-for-15) to lead the Wolves to a 3-1 record in the Guardian Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning tournament at Lewiston, Idaho. Boe, who also had a team-high nine assists from the hot corner, drove in five runs, including four in Sunday's 12-11 win against Saint Martin's. The week before, it was Jacob Pettit who earned the GNAC Pitcher of the Week honor after allowing just two hits in five innings in a 5-0 shutout of No. 11 Sonoma State.

No WOU student-athlete was eligible for the honor Feb. 22-28, as the team did not play any games.

A look at Montana State Billings…
Montana State Billings is 3-10 on the season and 2-2 in the conference. It has yet to play a home game. The Yellowjackets opened the season by losing eight of their first nine games before splitting a pair of doubleheaders at Saint Martin's.

As a team, MSU Billings is averaging 3.77 runs per game and giving up 7.38 per game. It has also allowed 20 stolen bases through 13 games. The Yellowjackets are hitting .302 as a team and have collected 28 extra base hits.

Matt Schoonover leads the team with a .366 batting average and a .438 on-base percentage. Ty Sobieraj and Jordan Kessler are the team leaders in RBIs with seven apiece. Archie Smith paces the Yellowjackets with a 3.18 ERA and a .194 opponent batting average against.