Baseball hits the Diamond - Opens season at Grand Junction

 
Las Vegas, NM --- The wait is over as baseball hits the diamond for the first time since March of 2020 at the Courtyard by Marriot Leadoff Weekend against Montana State Billings and Northwest Nazarene in Grand Junction, Co.
 
Courtyard by Mariott Leadoff Weekend Schedule
Thursday February 25 (Suplizio Field, 9 inning game)
11am - New Mexico Highlands vs. MSU Billings
Live Stats: https://cmumavericks.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Live Video: CMUMavericks.com/tv
 
Friday February 26 (Canyon View Park, doubleheader 9 innings / 7 innings)
11am - New Mexico Highlands vs. Northwest Nazarene (doubleheader) at Canyon View Park
Live Stats: https://cmumavericks.com/sidearmstats/baseball2/summary
 
Saturday February 27 (Canyon View Park, 9 inning games)
12pm - New Mexico Highlands vs. MSU Billings at Canyon View Park
Live Stats: https://cmumavericks.com/sidearmstats/baseball2/summary
 
Players to Watch – The Cowboys will be led by junior No. 2 Kalen Hammer who batted .207 (6-29) last season with one homerun and four RBI in ten games played. Hammer also led the team with a 2.45 ERA in two games started on the mound.
 
Ashton Roy, the junior from Ontario, Canada, led the team last season with a .325 batting average (13-40) and also added one homerun, .500 SLG%, and eight RBI.
 
Gaylan Young is expected to make an appearance after sitting last season out due to recovering from a knee injury. In 2019, Gaylan recorded a .330% batting average (59-179) with nine homeruns, 53 RBI, and a .587 SLG%.
 
About MSU Billings – The Yellowjackets, the reigning Great Northwest Athletic Conference champions, ended last season with a 11-6-1 overall record and 3-4-1 in GNAC conference play, which included two wins over CSU Pueblo (11-9, 16-9) and three wins over Colorado School of Mines (21-11, 11-8, 10-3). Players to look out for will be Danial Cipriano (seven home runs, 24 RBI in 2020), Tanner Cantwell (.365 batting avg, four homeruns, 15 RBI in 2020), and Sam Powers (.382, three home runs, 10 RBI in 2020).
 
About Northwest Nazarene – The Nighthawks are 3-1 on the season with a four game series against The College of Idaho under their belt. In 2020, the Nighthawks finished 9-7 with a 7-1 conference record, with 2 losses to Dixie State and 3 losses to Colorado Mesa.
 
The Cowboys will begin RMAC play next weekend as they will travel to Denver, CO to take on Colorado Christian with games scheduled to start at 2 pm on March 5^th.