3 from Yellowjacket baseball earn NCBWA preseason all-region honors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Tuesday, January 26, 2016 3 from Yellowjacket baseball earn NCBWA preseason all-region honors

Luke Reinschmidt and Corey Morris are first-team picks and Tanner Johnson is a second-team selection on the 2016 NCBWA preseason all-west region team.

BILLINGS, Mont. – Three players from the reigning Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season baseball champion Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets have been selected to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association preseason all-west region team.

Center fielder Luke Reinschmidt and shortstop Corey Morris earned first-team honors, while right-handed starting pitcher Tanner Johnson was a second-team selection.

“I am happy for these guys,” commented sixth-year MSUB head coach Rob Bishop, the 2015 GNAC Coach of the Year.

“They all had great 2015 seasons and are deserving of this recognition. Each of these young men brings a ton to the MSUB baseball program and we are proud to have them be part of our university.”

All three players were first-team all-GNAC selections a season ago, and Reinschmidt earned first-team NCBWA and firstteam Daktronics all-west region after putting together one of the best seasons in MSUB history in 2015.

A Billings Senior High School graduate, Reinschmidt led MSUB with a .370 batting average and set a new MSUB singleseason record for at-bats with 200 while starting all 50 games in center field. Reinschmidt led the GNAC in hits (74), ranked second in runs scored (47), triples (4), RBIs (56), stolen bases (11), and total bases (125), and third in home runs (10), on-base percentage (.457), and slugging percentage (.625). He enters his senior season at MSUB in the top-10 in virtually every offensive category in the Yellowjacket record books.

In his first year in the program, Morris started 40 games at shortstop and batted a team third-best .353 on the season. A transfer from Walla Walla Community College, Morris posted an on-base percentage of .406 and made just one error in his final 103 chances over 20 games to finish the season.

Also a newcomer to the program a season ago, Johnson emerged into one of the top arms in the GNAC and led the ‘Jackets with a 3.99 earned run average without allowing a home run in 65 1/3 innings pitched. His 6-1 record tied him for the second-most wins in the conference, and he allowed just one run in his final 16 innings pitched on the season. His strikeout total of 54 tied for fourth-best in MSUB single-season history, and Johnson is projected to be MSUB’s top starter this season.

Senior Shortstop Corey Morris.

Seven other players from the GNAC were picked to the preseason all-region team, and MSUB was the lone team in the conference to have two first-team selections.

Western Oregon and Northwest Nazarene had three selections each, while Central Washington had the other from the GNAC.

The Yellowjackets were among teams ‘also receiving votes’ in the NCBWA west region preseason poll, picking up seven points to finish just outside the top-10 in the west region.

MSUB is coming off of a 27-23 season in 2015, the first winning record since the program was reinstated in 2006. The Yellowjackets won 20 of their final 25 GNAC games, storming to the regular season title and hosting the conference championship tournament with a league record of 22-10.

The ‘Jackets look to defend their title starting on Feb. 12, as the nonconference portion of their schedule begins with five games in St. George, Utah against Holy Names University and Dixie State University. MSUB’s first home game of the season is slated for March 19 with a doubleheader against conference foe Concordia University (Ore.) at Dehler Park.

--@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--