COMING UP: at Bushnell (DH), Friday, 2 p.m.; at Bushnell (DH), Saturday, 11 a.m.

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: The 4-game series at Bushnell will be streamed live on the Owls Sports Network (produced by BU), with Live Stats provided through the OIT SIDEARM Stats Portal.
 
MULTIMEDIA: Photos from the 2024 season are posted online via the OIT Baseball Flickr Page, while highlight clips are posted online via the new OIT Baseball YouTube Channel.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – BUSHNELL: The Owls square off this weekend with the most improved team in the league, as Bushnell is in position to earn their first-ever playoff berth in just their third season of competition. The Beacons (23-18, 10-6 CCC) have quality wins over Jessup and LC State, with the squad hitting .292 as a team with 41 home runs and leading the CCC with a .972 fielding percentage. The offense is led by catcher Kyle Casperson (.406 4 HR 21 RBI), designated hitter Jordan Wilson (.318 11 HR 34 RBI), outfielder Albert Jennings (.316 7 HR 31 RBI) and first baseman Cade Crist (.280 8 HR 28 RBI), with starting pitchers Ethan Sachs (0-0 4.33 ERA) and Kai Keamo (3-1 5.31 ERA) complimented by relievers Trevor Hammond (6-2 4.87 ERA) and Colby Knutzen (1-4 4.18 ERA, 6 saves). OIT holds an 11-5 series lead with the Beacons, but BU won 4-of-7 meetings last year and have a 7-5 series lead at the Hamlin Sports Complex.
 
ON THE VERGE OF A PLAYOFF BERTH: The Magic Number for the Hustlin' Owls to clinch a Cascade Conference Tournament berth is one – either a victory in one of their final nine games, or a loss by Corban secures the playoff bid. The top of the league is tight – one game separating LC State, OIT and UBC – with LC and UBC meeting this weekend in Vancouver. The regular-season champion will host the CCC Tournament, May 4-6.
 
HISTORY IN THE POSTSEASON: OIT is searching for their third trip to the playoffs in four seasons under head coach Jacob Garsez and their 15th overall playoff appearance. The Owls made five trips to the NAIA District II Tournament (1974, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1989), three trips to the NAIA Region I Tournament (2004, 2005, 2006), four trips to the NAIA West Tournament (2009, 2010, 2013, 2017) and Cascade Conference Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2023. Tech is a combined 12-28 all-time in postseason games.
 
POLL POSITION / ARC RATING: Tech received 49 voter points from the 20 national raters in the April 10 Top-25 poll – sitting in the No. 2 spot among teams in the others receiving votes category – with four opponents ranked in the Top-10 (No. 2 LSU Shreveport, No. 6 Central Methodist, No. 7 Jessup, No. 9 LC State). The Owls remained at No. 8 in the latest West ARC rating, which determines the at-large bids to the NAIA National Tournament – one spot ahead of rival UBC.
 
BATS REMAIN HOT: The Owls combined for 49 hits in the series win at Eastern, extending a string of games with 8-or-more hits to 14. Tech has recorded 24 double-digit hit games this season, with their team batting average of .316 ranking No. 2 in the CCC.
 
STEALS RECORD SMASHED: Tech posted 10 stolen bases in Sunday's doubleheader at EOU, pushing their season steal total to 115 – surpassing the previous school record of 111. The Owls lead the CCC and rank No. 15 in the NAIA in stolen bases – with Kyle Norton (23 steals) chasing Kory Locken's school record of 31. OIT has seven players this season with 10-or-more stolen bases.


ORTIZ EXTENDS HIT STREAK TO 21: Infielder Matthew Ortiz started the month of April with a bang, going a combined 5-for-12 against Eastern Oregon – extending a career-best hit streak to 21 games. The junior, who hit his third home run of the season in Game 3 of the series, improved his batting average to .346 – with the hit streak ranking No. 2 on the OIT all-time list, trailing the 23-game run of hits by Alex Poltz in 2018.
 
HORNER ON A ROLL: Three-time CCC Player of the Week, Tyler Horner, continued his monster season – hitting .560 on the week (14-for-25) with four doubles, two homers and eight RBI. The third-baseman/catcher heads into the Bushnell series riding a 11-game hit streak, including 10-straight multi-hit games – while becoming the eighth player in program history to surpass 200 career hits. Horner needs two doubles to tie the school record of 21, while needing three home runs to tie the school home run record of 16.
 
MORE WITH THE STICKS: The long week featured big performances from multiple Hustlin' Owls, as Patrick Barry, Dane Bradshaw, Kyle Norton and Ka'ala Tam helped OIT to the 4-1 week. Barry finished 6-for-15, scoring four runs and adding four RBI, hitting a pair of doubles along with his third home run of the year. Bradshaw had a huge Sunday doubleheader, going 3-for-9 with four runs scored and five RBI – including a 3-run home run, with Norton going 8-for-25 with five runs scored and four RBI, adding two doubles and a 2-run homer. Tam continued his strong play, going 6-for-16 with eight RBI and nine runs scored, recording two doubles, a triple and two home runs.
 
CHAPPLE RUNS WIN STREAK TO SEVEN: Tech continued to get big production out of Bronson Chapple, as the Game 2 starter earned his seventh-straight win – throwing a season-high eight innings at EOU, striking out eight batters. The CCC's wins and ERA leader pushed his season strikeout total to 69 (No. 2 in the CCC) – nine strikeouts off the OIT single-season school record.
 
ON THE MOUND: Starting pitching was key in the Eastern series, as each of the four starters worked at least six innings – giving the bullpen much-needed rest. Patrick Arman opened the series with six-plus innings, limiting the Mounties to two runs on eight hits, while in Game 3, Isaac Hill had his best outing of the season, holding EOU to one earned run in six innings, working around nine hits. Pitching in his hometown, Cody Dubray tied a season-high with nine strikeouts, working six innings in picking up the Game 4 victory.
 
AROUND THE CONFERENCE: Last week, Bushnell swept a home series with Corban and UBC traveled to College of Idaho and won four games – while LC State held serve at home, sweeping a big non-conference series vs. LSU-Shreveport. This week, LC State travels to UBC for a huge series, C of I heads to Corban, while Eastern Oregon plays a doubleheader at Central Washington.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS: Three Hustlin' Owls lead the Cascade Conference in stat categories – paced by Tyler Horner, who leads the circuit in batting average (.426), doubles (19) and RBI (49), while Bronson Chapple leads the league in wins (7) and ERA (3.21) and Kyle Norton is tops in stolen bases (23).
 
RECORD BOOK: Eleven OIT players are currently ranked in the Top-25 of the Owls career record book. Patrick Arman holds the school record for wins (21), strikeouts (237), pitching starts (48) and innings pitched (310.2), ranking No. 3 in pitching appearances (59); Cody Dubray is No. 2 in strikeouts (226), No. 3 in pitching starts (36), No. 7 in pitching appearances (54) and in wins (13), ranking No. 10 in innings pitched (187); with Riley Cronin No. 4 in saves (6) and Tim Williams No. 7 in saves (4). Matthew Ortiz is No. 1 in sacrifice flies (14), No. 2 in stolen bases (45), No. 6 in RBI (120), No. 9 in hits (196), runs scored (114) and at bats (580), No. 12 in doubles (34), No. 13 in triples (6), No. 14 in walks (57), No. 15 in games started (142), ranking No. 16 in games played (142); Tyler Horner is No. 3 in walks (79) and RBI (132), No. 4 in home runs (24), No. 6 in doubles (45) and hit-by-pitches (25), No. 8 in hits (204), No. 11 in games started (147) and in at bats (564), No. 15 in games played (147), ranking No. 24 in sacrifice flies (5); Korrey Siracusa is No. 2 in hit-by-pitches (38) and No. 21 in walks (50); Ka'ala Tam is No. 3 in stolen bases (40), No. 9 in hit-by-pitches (22), No. 20 in triples (5) and runs scored (89), No. 21 in RBI (73), No. 22 in home runs (11) and ranking just outside the Top-25 in at bats (364); Julien Jones is No. 9 in triples (7), No. 17 in stolen bases (25), No. 18 in RBI (76), ranking No. 22 in home runs (11) and No. 24 in doubles (24); with Kyle Norton No. 18 in stolen bases (23) and Dane Bradshaw No. 22 in stolen bases (21).
 
LOOKING AHEAD: The Owls return home to close out the regular-season with five games – a single-game on Tuesday (April 23) vs. Simpson and a 4-game weekend series vs. Corban (April 26-27).