FIRST PITCH
• The OUAZ baseball team will close out its 14-game home stand this week with a total of six games in Surprise. They begin by hosting Okanagan College in a two-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Each game of the series will begin at 6 p.m. on Royals Field 6 at the Surprise Recreation Complex.

• The Spirit will then host 14th-ranked William Jessup in a Golden State Athletic Conference series on Friday and Saturday. The teams will play a nine-inning game each day at 11 a.m. at Willow Canyon High School. They will then move to Royals Field 6 for a seven-inning game at 3 p.m.

• OUAZ starts the busy week at 2-9 overall this season after dropping four of its five games last week. The Spirit are 1-3 in GSAC play and are tied for fifth and two games out of first.

• Okanagan makes the trip from Canada as part of their 11-day visit to Nevada and Arizona. The Coyotes went 0-4 at the College of Southern Nevada tournament last weekend, losing twice of CSN and twice to Salt Lake Community College.

• William Jessup begins its week at 12-6 overall and 3-2 on the road this season. The Warriors went 1-3 at home against Westmont last weekend in GSAC action.

HOW TO FOLLOW
• All of the games this week will be available live on the OUAZ Digital Network at OUAZSpirit.com/digital. They will also be available on the NAIA Network OTT app on Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. Live stats will also be available for each game. Links for all live coverage are available at OUAZSpirit.com/live.

AT THE PLATE
• OUAZ will begin the week scuffling a bit at the plate where they are ninth in the GSAC with a .266 team batting average. They are 48th in the NAIA in getting 8.82 hits per game while maintaining a .720 OPS.

• The Spirit are 22nd in the NAIA by stealing 2.91 bases per game and they rank 18th nationally is attempting 3.46 stolen bases per game. Their 32 of 28 success rate is 84.2 percent.

• Jared Crockett recorded 10 hits during last week's action – with three hits in a game three times – to raise his season average to a GSAC leading .444. Crockett has five multi-hit games on the season and he is tied for the team lead with eight runs scored.

• Ben Lewis is second on the club with a .324 batting average and .952 OPS. He has three doubles and one home run with eight runs scored and seven RBI.

• Elijah Celaya is batting .310 with one double and two triples. His two triples are tied for third-most in the NAIA and he has scored six runs.

• Adrian Salazar is batting .265 and starts the week on a three-game hitting streak. Salazar is second in program history with 122 career hits and sits three hits shy of setting the new program record. He also leads the team this season with 10 RBI and six stolen bases.

ON THE MOUND
• OUAZ brings a 5.94 ERA and 1.67 WHIP into this week's action. Opponents are batting .292 off the Spirit pitchers and the team records 6.03 strikeouts per nine innings.

• Gage Johnson (1-0) leads the staff qualifiers with a 2.51 ERA in 14.1 innings of work. Johnson is holding opponents to a .255 batting average with a 1.28 WHIP.

• Taylor Campos (1-1) leads the staff with 16.1 innings of work and he holds a 4.96 ERA and 1.49 WHIP. He leads the team with 15 strikeouts and is averaging 8.28 strikeouts per nine innings.

• Dylan Chelini (0-1) made a pair of starts last week and lowered his ERA to 4.22. In his start against HIU, Chelini allowed just two runs (one earned) in 6.2 innings in taking a no decision.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Okanagan hit .214 in their two games against College of Southern Nevada. In those games, the Coyotes recorded a 6.32 ERA and .262 opponents batting average.

• Brendan Luther led the team in those two games with five hits and .625 batting average. No other player had more than one hit.

• Aiden Mordecai gave up just one hit with four strikeouts in five innings. Adam Sarafinchin had two innings in relief allowing just two runs.  

• William Jessup is 23rd in the NAIA by averaging 1.0 home runs per game and they are batting .279 with an .838 OPS. The Warriors hold a 4.72 ERA and they rank 13th nationally with their .976 fielding percentage.

• Mike Shoenberger leads WJU with his .393 batting average and his 18 RBI is eighth in the NAIA. He is also eighth nationally with 22 total hits and 11th with five home runs. 

• Brett Wetteland (2-0) has thrown 19.2 innings in relief with a team-best 1.83 ERA. Max Moreno (4-0) is third in the NAIA in wins while posting a 2.33 ERA and averaging 9.79 strikeouts per nine innings.

LOOKING AHEAD
• The Spirit begin next week at Benedictine Mesa on February 25.

• They will then head to Atherton, California, for a GSAC series against Menlo on February 28-29.