MSUB SPORTS – When Jake Campeau was handed the ball to start Game 1 last week in a four-game road series against Northwest Nazarene, he was being called upon to give the Montana State University Billings baseball team a much-needed boost.
 
The Yellowjackets were coming off of three losses at Western Oregon the week before, and needed to respond in a big way in their final Great Northwest Athletic Conference road series before making their home debut.
 
Going up against Crusader ace Colben McGuire, Campeau turned in a solid start, throwing 5 1/3 innings and allowing just three runs on five hits with four strikeouts. More than anything, the effort he gave kept his team in the game and gave them a chance to win, which the Yellowjackets did thanks to a three-run ninth inning and a game-winning double by Kyle Durbin.
 
The strong start was an inspiration for the rest of MSUB's staff, as the Yellowjackets' next three starters all turned in quality outings and led MSUB to its first conference sweep since the 2009 season. Campeau heading off the rotation was a big reason why the 'Jackets were selected as the GNAC co-Team of the Week, and he has now struck out 17 and walked just five over his past four starts.
 
While Campeau's start wasn't the best of the series for the 'Jackets – see Cody Cooper, 10-strikeout shutout – it got MSUB back into a winning mindset and provided a sense of stability for his team. For Campeau, the sense of stability he needed during his latest start was squatting 60 feet, 6 inches downhill, throwing down sequences of signs he has literally seen thousands of times before.
 

SAY IT IS SO, JAKE
 
"You know how catcher's gear is with kids," said Don Holbrook with a chuckle. "It's a shiny object they like to chase."
 
The former University of Montana wide receiver recognized that his son Conner Holbrook had a natural athletic gift at an early age, but both of them agree that the unique gear involved with being a catcher played a role in drawing the young Holbrook to the position at 10 years old.
 
"Initially, I liked that I got to wear the gear and that I was involved in every play," Holbrook said regarding what drew him to catching. "I ended up being the only one who wanted to catch, and I just kind of stuck with it after that."
 
Holbrook grew up in Walla Walla, Wash., where his ability to play catch with his father as an 8-year-old without it being a "safety issue" told Don Holbrook his son had something special in him. "Conner has always had some physical gifts, but when you're able to throw and catch well at eight, that is a big deal," he said.
 
Unlike many young boys, the fast-paced action of football and basketball did not draw Holbrook's attention away from learning the fundamentals on the diamond. Baseball was the only sport he was ever interested in, and by the time he was 13 he had been a Little League all-star and moved on to a more competitive summer team.
 
It was with that travel team, named the Black Sox, that Holbrook was introduced to Kim Cox, a coach who he says had the biggest impact in terms of solidifying fundamentals and teaching him how to play the game the right way at a young age.
 
Being introduced to who would become one of his best baseball friends, Holbrook caught Campeau for the first time while on the Black Sox. "He was one of the first guys to throw a complete game," Holbrook said of his long-time teammate. "High school is where he really took off and started developing his stuff."
 
It was during their time with the Cox's ironically-named Black Sox that Don Holbrook remembers the boys taking their biggest strides as young players. A baseball euphemism for arguably the largest scandal in sports history, the Black Sox Cox coached were hardly bred to be cheaters. The owner of multiple Washington state baseball records, Cox instilled a blue collar mentality within his team, suiting them in plain t-shirts and preaching the concept of playing the game hard but in a humble manner.
 
"Kim turned me from a kid that happened to play baseball into a baseball player," Campeau said. "He really helped shaped me into the player that I am now."
 
FAB FIVE
 
By the time Holbrook and Campeau had reached their senior year at Walla Walla High School, the chemistry the two had developed as teammates was unbreakable. It reached the point where the 5-foot-8 catcher needed little more than to make eye

contact with the 6-foot-5 work horse to know what was coming out of his right hand.
 
One game in particular that struck Campeau's memory came in 2011 against Wenatchee High School, when he was especially dialed in. At that point, coach Keith Gradwohl was still signaling pitches to Holbrook to relay to Campeau.
 
But when the skipper adjusted his sequence mid-game, Holbrook got off track. "We had a couple of different signs, and at one point Coach switched and Conner didn't remember them," Campeau said with a smile. "So I would just look at him and he would call a slider; I think we threw seven or eight in-a-row."
 
The reality was that it didn't matter what Campeau threw that day, as he tossed a seven-inning shutout striking out an incredible 17 batters out of the 21 outs his team recorded. "What stands out to me was how great his command was in that game," Gradwohl commented, without a single mention of the fudged signs. "He probably didn't throw more than 71 pitches in that game, and it was our league-clincher. It was just unbelievable."
 
Not only did Campeau's performance clinch the league title for his team, but it came a week after one of his teammates had turned in a similarly-impressive performance with 16 strikeouts. "I started to hear the guys kind of quietly giggling on the bench as they started to count Jake's strikeouts in that game," Gradwohl remembered. "The week before, Drew Christina had a 16-strikeout game so everyone was waiting to see if Jake was going to top it."
 
Christina, another ace for WWHS and a fellow senior, was part of a core of five Walla Walla natives who banded together throughout their baseball careers. Christina's twin brother Bret Christina and Kevin Toon were all part of the same graduating class, and the quintet chose to pursue their careers at Walla Walla Community College.
 
Carrying his well-developed slider with him to begin his collegiate career, Campeau was received by WWCC pitching coach J.C. Biagi and immediately noticed improvement in his overall game. "J.C. is one coach who really turned me into the pitcher I am now, and he was determined to get the most out of me that he could," Campeau said.
 
"Jake came into our program as a tall lanky kid, and he got a lot stronger during his time with us," Biagi commented. "His overall development speaks to the work ethic he has, his ability to listen and develop, and he really owned that mindset."
 
While Campeau developed his craft and filled out his frame, Holbrook continued to impress his coaches with his defensive ability and knowledge of the game. "Conner was as hard a worker as I had ever seen, and he was able to walk in and really prove what he could do," Biagi said. "He had a good arm and good foundation to work from."
 
Entering the junior college ranks, both players knew that after two seasons they would have a decision to make in terms of whether or not to pursue their careers further. It didn't end up being difficult for either player to choose to keep playing individually, but when they both had an opportunity to stay together the move seemed almost natural.
 

A COMFORTABLE TRANSITION TO NAVY AND GOLD
 
Check out the MSUB baseball roster and the word 'Walla' appears 22 times between the Hometown and Previous School columns. The southeastern Washington town is somewhat of a recruiting hotbed for Yellowjacket head coach Rob Bishop, and Holbrook and Campeau represent the senior wave of players currently in the program.
 
Campeau was one of the first to commit to MSUB, as Bishop solidified his staff with an experienced junior entering the 2014 season. "Coach Bishop first saw me at a showcase in the fall, and I really liked the ideas he had baseball wise and the plan he had for this team," Campeau remembered. "After I had committed he was still looking for a middle infielder and a catcher, so I told him about Kevin Toon and Conner."
 
Holbrook began shifting his focus during his sophomore year, as his passion for receiving pitches took the lead in his ultimate decision to keep playing. "I was just having too much fun to stop after my freshman year, and I was just looking for an opportunity," Holbrook said. "The guys who had signed at MSUB put in a good word for me and Coach Bishop called me in mid-May."
 
Bishop got a lot more than just a friend Campeau was recommending. The senior has developed into a .333 hitter for the 'Jackets this season, and has posted an on-base percentage of .370 in a dozen games behind the plate.
 
Most important to the 'Jackets however, has been the chemistry the duo has brought to the team. "Conner and Jake have developed so much confidence and trust in each other, and I feel like that really improves tempo of the game," Bishop commented. "Conner does a great job feeling what's working on a given day with Jake, and Jake has so much confidence in Conner receiving. On top of them being solid players, they are great friends and have fun personalities, and are great fun to coach."
 
When Campeau referred to his time at MSUB as "the cherry on top of the sundae," Holbrook was quick to emanate his words. "Being here at MSUB has been the bonus, it's a great way to finish out a lifetime of baseball," Holbrook said. "All of our coaches are great on and off the field and have helped us out a lot."
 
"Coach Bishop really helps us keep things in perspective," Campeau said. "Baseball is great, but he has taught us that you can still be a good student and family member while enjoying your time playing."
 
The nature of their positions is such that they aren't scheduled to play every game, but even when they aren't in the lineup their personalities are appreciated by their teammates. "They are both great dugout and great clubhouse guys," Bishop said.

"They'll be sorely missed next year."
 
"Jake has always improved, and I think that is one of his strengths," commented fellow pitcher Drew Christina. "He has been able to command both his fastball and secondary pitches all the way back to when I first started playing with him. Transitions from team to team have always been easy thanks to having Jake and Conner on the team with me."
 
Drew's twin brother Bret cited Campeau's development of his slider as a key turning point in a career he has also witnessed first-hand. "Jake really made that slider his own, and as he developed natural strength that pitch got sharper," he said. "It has been cool to see him go from being a control pitcher who didn't stand out to being an impact guy who can be dominant when he is on."

JOURNEY TOGETHER
 
"They've always been baseball best friends. Looking back, they have been on eight separate baseball teams together. It has been a lot of fun to watch." – Liz Campeau on her son Jake and his teammate Conner Holbrook.
 
One of the witnesses for MSUB's dominant performance at NNU last weekend was Liz Campeau, who made the four-hour drive east to watch her son take the mound.
 
She had been going through some of her son's old baseball relics over the weekend, quietly reminiscing some of the defining moments of his career. There was the time he spent on all-stars as a 9-year-old and when he helped his team to second place in state when he was 11. The old team photos of his days with the Black Sox and still shots of him ready to release a pitch to Holbrook wearing the royal blue of WWHS grabbed her eye as well.
 
"Athletics in general have always been a big deal to him," Liz said regarding her son's status as a 12-season varsity athlete in football, basketball, and baseball in high school. "But baseball has always been his love."
 
It's a love he and Holbrook have shared together through the years, and is one that is represented each time Campeau breaks off a slider. By the time it reaches the plate, it doesn't matter if it's a scud in the dirt or perfectly catches the black on the outside corner. Catching it has been, and still is Holbrook, and whether he's saving 90 feet with a block or stealing a strike with a frame, he's always had Campeau's back.