Mayville State (April 23)
North Dakota State baseball started the week on a high note against Mayville State when they secured a 13-3 win in seven innings on Tuesday night at Newman Outdoor Field.
Matt Sargeant started for the third time this season and struck out two in three innings. Reese Ligtenberg (2-1) earned the win while throwing in the fourth inning. Julien Hachem finished the final frame by striking out the side.
NDSU collected 16 hits total while Mayville State had six. Caden Schwabe, Garret Hill and Sam Canton all got three hits and three RBIs.
After the Comets scored one in the top of the first, Canton responded with a single to left center which drove in Jake Schaffner and Schwabe during the bottom of the inning. Sargeant kept the energy going and tossed a successful 1-2-3 frame in the second. Redshirt Sophomore Bennett Freiter recorded his first career hit in the third, making it a two-RBI single to left. Schwabe added on when he cleared the bases in the fifth with a three RBI double to center field, making the score 7-2. After three more runs scored in the same inning, NDSU had six runs and five hits in the frame. Hill helped to seal things up in the sixth with a triple to send in two more. A final run was scored in the seventh to secure the 13-3 win.
Omaha Game One (April 27)
Due to the weather forecast on Friday, the Bison found themselves in another doubleheader on Saturday to start the three-game series against Omaha, dropping game one 7-6 at Newman Outdoor Field.
Just two pitchers represented NDSU in the series opener. Leland Wilson started on the mound and threw two strikeouts in five innings. Alex Karns threw a season-high four innings of relief with one strikeout.
They collected six hits as a team. Jack Steil recorded two hits and two RBIs. James Dunlap, Garret Hill and Will Busch all got one hit and RBI.
The Mavericks started things off in the first inning, scoring three runs. Will Busch’s bunt drove in Garret Hill in the second frame to tie it up at 3. Omaha responded by scoring three more runs in the third and one in the fourth. Steil hit an RBI double to left field in the bottom of the same inning to get the score to 7-4. The game then went scoreless for the next four innings until the Bison tried to rally in the ninth. Busch made it home following a hit by pitch and following that Schaffner scored on a walk with the bases loaded. Unfortunately, they were unable to keep the rally going and left the bases loaded with the score 7-6.
Omaha Game Two (April 27)
NDSU was unsuccessful once again in game two of the series, falling to the Mavericks 6-3.
Pitcher Logan Knight started and tossed eight strikeouts with zero walks in six innings. Skyler Riedinger and Seth Thompson both appeared in one inning with one strikeout.
The Bison totaled eight hits as a team. Davis Hamilton and Jack Steil both recorded one hit, one run and one RBI. Caden Schwabe got two hits.
The contest started with the teams trading two runs in the first two innings, with an RBI single from Will Busch. Mavericks’ Jackson Trout connected with a two-run homer to make the score 4-2 in the third frame. Davis Hamilton brought the score within one with an RBI double in the fourth inning, but Omaha responded with an RBI single in the sixth and eighth innings. The Bison ended up leaving a pair of runners on base during the bottom of the eighth, letting Omaha keep their lead until the end to hold off NDSU, 6-3.
Omaha Game Three (April 28)
North Dakota State wrapped things up this week with a tie in game three, 2-2, due to the heavy rain that occurred in the eighth inning.
Landon Koenig started for the Bison and went 4.2 innings with four strikeouts. Joey Danielson threw the last three innings, striking out one.
NDSU totaled just three hits as a team with Caden Schwabe, Garret Hill and Colton Becker all collecting one.
Koenig got it going with three strikeouts in the opening frame. Neither team scored in the first four innings until Omaha got on the board with an RBI single in the fifth to make the score 1-0. As it started raining, Hill responded with a two-run double to right field to take the lead 2-1. One more RBI single from Omaha tied it all up in the seventh, leaving it that way until the game was called due to rain in the eighth.
The Bison are now 13-24-1 overall and 9-8-1 in Summit League play. They will be in Iowa on Wednesday, with the first pitch set for 6 p.m.