After dropping the opener, the North Dakota State Bison baseball team picked up two dominant wins over the Abilene Christian Wildcats on Saturday, winning 7-4 and 4-0, respectively.
In the first contest, ACU grabbed a two-run lead thanks to a home run from Brett Hammit in the second inning. Following some pitching-heavy frames from Cade Feeney (1-0), Jack Simonsen’s single and Druw Sackett’s double cranked in some RBIs to give the Bison a 3-2 lead.
In the fifth inning, the Bison bats were able to keep cracking at Wildcat pitcher Breck Eichelberger, as runs from Brock Anderson (2-4 on the day), Will Busch, and Garret Hill paced the way to a comfortable 6-2 lead. Holding the Wildcats to a one-run ninth, despite a rally from Abilene Christian, junior Jake Drew from Alexandria, Minn. was able to seal the deal for the first time this season giving skipper Tyler Oakes his first career win with the Bison.
Continuing their success from game one of the doubleheader, NDSU’s Cadyn Schwabe started the scoring party with a single in the second inning that scored freshman Charley Hesse. Unfortunately for ACU, they were unable to find success on the mound from their relievers, as a bases-loaded walk from Drake Boggan and a wild pitch from Sam Berberich advanced two Bison baserunners in the fifth and sixth innings. To end things, Schwabe made his presence felt yet again with an RBI single that made the score 4-0 in favor of the Bison.
On the mound, junior Evan Sankey grabbed his first win of the year and ninth of his career, tossing three strikeouts along with no walks over five innings of work. Skyler Riedinger, a freshman from Bismarck, N.D., then took care of ACU in the final two frames, claiming his second career save.
Perhaps the most astounding fact from Saturday’s games is the 21 hits that the Bison accumulated over the doubleheader with Fruita, Co., native Druw Sackett leading the way with four of his own.
On Sunday, North Dakota State looks to claim the series win over Abilene Christian with junior Ben Smith on the bump.