Wrestling
No. 25-ranked North Dakota State fell to number 17-ranked South Dakota State 18-20 in a Big 12 Conference dual Sunday. Both teams won five matches, but the Jackrabbits had the advantage in bonus points.
North Dakota State finished the regular season at 14-5 and 4-3 (#Big12WR). The Bison are scheduled to compete at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships March 4-5 in the BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
NDSU took their only lead in the dual at 125 pounds, where No. 4-ranked Josh Rodriguez gained his ninth tech fall of the season 24-7 over South Dakota State’s Kahlen Morris. Rodriguez improved to 21-1 overall and 18-1 in duals this season. Rodriguez moved to 99 career wins during the afternoon.
NDSU’s No. 7-ranked Clay Ream came up with a 14-2 major decision over Logan Peterson. That tied the dual at 4-all. Ream pushed his record to 22-3 overall and 17-1 in duals with a team-high seven major decisions.
North Dakota State’s 184-pound Tyler McNutt broke the mini-run with an 11-7 decision, holding off Martin Mueller’s late rally in the third period. Mueller defeated McNutt at the Midlands Championships in December. McNutt improved to 13-10 overall, 10-9 in duals with the win to cut the deficit to 10-7.
The Bison started the late rally with Ben Tynan’s 1-0 win over Alex Macki at 285 pounds.
Baseball
NDSU’s infielder Mason Pierzchalski was named Summit League Baseball Player of the Week for his opening weekend performance.
Pierzchalski batted .438 (7-for-16) with a .550 on-base percentage and a .812 slugging percentage. During the week, Pierzchalski accounted for 12 runs, six runs scored and six RIBs, with seven hits, three walks and three extra base hits. With a game winning two-run triple in the top of the 10th inning in Saturday’s 9-6 game one win at Mississippi Valley.
He had three multi-hit contests in the four-game series and scored at least one run in all four games.
The team went 4-0 to start the season with the sweep over Mississippi Valley State. With the scores of 10-4, 9-6 in 10 innings, 9-3 in seven innings and 7-4.
Pierzchalski, Logan Busch and Ben Peterson had a home run over the four game series.
Zach Mayo, Reed Pfannenstein and Luke Lind all picked up wins from their starts. Kevin Folman got his win in relief of Blake Stockert
Softball
NDSU’s pitcher Jacquelyn Sertic earned her second straight league’s Pitcher of the Week award for her performance during the week of Feb. 13-19.
Sertic pitched her 10th career shutout in 6-0 win over Ball State and her second career save in a 4-2 win over Abilene Christian. Had 13 strikeouts in a 1-0 loss to Boston College, eighth game with double figure strikeouts. She gave up 22 base-hits in 25.1 innings, finished the weekend with an ERA of 1.38 and recorded 30 strikeouts.
She currently leads the league in ERA (1.49) and strikeouts (62) for the season.
Softball went 2-3 over the weekend with wins over Ball State, 6-0, and Abilene Christian, 4-2, on Saturday. They feel to Boston College, 0-1, and Drake University, 0-4, on Friday and No. 11 University of Arizona, 1-2, Sunday.
NDSU had all six of their runs against Ball State in the top of the fourth. After only having three hits in Friday’s two games, the Bison were able to hit five in the fourth.
Bre Beatty started things with a RBI single, followed by the Lauren Reimers’ two-run base hit through the left side. Montana DeCamp delivered a three-run home run to left center, her first collegiate home run. Beatty went 3 for 3, while Stephanie Soriano added a double and single.
Later that day, Zoe Stavrou tied the program’s single game record with a pair of two-run home runs. Abilene Christian threatened late with a run in both the fifth and sixth.
Sertic came on for the final four outs for her second career save to preserve the win.