Both the baseball and softball teams were in action this weekend and it was a dramatic start for one of them.
Baseball
The baseball team visitied Northern Illinois for a three game series and game one went right to the end. With North Dakota State up 4-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Western Illinois scored three runs to gain a 5-4 lead. The Bison answered with three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-5 lead.
Drew Fearing led off the inning before JT Core doubled to right center, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs. Fearing crossed home plate to tie the game on Mason Pierzchalski’s RBI ground out.
With two outs in the inning, redshirt junior Logan Busch stepped up to the plate. Busch sent the 2-2 pitch over the center field wall for his third home run of the season to break the tie and gave the Bison the 7-5 lead.
The Leathernecks hit a lead-off double in the bottom of the ninth. Bison right-hander Kevin Folman ended the threat with two ground outs and a strikeout to record his second save of the season.
Busch led NDSU at the plate, hitting 4-for-5 with two runs scored, two doubles, a home run and four RBIs. Fearing added two hits as well.
NDSU right-handed starter Luke Lind struck out a career-high eight batters. The senior threw six innings and only allowed two hits and two earned runs.
Left-hander Chris Choles earned the win on the mound after throwing two relief innings.
Sophomore infielder Deion Thompson went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs to lead the Leathernecks.
WIU pitcher Sam Cottingham-Beard recorded the loss after giving up three earned runs on two hits in one inning.
The Leathernecks got back at the Bison, winning game two 5-1.
Redshirt senior JT Cole hit his first home run of the season, as he was responsible for the Bison’s lone run.
Senior right-handed starter Reed Pfannenstein suffered the loss as he gave up five earned runs on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts in five innings pitched.
Catcher Adam McGinnis went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a double and two RBIs to lead the Leathernecks.
WIU pitcher Preston Church earned the victory after tossing eight and allowed one earned run on two hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk.
Softball
Meanwhile, the struggling softball team headed south to take on Georgia Tech.
NDSU took a 12-inning win, 8-6 to defeat the Yellow Jackets on Saturday. Georgia Tech was able to take the second game 5-4. The Bison broke a six-game losing streak in game one.
Zoe Stavrou hit a two-run single to right center with two outs to score Stephanie Soriano and Madyson Camacho in the top of the 12th inning. The 12-inning game tied the school record for the longest game for the fifth time.
Right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic worked out of trouble of the 12th inning with the game-tying runs in scoring position. Sertic tied a school single-game record with 19 strikeouts to match Whitney Johnson against Toledo (2-9-12). Sertic reached double-figure strikeouts for the sixth time this season and the 12th time in her career.
Freshman Soriano tied the school record with five hits in seven plate appearances. She became the fifth Bison to hit five times in a game, the first since March 5, 2002, when Melissa Chmielewski hit against St. Mary’s, California.
Montana DeCamp put the Bison ahead 5-2 in the top of the seventh with a RBI double. DeCamp went 2-for-5 with her third home run, a two-run shot, of the season in the second inning.
Brooke Barfield and Jenna Goodrich, picking up the loss, combined for 14 walks and striking out 13.
The Yellow Jackets outhit the Bison 11-9 and had four players with two hits led by Kelsey Chisholm’s pair of doubles. Georgia Tech hit six extra-base hits. Both teams stranded 14 base runners.
In game two, NDSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Venessa Anderson recorded an RBI single as Bre Beatty then delivered a squeeze bunt to bring home the second run. Anderson scored on an error.
Georgia Tech brought the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the third on a two-run home run by Malea Bell. Bell gave the Jackets a 4-3 lead on a two-run single in the fifth. Georgia Tech added an important insurance run in the sixth on Crosby Huckabay’s RBI single.
Stavrou trimmed the lead down to 5-4 on a bases-loaded walk in the seventh.
Goodrich went the distance in game two and earned the win for Georgia Tech. Walking five and giving up four hits and striking out two.
KK Leddy was credited with the loss allowing five hits and two strikeouts.