NDSU is now 4-2 in Summit League play
The North Dakota State University baseball team, led by an offensive attack that collected 26 hits in the series, won their second series of the early Summit League season by defeating the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits in two games of their three-game set. The Bison and Jacks split their Friday doubleheader with the Bison winning the opener 10-2 while the Jacks followed that with a 9-8 win in dramatic fashion. On Saturday, the Bison clinched the series with a hard fought 5-4 win.
NDSU opens the series with a convincing 10-2 win
In Friday’s opener, NDSU gave up an early 1-0 lead to the Jackrabbits, but quickly put what would be the game-winning run across the plate in the third. Terrell Huggins drove in a run for the Bison with an RBI single to left-center and Peter Brookshaw finished off the inning with a two-run homer to give the Herd the lead at 3-1.
Bison infielder Peter Brookshaw connects with a pitch. Brookshaw, the senior from Prescott, Wis., is leading the Herd in batting average at .319 and home runs with 9. Photo Courtesy | Zachary Lucy
In the fifth, NDSU continued to apply pressure by adding four more runs on two hits to increase its lead to 7-1. Huggins started the inning with a two-run double and later scored on a wild pitch. Brookshaw finished the stanza by stealing third and advancing home on a throwing error.
The Jackrabbits tried to get back in the contest in the seventh, but NDSU’s Skyler Riedinger collected a key strikeout to leave the bases loaded. Riedinger entered in the seventh and finished the game by shutting down 9 of the 10 batters he faced to give the Herd their third Summit League win of the year.
Cade Feeney earned his 2nd win of the season against three losses while SDSU’s Jake Goble took the loss. Huggins and Brookshaw drove the offense going a combined 4 for 7 at the plate, knocking in a combined five runs while scoring another five Bison runs.
Jackrabbits win game two in a back-and-forth thriller, 9-8
Game two featured multiple lead changes and momentum swings, but South Dakota State prevailed 9-8 with clutch at-bats in the eighth inning. After SDSU completed their at-bats in the second inning with a 5-0 lead, NDSU’s Druw Sackett hit a two-run homer to left in the next half inning to cut the Jacks’ lead to 5-2.
NDSU continued to chip away in the fourth. Second baseman James Dunlap connected on a solo home run to center field and the DH, Davis Hamilton, followed it up by stroking a double to knock in another Bison run. Cadyn Schwabe finished the scoring with an RBI ground out to score Hamilton. After 3 and a half, the score was even at five apiece.
It was then the Jackrabbits’ turn to strike back in their half of the fourth. A sacrifice fly scored a run to put SDSU back on top 6-5. Yet again, the Bison answered. Garrett Hill’s two-out RBI single tied the contest up at 6-6 after NDSU’s half of the eighth.
The Bison could not take advantage of another momentum shift as SDSU reclaimed the lead at 9-6, thanks to Thatcher Kozal’s three-run home run. Again, NDSU nearly stole the momentum and the game from the Jacks, when NDSU’s Stephen Lund hit his fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot, to get the Bison within one at 9-8. However, SDSU reliever Ryan Bourassa got Dunlap to fly out to center field to secure the win and tie the series at 1-1.
NDSU’s Nolan Johnson took the loss, his first of the year.
NDSU wins a 5-4 squeaker to clinch series
Saturday’s rubber match would turn out to be another one-run contest, but the most drama was created in the early innings. Both teams would score a combined five runs in the first inning before the pitchers settled in.
The Bison opened the scoring in their half of the first. Peter Brookshaw got the Bison on the board with an RBI ground out scoring Cadyn Schwabe to make the score 1-0. Jack Steil then followed with an RBI single to stretch the lead to 2-0.
It did not take SDSU long to answer. Four hits in the bottom half of the inning plated three runs for the Jacks off Bison starter Tristen Roehrich. Fortunately for Roehrich, and the Bison, those three runs were the only ones allowed for the rest of the game.
With the score 3-2 in favor of the Jacks, the Bison answered back. In the third, Stephen Lund drilled a two-run double into left to give the Bison a 4-3 lead. Druw Sackett then hit a solo home run, also to left, to increase the Bison lead. After four and a half innings, the Bison led 5-3, a lead they would not relinquish.
However, SDSU was not ready to roll over and go home as Jacks’ Ryan McDonald homered to pull SDSU within one at 5-4 at the end of seven. NDSU reliever Parker Puetz then settled in and pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to secure the game and the series win for the Bison. Puetz, in doing so, earned his first save of the year in support of Roehrich’s second win.
No home-field advantage –
Due to field conditions and forecasted weather in the Brookings, S.D. area, the series was played at Doc Ross Field in Council Bluffs, Iowa and Tal Anderson Field in Omaha, Neb. Friday’s doubleheader was in Iowa and Saturday’s single was in Nebraska.
Summit League standings –
With the series win, the Bison (7-20, 4-2 Summit) now sit in a two-way tie in second place with Omaha (11-11), right behind the league-leading Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (20-10, 6-0 Summit). Those three schools are currently the only programs with winning records in the Summit.
Bison at the Plate –
Infielders Peter Brookshaw and James Dunlap led the Bison at the dish on the weekend with nearly identical statistics. Both went 4 for 11 at the plate while collecting three RBIs. Brookshaw scored four runs, while Dunlap crossed home three times.
Bison On the Mound –
Tristen Roehrich (2-4) and Cade Feeney (2-3) collected the two wins for the Herd. Feeney struck out five while surrendering a lone earned run in game one. Roerich struck out nine in his game-three win on Saturday. Puetz saved the game for the Bison while striking out five Jackrabbit batters. That is 14 combined strikeouts for Roehrich and Puetz.
Next up for the Herd –
The Bison will travel to Lubbock, Texas to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a three-game series at Dan Law Field in Texas Tech’s Rip Griffin Park. The Red Raiders (20-9, 4-5 Big XII) are currently ranked 23rd in the country. Game one is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. You can watch the series on ESPN+.