The baseball team had an up and down weekend

The NDSU men’s baseball dropped three of four against UC Davis in their weekend series along the West Coast. On Thursday the Bison lost 6-2, but bounced back Friday with a 7-4 win before losing the final two games in the series 3-2.

The Bison took the lead early on Thursday as Bennett Hostetler scored on a single to right field by Tucker Rohde. The Aggies answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning and added a final run in the fourth inning. It marked the fourth-straight game the Bison have allowed five runs in an inning.

Six different players tallied a hit for the Bison, including a double from Jake Malec. Pitcher Tristen Roehrich suffered the loss in his first career start, allowing six earned runs on 10 hits. Mandan, ND alum Parker Harm collected four strikeouts while allowing one hit in 1.2 innings of work.

In Friday’s game the Bison used a seven-run first inning to propel themselves to victory. Hostetler started the scoring in the first inning as he crushed the first Bison home run of the year to left field. The three-run dinger drove in Peter Brookshaw and Brock Anderson. With one out, Tyler Silva singled to left field to bring in Rohde before Charley Hesse scored on a ground ball by Malex

UC Davis scored on a solo home run in the seventh inning, before adding three runs with two outs in the eighth.

NDSU had a season-high 12 hits, including four players with multiple hits. Rohde tied a career-high with four hits, while Anderson, Hostetler and Silva each had a pair.

Pitcher Max Loven earned his first victory of the year, tossing six strong innings. He allowed just two hits and a walk, while striking out three batters. Gabe Pilla picked up his first career save, getting the final two outs with a strikeout and flyout.

Game three was a classic pitcher’s duel. Bison sophomore Ben Smith went toe to toe with Aggies pitcher Jake Spillane.

Smith went six strong for the Herd, allowing three runs (non until a two run 4th) while not walking a single batter. Unfortunately for the Bison, Spillane was just a little bit better. The sophomore gave the Aggies a full seven innings allowing just three hits, which set up Nick Johnson to come in for the two inning save.

The NDSU bats were quiet all game, their only run-production coming off a two-run double from Peter Brookshaw.

The Bison couldn’t salvage a series split in the night cap.

It was another well-pitched matchup and then Bison looked on their way to victory as the innings trudged on.

A Bennett Hostetler solo homer in the third inning broke the 1-1 tie, and gave the Herd for lead. Then the bats for both the Aggies and the Bison went silent.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, a Tanner Murray solo shot off Evan Sankey knotted the game at two. The Herd weren’t able to muster anything in the top of ninth, which opened the door for the Aggies to secure the series win.

Gabe Pilla replaced Sankey, but was unable to keep the UC Davis at bay. Leadoff walk followed by a throwing error and the winning run was just 90 feet away with nobody out.

Kyler Arenado ripped a single to right, bringing in Alejandro Lara and walking off the Herd.

The Bison are now 2-6 on the year so it is definitely time to panic. Just kidding, it’s a long season and a few early season bumps won’t mean much in the middle of spring. With conference play still three weeks away, the Bison are just getting started.