More spring action for NDSU Athletics

Baseball

The Bison Baseball team played a four-game set over the weekend against Western Illinois. The Bison went 3-1 against the Bulldogs in the series, putting them at 12-3 on the season.

Game one was dominate performance by the Bison. After a couple first inning runs, the Bison broke the game open in the third putting up five runs to take a 7-0 lead. The Herd scored again in the fourth after an RBI single off the bat of Zach Solano.The Leathernecks would find the run column until Alex Dorethy singled through the right side scoring two runs.The Bison would score three more runs in the eighth inning, and go on to win 11-3

In Game two, Western Illinois started the scoring off in the first inning when Trenton Bauer sac flied to right field scoring the man on third. The Bison responded In the second off a two run single from Jack Simonsen. In the fifth inning, Bennet Hostetler doubled to left center which scoring two runs, giving NDSU a 4-2 lead. The Bison would put up three more runs in the game, the final score was 7-3.

In Game three, the Herd jumped on an early two run lead after a single and an error by the Leatherneck infield.  WIU would respond later in the inning after an RBI-single by Bauer. In the fourth inning. In the seventh, the Leathernecks tied the game at four after a two-run double and a costly error by the Herd. In the eighth the Ba three run homer by Hostetler put the Bison up for good.

Game four was a back and fourth affair, but the Bison could never break through dropping the final game of the series 9-7.

With his solid performance over the weekend, Hostetler was awarded the Summit League Baseball Player of the Week.

Softball

The Bison softball team traveled down to Lawrence, Kansas to play weekend round robin tournament. In Game one the Bison played against the University of South Dakota Coyotes. The Coyotes jumped on an early lead in the first when double to left scored the Coyotes lone run. The Bison would go on a scoring tear, with a homer in the second and fifth inning followed by a pair of singles, a walk and double. The final score was 9-1 in favor of the Herd.

On Saturday, the Bison faced off against the Kansas Jayhawks. The Bison started their scoring tear in the third inning after Kansas got one run in the second. An RBI walk, a two-run single and a fielder’s choice helped the Herd gain a 4-1 lead. In the third a single decreased the Jayhawks deficit by one, and in the fourth inning Kansas started it’s scoring campaign. A pair of singles, a double, a homer and a triple helped the Jayhawks take a 9-4 lead. The Bison scored a pair of runs in the fifth, but another Jayhawks homer increased the lead 11-7. The Herd scored a few more runs, but it would prove to be not enough as the Jayhawks won 11-9.

On Sunday the Bison faced off against Tulsa in a close game. The scoring didn’t start until the second inning when a passed ball got past the Bison catcher allowing Tulsa to score an unearned run.  In the third, the Bison scored on a Sam Koehn single, which would tie the game up at 1-1. In the third inning a Tulsa homer helped them regain the lead at 2-1. In the fourth and fifth inning the bison got a pair of runs off two singles, but a three-run home run from Tulsa gave them a 5-3 lead which was the games final score.

Volleyball

Over the weekend the Bison Volleyball team traveled down to Denver Colorado to play Denver in a pair of Summit League games. The Bison got swept in the two games.

In the first match, Denver was playing some exquisite Volleyball, as they bested the Herd in three sets. The Bison never got within ten points of Denver’s final score. The scores were 15-25 in the first set, 8-25 in the second and 13-25 in the third. Syra Tanchin led the Herd with six kills. Kelley Johnson led the Bison with 19 assists and 8 digs.

In the second match it was much of the same, with Denver outplaying the Herd. In the first set the Bison kept it relatively close losing 21-25, but it was a tough second and third set. In the second the Bison lost 12-25, and 14-25 in the third set. Tanchin led the Herd again in kills with 15. Johnson led in assists with 20, and Taylor Quan led the Herd in digs with 13. 

The Bison play the University of North Dakota next weekend in Grand Forks as games start at 7pm on Friday.