NDSU beat Jacks in Omaha after weather in Fargo

Baseball does not stop for anything, unless there is a blizzard in April. The winter storm forced the Bison and the Jackrabbits to meet in Omaha instead of Brookings.

The Herd were able to come away with a split, winning the second game of a doubleheader Saturday.

The Bison were able to strike first in the first game when Ben Tallman scored on a wild pitch in the third inning, but the Jacks quickly responded. SDSU was able to string together a few one and two-out hits to in the bottom of the third and fourth to go up 4-1.

Outside of a Jack Simonsen RBI single in the sixth inning, the Bison could not seem to muster anything up offensively, dropping the first game 5-2.

Winning the night cap would be very important for the Bison. A loss would put the Bison a full two games back of the Rabbits in the Summit League and put NDSU in sole position of next to last in the conference.

The Bison were able to come out firing, as Simonsen, a freshman catcher, put the Bison up early with an RBI groundout in the first. A two-out infield single by Jayse McLean scored Brock Anderson from third to put the Herd up 2-0.

The Bison kept it rolling in the second when Anderson singled to score Jake Malec and Carter Thompson as the lead grew to 4-0.

After a few scoreless innings by both teams, the Bison were able to add one in both the fifth and sixth innings via RBI singles from Charley Hesse and Peter Brookshaw.

The Jacks were able to add two in the seventh, but Mandan native Parker Harm shut the door in the final two innings to secure the split. The Bison moved to just 9-16 overall, but are 7-7 in conference. The Jackrabbits moved to 15-14 overall and 8-6 in conference.

Once this series with SDSU wraps up, the Bison will only play one more road game, an April 30 date with the Minnesota Gophers in Minneapolis. This may prove to be very important, as the middle of the Summit league is very crowded right now and not having to travel can make all the difference, especially for a team that has yet to play in front of a home crowd.

The Herd’s schedule also looks to break favorably as the season winds down. A three-game series with Summit League dwellers Purdue Fort Wayne followed by a three-game series with SDSU may allow the Bison to make up some ground quickly if they need to. Every game from here on out can make the difference come tournament time.