Winners of three consecutive series, Bison atop Summit League Standings
This weekend in Macomb, Ill., the North Dakota State men’s baseball team dominated the first game and used a ninth-inning rally in the second to continue their early success in Summit League play. The Bison, currently averaging 10.2 runs per game over their last 10 contests, will look to continue their hot play as they host the St. Thomas Tommies at Newman Outdoor Stadium this weekend.
In Friday’s first game against Western, NDSU tallied a season-high 19 hits that produced 15 runs. This marked the most hits in a game since May of 2015 when the Bison erupted for 22 against Purdue Fort Wayne. In the first inning, Western Illinois took the 1-0 lead with a home run. In the third, NDSU’s Peter Brookshaw picked up an RBI when he grounded out to second to score Calen Schwabe. After WIU picked up a run on a sacrifice fly to take the 2-1 lead, Will Busch evened it up with a sac fly of his own, scoring Jack Simonsen. Following that, Brock Anderson used an RBI single to give the Bison the 3-2 advantage going into the bottom of the fourth.
NDSU was able to crack the game open following the two early lead changes, as they notched five runs in the fifth inning off Leatherneck pitcher Chandler Fochs. Getting that inning started was Jack Simonsen, who blasted a double into left, scoring one. Then, in consecutive at-bats, Druw Sackett (4-5), Will Busch (3-4) and Calen Schwabe (2-3) all cranked in RBI singles to extend the lead. With the score now at 8-2 in the fifth, the Bison had yet again provided themselves with a comfortable cushion thanks to their productive bats.
Following their big fifth inning, Charley Hesse took advantage of an errant pitch by Chandler Fochs and scored from third base with the bases were loaded to push the score to 9-2. With runners still on the base, Calen Schwabe grabbed his third RBI of the day when he ripped a single into shallow centerfield. After tacking on three more runs in the top of the sixth, the Bison used one run in the seventh and three in the ninth, highlighted by a two-RBI double from Will Busch, to put the game away at 15-6.
At the plate, seven Bison recorded at least two hits, with junior Druw Sackett leading the bunch by going 4-5 with 3 RBIs. Other notable performances were Will Busch, who went 3-4 and collected a career-best five RBIs and Logan Williams, who followed up his Summit League Player of the week award with a 3-5 outing.
Trusty RHP Max Loven had himself a day on the mound, as he went six innings and threw a game-high five strikeouts en route to his fourth win of the year. To close the game, Wyatt Nelson picked up his first save of the year, as he kept Western Illinois at bay in the final three frames.
In Saturday’s second game, Western Illinois jumped out to an early 2-0 after Kory Olsen hit an RBI single and Dillon Sears stole home. NDSU’s Peter Brookshaw was able to get a run back off his solo home run in the fourth inning, but the Leathernecks retaliated with two more runs thanks to Nick Mitchell’s two-RBI double, bumping the score to 4-1.
NDSU pulled within two runs as designated hitter Hunter Koep hit his fourth home run of the season to make the score 4-2 in the sixth inning. In the next inning, Peter Brookshaw (2-5) sliced a single up the middle to cut the lead to 4-3 in favor of WIU.
In the ninth, the Bison staged another comeback effort, as Brock Anderson got things going with an RBI single that scored Cadyn Schwabe. With the contest now tied at four-apiece, Logan Williams drove WIU pitcher Kyle Rosenfeld’s pitch down the left-field line, which allowed Druw Sackett and Brock Anderson to score. With the score at 6-4 going into the bottom of the ninth, closer Jake Drew shut down the Leathernecks in a 1-2-3 fashion, to collect his first win of the year.
Peter Brookshaw and Logan Williams led the way at the plate for the Herd, as they combined for four of the Bison’s seven hits, each collecting two RBIs as well.
Cade Feeney fanned six Western Illinois batters over six innings, and Jake Drew put the game away with his three KOs in the bottom of the ninth.
In the final contest of the series, Western Illinois earned their first Summit League win and third overall win of the year when they beat North Dakota State 6-2 on Sunday afternoon.
The Leathernecks scored all six of their runs in the fourth and sixth innings, mostly powered by RBI singles and passed balls. NDSU scored two runs in the top of the seventh when Hunter Koep and Cadyn Schwabe were walked consecutively with the bases loaded. Unfortunately, those two runs were all NDSU could muster, as WIU pitcher Jack Carberry shut down the Herd over the last 2 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and no runs.
Jack Simonsen collected two of the Bison’s three hits, a rare poor performance at the plate for NDSU. Evan Sankey (3-3) took the mound for the sixth time this season and issued five walks over five innings of work. This upcoming weekend, the Bison (17-9, 5-1 Summit) will take on the St. Thomas Tommies at Newman Outdoor Field for a three-game series. The Tommies (4-17, 1-5 Summit) have not won since March 26 and are coming off three consecutive losses to South Dakota State. The first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.