North Dakota State Travels to 11th-Ranked Wichita State for Four-Game Series
3/25/2008 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
THIS WEEK:
The North Dakota State baseball team takes a 6-7 record back on the road this week to play nationally ranked Wichita State (14-3) in a four-game series Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Eck Stadium (7,851) in Wichita, Kan. The teams will play a nine-inning game at 7 p.m. Friday, two seven-inning games starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the final nine-inning game at 1 p.m. Sunday. Live stats for all four games will be available on GoBison.com.
THE SERIES:
Wichita State swept a three-game series from North Dakota State in Wichita in the teams' only previous meeting March 3-5, 2006. The Shockers went without an extra-base hit but pounded out 27 singles in three games to win 4-1, 7-3 and 8-4.
WICHITA STATE IN THE POLLS: The Shockers have won 11 straight games and moved up five spots to 11th in this week's USA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches' poll. Wichita State is also moved ahead eight spots to 16th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 and climbed four spots to 16th in the Baseball America Top 25. Wichita State is 14-3 overall, including an 11-0 mark at home. All three losses were on the road to 10th-ranked Long Beach State.
BUSHLAND SUMMIT PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
North Dakota State reliever Shane Bushland was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week on Monday after winning two extra-inning games for the Bison last week. Bushland held Minnesota to two unearned runs on three hits in five innings in last Wednesday's 5-4 victory, and he pitched 4 1/3 innings of two-hit scoreless relief in Saturday's 3-2 win over St. Cloud State.
BUSHLAND LEADS LEAGUE IN ERA: After winning three games in an eight-day span and not allowing an earned run in 15 straight innings dating back to March 9, senior right-handed pitcher Shane Bushland is the Summit League leader with a 1.08 ERA in non-conference action. Bushland is 3-0 with one save in six appearances. He has struck out 11 batters in 16 2/3 innings and limited opposing hitters to a .211 batting average.
THREE GAME-WINNING HOMERS: North Dakota State won three games in the Metrodome last week with the go-ahead runs all coming on home run balls. Shannon Ekermans lifted NDSU to a 5-4 win over Minnesota with a two-out solo homer in the 10th inning over the 23-foot-high baggy in right field, Billy Gazich sailed a three-run shot down the left-field line to start the scoring in a 9-0 victory over St. Cloud State, and Kole Zimmerman crushed a solo homer with two outs in the ninth for another extra-innings win, 3-2 over St. Cloud State. NDSU had only one homer in its previous nine games, courtesy of Mike Germain against Central Michigan at the Evansville tournament.
GAZICH DRIVES IN SIX: NDSU outfielder Billy Gazich was no slouch hitting in the No. 9 spot against St. Cloud State. Gazich hit a three-run homer and finished 3-for-3 with a career-high six runs batted in. It was the most RBIs by a Bison player since Nick Schommer drove in seven in the win over IPFW on May 19, 2006, at the Division I independent tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D.
WINNING IN EXTRA INNINGS: North Dakota State has won two of its three extra-inning ballgames this year, including two in a four-day span against Minnesota and St. Cloud State last week. NDSU has played only six extra-inning games in four years as a Division I program with a 4-1-1 record in those contests, but the Bison have won 15 of 19 extra-inning games back through the 2002 season.
BISON WIN EVANSVILLE TOURNAMENT: North Dakota State beat Central Michigan 7-4, Evansville 4-3, and Cleveland State 5-3 to win the Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic at Evansville March 14-16. Kole Zimmerman led the Bison with a .462 batting average in the three games. He was 3-for-4 with two RBI doubles, drove in the go-ahead run, and scored the eventual winning run in the 4-3 win over Evansville. Mike Germain hit his first collegiate home run, a three-run shot in NDSU's four-run fourth inning that helped the Bison to a 7-4 win over Central Michigan on Friday. Shane Bushland earned the win with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against CMU, and he came back to get a save against Evansville pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Shannon Ekermans continued the terrific bullpen work by holding Cleveland State to one run on four hits with four strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings for a 5-3 win. Ekermans entered with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning and ended the Cleveland State threat with two strikeouts. Ryan Williams fanned the only batter he faced in the ninth for his first collegiate save.
BISON PICKED SEVENTH IN THE SUMMIT: North Dakota State was picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in The Summit League, according to the preseason coaches poll. Oral Roberts is the unanimous favorite to win its 11th straight championship. Western Illinois was picked second, Centenary was third and South Dakota State was fourth. Southern Utah was picked fifth, Oakland was sixth, and IPFW was eighth.
The top four teams in the regular-season standings will advance to the Summit League championship tournament at Oral Roberts May 22-24 with the winner automatically qualifying for an NCAA regional. North Dakota State and South Dakota State are in their last year of reclassification from Division II to Division I and will not be eligible for the Summit League or NCAA tournaments until 2009.
BISON SIGN NINE PLAYERS: Seven pitchers and two infielders signed National Letters of Intent in November to play baseball and continue their education at North Dakota State University next season. The list includes LHP Grant Daniels and RHP Josh Smith from Iowa Central Community College, RHP/INF Josh Greene from Devils Lake (N.D.) High School, LHP Spencer Johnson from Thief River Falls (Minn.) Lincoln High School, RHP/INF Anthony Kliniske from Grafton (N.D.) High School, LHP Glenn Parker from Lakeville (Minn.) North High School, SS Jordan Shadle from Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash., INF/C Andrew Stitt from Apple Valley (Minn.) High School, and RHP John Straka from Chaska, Minn.
THE COACH:
Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his first season as head coach at North Dakota State. Brown was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Bowling Green the past eight seasons, where he was part of two division titles and a regular-season championship in the Mid-American Conference. Brown began his collegiate coaching career in 1999 as a volunteer assistant at Arizona. He was a left-handed pitcher for the Wildcats under Hall of Fame coach Jerry Kindall and was a member of the 1992 Pac-10 championship team.
THE RECLASSIFICATION: North Dakota State is in the final year of a five-year NCAA reclassificiation from Division II to Division I. This is NDSU's first year as a member of The Summit League (formerly the Mid-Continent Conference) after three years as a Division I independent. The Bison are eligible for the Summit League regular-season championship, but NDSU will not participate in the league's postseason NCAA-qualifying championship tournament until becoming an active Division I member in 2008-09.
