Western Illinois Sweeps North Dakota State in Doubleheader 4-3, 5-3

Monday, May 12

Macomb, Ill.

11 a.m.

North Dakota State

12-28, 4-14

Western Illinois

17-27, 10-9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
North Dakota State	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	8	1
Western Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	4	6	2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
North Dakota State	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	4	4
Western Illinois	1	1	0	3	0	0	X	5	7	1

Western Illinois Sweeps North Dakota State in Doubleheader 4-3, 5-3

5/12/2008 11:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MACOMB, Ill.--Western Illinois has third place in The Summit League after a 4-3, 5-3 doubleheader sweep of North Dakota State in college baseball Monday, May 12.

The Leathernecks improved to 18-27 overall and 11-9 in the league behind Oral Roberts and Southern Utah. North Dakota State fell to 12-29 overall and 4-15 in the league.

Cole Waddell hit a three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth to win the opener for Western Illinois.

That spoiled another strong start by NDSU pitcher Jake Laber who struck out seven batters with three walks in seven innings. Bison closer Shane Bushland fell to 5-3 with the loss.

Waddell entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and accounted for all four Western Illinois runs. He delivered the third of three straight singles off Laber to bring in Western's first run after Laber held the Leathernecks to one hit over the first 6 2/3 innings.

Right fielder Luke Otto had an RBI single in the third that put North Dakota State ahead, and the Bison went up 3-0 in the sixth on an RBI single by Sebastian Miles and a run-scoring double by Eric Nutzhorn. Miles and Kyle Harrison each had two hits.

Designated hitter Kole Zimmerman got the Bison off on the right foot in Game 2. Zimmerman followed a two-out single by Ryan Langlais with his sixth home run of the year for a 2-0 lead.

Western Illinois scored single runs in the first and second to tie the game before Zimmerman's sacrifice fly in the third gave the Bison a 3-2 advantage.

NDSU ran into trouble in the fourth when starter Ryan Williams issued back-to-back walks with one out, reliever Mark Ries hit a batter and walked another, and the Leathernecks greeted reliever Matt Bowar with two RBI singles to go ahead 5-3.

Western Illinois pitchers Mark DiBernardo and Ben Percival both threw complete games. DiBernardo struck out 10 in the opener and Percival held the Bison to four hits with eight strikeouts in the nightcap.

North Dakota State is scheduled to close out the season at home with a four-game Summit League series against South Dakota State beginning Thursday, May 15, at Newman Outdoor Field. Game time is 6:30 p.m.