Bison Reach 20-Win Mark, Move Into Fourth-Place Tie With Doubleheader Split

Sunday, May 9

Fargo, N.D.

1 p.m.

North Dakota State

19-24, 8-10

Oakland

17-27, 8-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Oakland	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	8	11	1
North Dakota State	0	0	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	7	11	0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Oakland	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	3
North Dakota State	1	0	0	0	0	4	X	5	8	0

Bison Reach 20-Win Mark, Move Into Fourth-Place Tie With Doubleheader Split

5/10/2010 1:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

FARGO, N.D.--Zach Wentz pitched his third straight seven-inning complete game to lead North Dakota State to a 5-1 victory over Oakland in the second game of a Summit League baseball doubleheader Sunday, May 9, at Newman Outdoor Field.

North Dakota State (20-24) reached the 20-win mark for the first time in six seasons as a Division I program and moved into a tie with Southern Utah for fourth place in The Summit League with a 9-10 record. Oakland fell to 17-28 overall and is sixth in the league with an 8-11 record.

Wentz struck out four, walked none, allowed three hits and improved to 4-2 with the win. The Golden Grizzlies scored their only run in the top of the third when Todd Dunham hit a one-out single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Brett Geschke's groundout.

North Dakota State took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Tim Jallen led off with a four-pitch walk, moved to second on Wentz's one-out single and scored on an infield error with two outs.

NDSU left two runners on base in each of its first three at-bats and the game was tied 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth when the Bison took advantage of two Oakland errors and scored four runs.

Michael Riewer reached on a throwing error to start the sixth and scored the eventual winning run one out later on Max Casper's single up the middle. Tanner Adam added a sacrifice fly and Zach Heidmann hit a two-out single to plate the final two runs.

Heidmann was 3-for-4 in the second game and was the only player with multiple hits for either team. Jallen was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and scored after both free passes.

Oakland scored three runs in the top of the ninth to win the first game. Tim Ryan and Ryan Waldhart started the inning with back-to-back walks and both scored on Aaron Cieslak's single to center field to tie the game 7-7. Aaron Wick followed with a double to the wall in left field to score Cieslak.

North Dakota State trailed 2-0 in the first game before scoring four runs in the bottom of the third. After a single by Jallen and a walk to Adam, the Bison got RBI singles from Wentz and Heidmann, and a two-run double from Nic Obey to go ahead 4-2.

NDSU tacked on another run in the fifth on Kenny Beese's single, and the Bison broke a 5-5 tie in the eighth with an RBI single by Casper, who later scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Adam.

Jay Hartman, Beese and Casper had two hits apiece in the seventh, eighth and ninth spots for the Bison in the first game.

John Estes was 3-for-5, Cieslak and Wick had two hits apiece, and Nolan Jacoby drove in three runs for the Golden Grizzlies.

Ben Bruggeman, the fourth of five NDSU pitchers, allowed the go-ahead run and gave up two hits in one-third of an inning and dropped to 0-2 with the loss.

Oakland reliever Mark Leichtman walked one, struck out one, and held the Bison to one hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings to get his first win in five decisions.

North Dakota State is scheduled to host Creighton for a 5 p.m. doubleheader Wednesday, May 12, before closing out its 16-game homestand with a four-game Summit League series against South Dakota State starting Friday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m.