FARGO, N.D. - Kirk Kenneally was 4-for-5 with an RBI and scored two runs to lead North Dakota State to a 9-4 win over Western Illinois in Summit League baseball Saturday, May 21, at Newman Outdoor Field.

North Dakota State won 3 of 4 games in the series for the third straight year and finished the regular season 21-30 overall and third in The Summit League with a 15-12 record.

Anthony Kaskadden had two hits and Ryan Cowhey homered and scored twice for Western Illinois, which fell to 21-36 overall and finished fourth in The Summit League with a 13-15 record.

Tanner Adam, one of eight NDSU seniors recognized before the game, went 2-for-6 with two runs scored.  Teammates Kyle Kleinendorst and Max Casper each added two hits.

NDSU opened the scoring in the first inning when leadoff man Preston Ghizoni was hit by a pitch and scored one out later on Kenneally's triple to the wall in center field.  Kenneally scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

The Bison added three runs in the second on a two-run double by Ghizoni and a bases-loaded walk to Nic Obey, which scored the eventual winning run.

Cowhey's homer cut the lead to 5-1 in the third before NDSU got three more runs in the bottom half.  Ghizoni scored on a throwing error and Zach Heidmann hit a two-out, two-run double to left field to make it 8-1.

Zach Wentz, the third of five Bison pitchers, retired all eight men he faced in 2 2/3 shutout innings for the win to improve to 3-6 on the year.

Western Illinois starter Zach Sterling threw only half of his 54 pitches for strikes in 1 1/3 innings and dropped to 5-4 with the loss.  He allowed five runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

North Dakota State is scheduled to play No. 2 seed South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26, in the first round of the Summit League Championship presented by American Airlines at Sioux Falls Stadium in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Western Illinois will face top seed Oral Roberts in the 2 p.m. opening game.  ORU won the Summit League regular season championship outright with an 18-4 win Saturday over Southern Utah.