North Dakota State at Northern Colorado for Four-Game Series Starting Friday

Saturday, March 8

Greeley, Colo.

1 p.m.

North Dakota State

Northern Colorado

NDSU's Jay Flaa picked up his first save last week at Murray State.

Photo by: Murray State University

North Dakota State at Northern Colorado for Four-Game Series Starting Friday

3/5/2014 11:21:00 AM | Baseball

North Dakota State at Northern Colorado
Friday, 2 p.m. MST - Live Stats
Saturday, 12 p.m. MST - Live Stats
Saturday, 2 p.m. MST - Live Stats
Sunday, 12 p.m. MDT - Live Stats

NDSU Baseball Notes (PDF)

THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State baseball team (2-4) returns to the road for a four-game series at Northern Colorado (2-10) beginning with a single game Friday at 2 p.m. MST followed by a 12 p.m. MST doubleheader Saturday and the series finale at 12 p.m. MDT on Sunday at Jackson Field (1,500) in Greeley, Colo.

THE SERIES: North Dakota State and Northern Colorado are tied 8-8 in the all-time series dating back to 1962. NDSU scored 58 runs in a four-game series sweep at UNC in 2012 and the Bison have won five straight at Jackson Field including a victory in the 2003 North Central Conference tournament. NDSU is 0-1 against teams from the Western Athletic Conference including a 7-5 loss at Sacramento State in 2006.

ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO: The Bears are 2-10 after dropping four straight at New Mexico last weekend. UNC opened its home schedule winning 2 of 3 against Colorado Mesa on Feb. 21-23. The Bears have six starters back from last year's team that went 33-24 and won the Great West Conference with a 20-7 record. Freshman outfielder Jake Ekman is the team's leading hitter with a .356 batting average (16-for-45) through 12 games. Head coach Carl Iwasaki (Northern Colorado, 1985) is in his fourth season at UNC with an 86-99 record and his 10th season overall with a 188-229 career mark including six years at Division III Austin College.

ERNST, SATZINGER PICK UP LEAGUE HONORS: North Dakota State's David Ernst was named Summit League baseball Pitcher of the Week and Wes Satzinger was named co-Player of the Week by the league office Monday after the Bison won 2 of 3 games at Murray State in a weather-shortened series. Ernst was the winning pitcher in a 4-1 victory Friday after allowing just three singles in seven scoreless innings. Satzinger hit .455 (5-for-11) in three games with a .909 slugging percentage. He homered on an 0-2 pitch with two outs in the first inning to give NDSU a 1-0 lead and tacked on an insurance run with a two-out RBI in the ninth inning of Friday's 4-1 win. He doubled twice and scored twice in NDSU's 3-2 win Saturday.

PAIR OF HEARTBREAKERS: Southern California needed a pair of walk-off victories to sweep a three-game series from North Dakota State on opening weekend in Los Angeles. The Trojans were down to their last strike in the opener before Timmy Robinson's single scored two runs for a 3-2 victory Friday. USC won 9-0 on Saturday before getting a three-run walk-off homer in the 12th inning from Omar Cotto Lozada to win 5-3 on Sunday.

ERNST EXTENDS SCORELESS STREAK: Friday starter David Ernst has pitched 28 consecutive scoreless innings over his last four starts including seven innings each at Southern California and Murray State. Opponents are batting just .167 off Ernst this season with zero extra-base hits. He pitched a two-hit shutout in the second round of last year's Summit League tournament and blanked Fort Wayne for the final five innings in his last regular season appearance of 2013.

FLAA PICKS UP FIRST SAVE: North Dakota State junior Jay Flaa picked up his first collegiate save in last Friday's 4-1 win at Murray State. Flaa came on to start the eighth with a 3-0 lead and allowed one run on two hits. Flaa was the losing pitcher on opening night at Southern California in a similar two-inning role when an infield error cost the Bison two unearned runs in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss. Flaa was 1-1 with a 4.75 ERA in 36 1/3 innings last year including five starts in the final month of the season.

SATZINGER'S STEADY: Not only does second baseman Wes Satzinger rank fourth in The Summit League with a team-best .348 batting average through six games, he's providing one of the steadiest gloves in the North Dakota State infield. Satzinger is errorless in his last 65 defensive chances dating back to May 16 of last season. His throwing error that day against Fort Wayne is the only blemish in 132 chances back to April 27. Satzinger has played 162 career games without multiple errors in a game.

PRESEASON PICKS: North Dakota State was picked third in The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's five head coaches. Defending regular season champion Omaha was first, tournament champion South Dakota State was second, Western Illinois fourth and Fort Wayne fifth. NDSU, with 8 of 9 starters back from last year's 26-27 team, was picked as Baseball America's team to beat in its Summit League preview.

BISON RETURN EIGHT STARTERS: The top eight hitters from last year's postseason lineup return for North Dakota State led by a pair of first team All-Summit League players in outfielder Kyle Kleinendorst (.333) and second baseman Wes Satzinger (.307). Center fielder Tim Colwell (.304) and utility player Jon Hechtner (.269) were also first team all-league selections last year. Third baseman John Skrbec (.253) was a second team pick.

PITCHING DEPTH TO BE TESTED: North Dakota State has key spots to fill on the pitching mound with the loss of All-Summit League starter and Texas Rangers draft pick John Straka, left-handed reliever Jake Heck, setup man Simon Anderson and closer Kyle Kingsley. Junior right-hander David Ernst is the new No. 1 starter followed by a pair of left-handers in GateWay CC transfer Trent Keefer and fellow junior Parker Trewin. Two starters from last year's rotation, right-handed juniors Jay Flaa and Trevor Jaunich have moved to the bullpen.

NEW PITCHING COACH: Former Minnesota volunteer assistant Tyler Oakes has joined the North Dakota State staff as pitching coach replacing Jake Angier, who was hired as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Sacramento State in November. Oakes was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten performer at Minnesota, where his father Todd Oakes has been the longtime pitching coach. He spent two seasons at South Dakota State (2010-11) as a graduate assistant before returning to Minnesota (2012-13).

FOUR STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark four straight seasons and qualified for three straight Summit League tournaments reaching the championship game each of the past two years. This is NDSU's seventh season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent. The Summit League tournament is scheduled for May 22-24 at Sioux Falls Stadium in Sioux Falls, S.D.

THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: This is North Dakota State's seventh year in The Summit League, which has just five baseball teams for 2014 – NDSU, Fort Wayne, Omaha, South Dakota State and Western Illinois – after losing Oakland to the Horizon League. Denver, IUPUI and South Dakota do not have baseball. Oral Roberts, which won 15 straight league championships from 1998-2012, will return in 2015 after two years in the Southland Conference. Omaha, which won the regular season title in its first year of membership, is reclassifying from Division II and not eligible for postseason play until 2016.

THE COACH: North Dakota State head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his seventh season with a 143-171 record, the second most wins in school history. Brown previously was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for eight seasons at Bowling Green, where he was part of two division titles and a regular-season title 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 a member of the 1992 Pac-10 champs.