Friday, March 27
Macomb, Ill.
3 p.m.
North Dakota State
at
Western Illinois
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Photo by: Jim Trewin
Bison Visit Western Illinois for Three-Game Summit League Series Starting Friday
3/26/2015 11:45:00 AM | Baseball
Complete Weekly Release (PDF)
Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)
THIS WEEKEND: The North Dakota State baseball team (5-14, 1-5 Summit League) will look to snap a four-game losing skid when it travels to Macomb, Ill., for a three-game Summit League series against the Western Illinois Leathernecks (5-14, 2-4 Summit League) Friday, March 27 - Sunday, March 29. Friday's series opener will begin at 3 p.m., while the contests on Saturday and Sunday will each begin at noon.
THE SERIES: The three games at Western Illinois will be meetings 43-45 in the all-time series. The Bison trail the Leathernecks in the series, 19-23, but won five of eight meetings with WIU last season, including a 9-0 win in The Summit League tournament championship game in Sioux Falls. The Bison have not won in Macomb since the 2012 season.
SCOUTING THE LEATHERNECKS: The Leathernecks enter Friday with an overall record of 5-14 and a Summit League tally of 2-4 after defeating Illinois-Springfield in a non-league contest on Wednesday, 14-1. Through 19 contests, Chris Tschida (.276, 32 H, 3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 9 BB, 3 SB) and Jake Moore (.311, 19 H, 3 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, .508 SLG%) lead the Leatherneck offense.
CATCHING UP WITH THE BISON: Entering the weekend series at Western Illinois, the Bison have an overall record of 5-14 and a Summit League tally of 1-5. NDSU has dropped its last four contests. Through 19 games, Taylor Sanders (.388, 19 H, 4 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, .531 SLG%), Ben Petersen (.328, 21 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI), Paul Funk (.315, 17 H, 4 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBI) John Skrbec (.293, 17 H, 6 2B, 12 RBI, 14 BB) and Juan Gamez (2 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI) lead the Bison offensively. As a team, the Bison are hitting .252, compared to .308 from their opponents. On the mound, left-hander Parker Trewin has a team-and Summit League-low 2.49 ERA in four starts. The senior has allowed just six earned runs on 13 hits while striking out 28 and walking only seven in 21.2 innings of work. Right-hander reliever Jay Flaa leads the Bison bullpen with a 3.00 ERA and two saves in 21 innings pitched. Flaa has allowed only seven earned runs on 13 hits while striking out a team-high 35 batters and walking just seven.
SANDERS SURGING: NDSU outfielder Taylor Sanders has hit safely in three of his last four games. The junior leads the Bison and ranks third in The Summit League in batting. Sanders went a combined 7-for-17 (.412) and recorded his first home run of the season in NDSU's three-game series at Omaha last weekend.
ON A ROLL: Bison outfielder Ben Petersen has hit safely in his last seven games and reached base successfully in his last eight contests, both team highs. The sophomore led the Bison offensively in the three-game set at Omaha last weekend, going 7-for-12 (.583) at the plate.
TREWIN REACHES CAREER MILESTONE: Bison lefty Parker Trewin struck out a career-high 11 batters in NDSU's game against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 28, in Punta Gorda, Fla., marking the second time in his NDSU career he has reached double-digit strikeouts.
GOING, GOING, GAMEZ: NDSU junior catcher Juan Gamez has hit two grand slams so far this season. The Tucson, Ariz., native recorded his first grand slam against Kansas on Feb. 27, before delivering what proved to be the game-winning grand slam at Northern Colorado on March 7. Gamez leads NDSU in round-trippers this season with three and ranks second on the team in RBI with 10.
POSITION DEPTH TO BE TESTED: The Bison have key spots to fill in the lineup after the departure of Summit League Player of the Year Tim Colwell and fellow All-Summit League performers Michael Leach, Kyle Kleinendorst and Wes Satzinger. Senior third baseman John Skrbec, junior shortstop Aiden Hook and junior left fielder Jon Hechtner are the lone returning position starters for the Bison.
NEW FACES: Seven freshmen and seven transfers make up the 14 total newcomers joining the Bison this season. New freshmen include Brayden Resch (C/UTIL), Drew Fearing (INF), Mason Pierzchalski (INF), Jayse McLean (OF), Joe Vacinek (RHP), Colin Baumgard (RHP) and Blake Stockert (RHP). The new transfers are Danny Regan (INF/OF), Juan Gamez (C/UTIL), JT Core (C/UTIL), JD Larimer (INF), Taylor Sanders (C/OF), Riley Horn (LHP) and Nick Salentine (RHP/INF).
FIVE CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark five straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for four straight Summit League tournaments, winning the tournament championship last season and reaching the championship game each of the past three seasons. This is NDSU's eighth season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent.
PRESEASON PICKS: Defending Summit League tournament champion North Dakota State was picked to finish fourth in The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's six head coaches. For the second consecutive season, Omaha was tabbed to claim its third straight Summit League regular season baseball title. The Mavs received three of six first-place votes and a total of 23 points. Oral Roberts placed second with the other three first-place votes and 21 points. South Dakota State came in third with 17 points followed by the Bison with 15 points. Western Illinois (8 points) and Fort Wayne (6 points) rounded out the poll.
THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: This is North Dakota State's eighth year in The Summit League, which has six baseball teams for 2015 – NDSU, Fort Wayne, Omaha, Oral Roberts, 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, returns to the league this season after competing in the Southland Conference the past two years.
THE COACH: North Dakota State head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his eighth season with a 171-208 record. 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.
THE TOD BROWN FILE:
Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)
THIS WEEKEND: The North Dakota State baseball team (5-14, 1-5 Summit League) will look to snap a four-game losing skid when it travels to Macomb, Ill., for a three-game Summit League series against the Western Illinois Leathernecks (5-14, 2-4 Summit League) Friday, March 27 - Sunday, March 29. Friday's series opener will begin at 3 p.m., while the contests on Saturday and Sunday will each begin at noon.
THE SERIES: The three games at Western Illinois will be meetings 43-45 in the all-time series. The Bison trail the Leathernecks in the series, 19-23, but won five of eight meetings with WIU last season, including a 9-0 win in The Summit League tournament championship game in Sioux Falls. The Bison have not won in Macomb since the 2012 season.
SCOUTING THE LEATHERNECKS: The Leathernecks enter Friday with an overall record of 5-14 and a Summit League tally of 2-4 after defeating Illinois-Springfield in a non-league contest on Wednesday, 14-1. Through 19 contests, Chris Tschida (.276, 32 H, 3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 9 BB, 3 SB) and Jake Moore (.311, 19 H, 3 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, .508 SLG%) lead the Leatherneck offense.
CATCHING UP WITH THE BISON: Entering the weekend series at Western Illinois, the Bison have an overall record of 5-14 and a Summit League tally of 1-5. NDSU has dropped its last four contests. Through 19 games, Taylor Sanders (.388, 19 H, 4 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, .531 SLG%), Ben Petersen (.328, 21 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI), Paul Funk (.315, 17 H, 4 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBI) John Skrbec (.293, 17 H, 6 2B, 12 RBI, 14 BB) and Juan Gamez (2 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI) lead the Bison offensively. As a team, the Bison are hitting .252, compared to .308 from their opponents. On the mound, left-hander Parker Trewin has a team-and Summit League-low 2.49 ERA in four starts. The senior has allowed just six earned runs on 13 hits while striking out 28 and walking only seven in 21.2 innings of work. Right-hander reliever Jay Flaa leads the Bison bullpen with a 3.00 ERA and two saves in 21 innings pitched. Flaa has allowed only seven earned runs on 13 hits while striking out a team-high 35 batters and walking just seven.
SANDERS SURGING: NDSU outfielder Taylor Sanders has hit safely in three of his last four games. The junior leads the Bison and ranks third in The Summit League in batting. Sanders went a combined 7-for-17 (.412) and recorded his first home run of the season in NDSU's three-game series at Omaha last weekend.
ON A ROLL: Bison outfielder Ben Petersen has hit safely in his last seven games and reached base successfully in his last eight contests, both team highs. The sophomore led the Bison offensively in the three-game set at Omaha last weekend, going 7-for-12 (.583) at the plate.
TREWIN REACHES CAREER MILESTONE: Bison lefty Parker Trewin struck out a career-high 11 batters in NDSU's game against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 28, in Punta Gorda, Fla., marking the second time in his NDSU career he has reached double-digit strikeouts.
GOING, GOING, GAMEZ: NDSU junior catcher Juan Gamez has hit two grand slams so far this season. The Tucson, Ariz., native recorded his first grand slam against Kansas on Feb. 27, before delivering what proved to be the game-winning grand slam at Northern Colorado on March 7. Gamez leads NDSU in round-trippers this season with three and ranks second on the team in RBI with 10.
POSITION DEPTH TO BE TESTED: The Bison have key spots to fill in the lineup after the departure of Summit League Player of the Year Tim Colwell and fellow All-Summit League performers Michael Leach, Kyle Kleinendorst and Wes Satzinger. Senior third baseman John Skrbec, junior shortstop Aiden Hook and junior left fielder Jon Hechtner are the lone returning position starters for the Bison.
NEW FACES: Seven freshmen and seven transfers make up the 14 total newcomers joining the Bison this season. New freshmen include Brayden Resch (C/UTIL), Drew Fearing (INF), Mason Pierzchalski (INF), Jayse McLean (OF), Joe Vacinek (RHP), Colin Baumgard (RHP) and Blake Stockert (RHP). The new transfers are Danny Regan (INF/OF), Juan Gamez (C/UTIL), JT Core (C/UTIL), JD Larimer (INF), Taylor Sanders (C/OF), Riley Horn (LHP) and Nick Salentine (RHP/INF).
FIVE CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark five straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for four straight Summit League tournaments, winning the tournament championship last season and reaching the championship game each of the past three seasons. This is NDSU's eighth season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent.
PRESEASON PICKS: Defending Summit League tournament champion North Dakota State was picked to finish fourth in The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's six head coaches. For the second consecutive season, Omaha was tabbed to claim its third straight Summit League regular season baseball title. The Mavs received three of six first-place votes and a total of 23 points. Oral Roberts placed second with the other three first-place votes and 21 points. South Dakota State came in third with 17 points followed by the Bison with 15 points. Western Illinois (8 points) and Fort Wayne (6 points) rounded out the poll.
THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: This is North Dakota State's eighth year in The Summit League, which has six baseball teams for 2015 – NDSU, Fort Wayne, Omaha, Oral Roberts, 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, returns to the league this season after competing in the Southland Conference the past two years.
THE COACH: North Dakota State head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his eighth season with a 171-208 record. 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.
THE TOD BROWN FILE:
- 2014 Summit League tournament champions
- 2014 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Corvallis Regional qualifiers
- Won school-record 40 games in 2012
- Three straight Summit League championship game appearances
- Four consecutive Summit League tournament appearances
- Winning percentage of .518 the past four seasons
- 16 All-Summit League honorees, six first team selections
- 14 players who signed professional contracts
- Coached three NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients: Wes Satzinger (2014), John Straka (2013) and Kole Zimmerman (2008)
Wednesday, March 11
Sunday, June 01
Sunday, June 01
Friday, May 30
