FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Nine Bison tallied at least one hit to help the North Dakota State University baseball team defeat the Fort Wayne Mastodons, 18-7, on Sunday, April 5, in the final game of a three-game Summit League series at Mastodon Field.
With the win, the Bison improve to 7-18 overall and 3-9 in Summit League play, while Fort Wayne drops to 13-14 and 4-8 in league action.
The 18 runs scored were the most in a single game since May 11, 2014 when the Bison defeated Winnipeg at home, 18-2.
Brayden Resch led the Bison at the plate, going 3-for-6 with three RBI, while
John Skrbec went 2-for-6 and also drove in three runs on his third home run of the season.
Ben Petersen and
JT Core also finished 3-for-6 in the batter's box and each collected a pair of runs batted in, and
Juan Gamez tallied two hits in three at bats to go along with two RBI.
Bison southpaw
Trent Keefer tallied the win on the mound to improve to 3-3 overall after allowing two earned runs on eight hits in five-and two-thirds innings of work. The Mesa, Ariz., native struck out seven and did not issue a walk in the contest.
The Bison and Mastodons were locked in a scoreless tie until the fifth inning when NDSU exploded for eight runs.
Aiden Hook plated the first run of the frame on a sacrifice fly to center, before
Andy Wicklund, Resch, Petersen and Core each hit one out RBI singles to build the North Dakota State advantage to 5-0. Skrbec plated three more runs for NDSU the next at bat, making it 8-0 when he sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence.
The Mastodons made it 8-1 with a run in the bottom-half of the fifth, but the Bison scored a trio of runs on singles from Core and Gamez in the sixth to extend their lead to 11-1.
Fort Wayne scored six runs in the sixth to trim the Bison advantage to 11-7.
The Bison responded, though, scoring a combined seven runs while holding the Mastodons hitless in the remaining three innings to secure the victory.
Brandon Soat collected two hits and drove in four runs to lead the Fort Wayne offense, while right-hander Evan Miller took the loss on the mound for IPFW after allowing four earned runs on four hits in four-and one-third innings pitched to fall to 2-2 on the season.
North Dakota State is scheduled to open the home portion of its 2015 schedule against Northern State on Tuesday, April 7, at 5 p.m. at Newman Outdoor Field.
