Friday, March 10
Winter Haven, Fla.
11:30 a.m.
North Dakota State
vs
St. Bonaventure
Photo by: Eric Miller
NDSU Baseball Travels to Florida for Five Games in RussMatt Central Florida Invitational
3/8/2017 2:45:00 PM | Baseball
Game 1: North Dakota State vs. St. Bonaventure
Friday, March 10 | 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. CT)
Winter Haven, Fla. (Chain of Lakes Field)
Live Stats
Game 2: North Dakota State vs. St. Bonaventure
Saturday, March 11 | 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT)
Lakeland, Fla. (Henley Field)
Live Stats
Game 3: North Dakota State vs. St. Bonaventure
Sunday, March 12 | 10 a.m. ET (9 a.m. CT)
Winter Haven, Fla. (Chain of Lakes Field)
Live Stats
Game 4: North Dakota State vs. UMass
Tuesday, March 14 | 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT)
Winter Haven, Fla. (Chain of Lakes Field)
Live Stats
Game 5: North Dakota State vs. Lehigh
Wednesday, March 15 | 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT)
Babson Park, Fla. (Webber International University)
Live Stats
NDSU Game Notes (PDF) | RussMatt Invitational Information
NDSU baseball on Twitter: @NDSUbaseball
SCENE SETTER: The North Dakota State University baseball team is scheduled to play five games in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational March 10-15. The Bison take on St. Bonaventure in a three-game series March 10-12 to open the invitational. Game one against the Bonnies is scheduled for Friday, March 10, at 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. CT) in Winter Haven, Fla., with the second contest slated for Saturday, March 11, at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. CT) in Lakeland, Fla. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday, March 12, at 10 a.m. ET (9 a.m. CT) back in Winter Haven. NDSU will face UMass in a single game Tuesday, March 14, at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) in Winter Haven prior to wrapping up its Florida trip with a contest against Lehigh Wednesday, March 15, at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT) in Babson Park, Fla.
MEDIA COVERAGE: Live stats will be available for all games. For links, please visit www.GoBison.com. Twitter updates will also be available on the official NDSU baseball Twitter account at www.Twitter.com/NDSUbaseball.
SERIES RECORDS: St. Bonaventure: The three-game series against the Bonnies will be meetings 3-5 in the all-time series ... SBU leads the series, 2-0, after defeating the Bison twice last season in the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. ... UMass: The March 14 game against UMass will mark the inaugural meeting in the all-time series ... Lehigh: The contest on March 15 against Lehigh will be the first-ever meeting in the all-time series.
BISON NOTES: The North Dakota State University Bison enter the weekend at 6-6 overall after going 1-3 in a four-game set at Northern Colorado March 3-5 ... Through 12 games, NDSU is led at the plate by junior infielders Mason Pierzchalski (.349 avg., 15 H, 9 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 BB) and Drew Fearing (.289 avg., 13 H, 9 R, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 9 BB, 3 SB), redshirt junior infielder Matt Elsenpeter (.300 avg., 12 H, 4 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 5 BB), senior outfielder Ben Petersen (.293 avg., 12 H, 14 R, 3 2B, 5 HR, 14 RBI, .732 SLG%, 10 BB, 2 SB), and redshirt junior outfielder Logan Busch (.263 avg., 10 H, 9 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 10 BB) ... On the mound, the Bison are led by redshirt junior left-hander Chris Choles (1.35 ERA, 1-0, 1 SV, 13.1 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO), redshirt senior southpaw Zach Mayo (3.00 ERA, 1-0, 12.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 9 BB, 11 SO) and senior right-hander Luke Lind (4.86 ERA, 1-1, 16.2 IP, 16 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 17 SO) ... As a team, NDSU is hitting .254 while its opponents are hitting .268 ... The Bison have a 4.73 team ERA.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: St. Bonaventure: The St. Bonaventure University Bonnies enter the weekend at 2-4 overall after dropping two of three games against Maine March 4-7 in Delray Beach, Fla. ... SBU is slated to take on Pennsylvania Thursday before facing the Bison Friday through Sunday ... Through six games, the Bonnies are led in the batter's box by junior outfielder David Vaccaro (.240 avg., 6 H, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 2 SB) and senior second baseman Jared Baldinelli (.391 avg., 9 H, 5 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 5 BB) ... On the mound, St. Bonaventure is paced by junior pitcher/first baseman Aaron Phillips (4.38 ERA, 1-0, 12.1 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 7 BB, 9 SO) ... As a team, SBU is hitting .238 and has a 5.74 team ERA ... The Bonnies are under the direction of 32nd season head coach Larry Sudbrook ... UMass: The University of Massachusetts Minutemen enter the week at 0-3 overall after dropping a three-game series at Elon March 3-5 in Elon, N.C. ... UMass is slated to face Maine in a three-game series in Delray Beach, Fla., before facing NDSU March 14 ... Through three games, the Minutemen are led offensively by sophomore infielder Cooper Mrowka (.250 avg., 3 H, 3 2B, 1 RBI) and junior outfielder Brett Evangelista (.364 avg., 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB) ... On the mound, UMass is paced by sophomore RHP Justin Lasko (1.29 ERA, 0-0, 7.0 IP, 5 H 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO) and senior RHP Mike Geannelis (2.57 ERA, 0-1, 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO) ... As a team, UMass is hitting .185 and has a 4.38 team ERA ... The Minutemen are under the leadership of 29th season head coach Mike Stone ... Lehigh: The Lehigh University Mountain Hawks enter the week at 1-5 overall after dropping a three-game series at Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., March 4-5 ... Lehigh is slated to play five more games before taking on the Bison March 15 in Babson Park, Fla. ... Through six contests, the Mountain Hawks are led at the plate by junior infielder James Bleming (.364 avg., 8 H, 5 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 7 BB) and senior catcher John Scarr (.292 avg., 7 H, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI) ... On the mound, Lehigh is led by sophomore LHP Ethan Frohman (0.00 ERA, 0-0, 10.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 SO) ... The Mountain Hawks are hitting .244 as a team and have a 4.86 team ERA ... Lehigh is under the direction of 22nd season head coach Sean Leary.
PETERSEN SURGING AT THE PLATE: Ben Petersen is hitting a blistering .364 at the plate with four hits, seven runs scored, three home runs, seven RBIs, four walks, one stolen base and a 1.182 slugging percentage in his last four games. He leads The Summit League with five homers.
NOTABLE HITTING AND ON-BASE STREAKS: Mason Pierzchalski has an 11-game hitting streak through 12 NDSU contests, while Ben Petersen is riding a four-game hitting streak ... Pierzchalski has also reached base safely in 11 of 12 contests.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE WELCOMES 14 NEWCOMERS IN 2017: Fourteen newcomers, including eight position players and six pitchers, join the Bison for the 2017 season. Position players include infielders Bennett Hostetler (Bozeman, Mont.), Charley Hesse (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Tucker Rohde (Scottsdale, Ariz.); outfielder Carter Thompson (Fargo, N.D.); catchers Nick Emanuel (Esko, Minn.), Jake Malec (Proctor, Minn.) and Calvin Kalthoff (Cold Spring, Minn.); and infielder/outfielder Axel Twenge (Minnetonka, Minn.). ... Pitchers include left-hander Mitch O'Connor (Bloomington, Minn.), and right-handers Ryan Olson (Halstad, Minn.), Riley Johnson (Apple Valley, Minn.), Devin Foster (Broomfield, Colo.), Austin Truso (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Kyle Ferderer (Savage, Minn.).
DITCH AND KEEFER JOIN NDSU COACHING STAFF: In addition to 14 new student-athletes, the Bison also have two new coaches for 2017. Jeff Ditch, who has coached college baseball for over 24 years, is the new hitting coach for North Dakota State, while former Bison left-handed pitcher Trent Keefer is a volunteer assistant coach. Ditch joined the Bison after serving as head coach for 11 seasons at Indiana University-Pennsylvania, where he was the all-time winningest coach in program history, recording 253 wins. He also spent time at West Virginia, Cincinnati and Penn State as an assistant.
SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Mason Pierzchalski (Feb. 19) and Ben Petersen (March 6) have received Summit League Player of the Week honors this season.
BISON 1660 TO BROADCAST MINIMUM OF 24 NDSU BASEBALL GAMES IN 2017: A minimum of 24 North Dakota State University baseball games will air live on Bison 1660 AM during the 2017 season, NDSU athletics and Radio FM Media announced Monday, Feb. 20. Bison 1660 will broadcast 24 regular season contests and all postseason games over the air, online at Bison1660.com, and on the Bison 1660 app. The "Voice of the Bison" Jeff Culhane will call the action, with Bison 1660 on-air personality Keith Brake providing color commentary. All broadcasts will feature a 30-minute pregame show. For a complete broadcast schedule, please visit www.GoBison.com.
SEVEN CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark seven straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for five Summit League tournaments, winning the tournament championship in 2014 and reaching the championship game in three of the last five seasons. This is NDSU's 10th season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent.
PRESEASON PICKS: The North Dakota State University baseball team was picked to finish third in The Summit League Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Thursday, Feb. 9, by the league office. The Bison tallied 17 points in the poll, which was voted on by the league's six head coaches. Defending Summit League regular season and tournament champion Oral Roberts was picked first and tallied 25 points with five first-place votes, while South Dakota State was second with 18 points and received the final first-place vote. NDSU was third, followed by Omaha (13 points), Western Illinois (nine points) and Fort Wayne (eight points).
THE COACH: Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) enters his 10th season as the head coach for the Bison and has a 221-255 record at NDSU. 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:
Friday, March 10 | 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. CT)
Winter Haven, Fla. (Chain of Lakes Field)
Live Stats
Game 2: North Dakota State vs. St. Bonaventure
Saturday, March 11 | 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT)
Lakeland, Fla. (Henley Field)
Live Stats
Game 3: North Dakota State vs. St. Bonaventure
Sunday, March 12 | 10 a.m. ET (9 a.m. CT)
Winter Haven, Fla. (Chain of Lakes Field)
Live Stats
Game 4: North Dakota State vs. UMass
Tuesday, March 14 | 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT)
Winter Haven, Fla. (Chain of Lakes Field)
Live Stats
Game 5: North Dakota State vs. Lehigh
Wednesday, March 15 | 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT)
Babson Park, Fla. (Webber International University)
Live Stats
NDSU Game Notes (PDF) | RussMatt Invitational Information
NDSU baseball on Twitter: @NDSUbaseball
SCENE SETTER: The North Dakota State University baseball team is scheduled to play five games in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational March 10-15. The Bison take on St. Bonaventure in a three-game series March 10-12 to open the invitational. Game one against the Bonnies is scheduled for Friday, March 10, at 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. CT) in Winter Haven, Fla., with the second contest slated for Saturday, March 11, at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. CT) in Lakeland, Fla. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday, March 12, at 10 a.m. ET (9 a.m. CT) back in Winter Haven. NDSU will face UMass in a single game Tuesday, March 14, at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) in Winter Haven prior to wrapping up its Florida trip with a contest against Lehigh Wednesday, March 15, at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT) in Babson Park, Fla.
MEDIA COVERAGE: Live stats will be available for all games. For links, please visit www.GoBison.com. Twitter updates will also be available on the official NDSU baseball Twitter account at www.Twitter.com/NDSUbaseball.
SERIES RECORDS: St. Bonaventure: The three-game series against the Bonnies will be meetings 3-5 in the all-time series ... SBU leads the series, 2-0, after defeating the Bison twice last season in the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. ... UMass: The March 14 game against UMass will mark the inaugural meeting in the all-time series ... Lehigh: The contest on March 15 against Lehigh will be the first-ever meeting in the all-time series.
BISON NOTES: The North Dakota State University Bison enter the weekend at 6-6 overall after going 1-3 in a four-game set at Northern Colorado March 3-5 ... Through 12 games, NDSU is led at the plate by junior infielders Mason Pierzchalski (.349 avg., 15 H, 9 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 BB) and Drew Fearing (.289 avg., 13 H, 9 R, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 9 BB, 3 SB), redshirt junior infielder Matt Elsenpeter (.300 avg., 12 H, 4 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 5 BB), senior outfielder Ben Petersen (.293 avg., 12 H, 14 R, 3 2B, 5 HR, 14 RBI, .732 SLG%, 10 BB, 2 SB), and redshirt junior outfielder Logan Busch (.263 avg., 10 H, 9 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 10 BB) ... On the mound, the Bison are led by redshirt junior left-hander Chris Choles (1.35 ERA, 1-0, 1 SV, 13.1 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO), redshirt senior southpaw Zach Mayo (3.00 ERA, 1-0, 12.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 9 BB, 11 SO) and senior right-hander Luke Lind (4.86 ERA, 1-1, 16.2 IP, 16 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 17 SO) ... As a team, NDSU is hitting .254 while its opponents are hitting .268 ... The Bison have a 4.73 team ERA.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: St. Bonaventure: The St. Bonaventure University Bonnies enter the weekend at 2-4 overall after dropping two of three games against Maine March 4-7 in Delray Beach, Fla. ... SBU is slated to take on Pennsylvania Thursday before facing the Bison Friday through Sunday ... Through six games, the Bonnies are led in the batter's box by junior outfielder David Vaccaro (.240 avg., 6 H, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 2 SB) and senior second baseman Jared Baldinelli (.391 avg., 9 H, 5 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 5 BB) ... On the mound, St. Bonaventure is paced by junior pitcher/first baseman Aaron Phillips (4.38 ERA, 1-0, 12.1 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 7 BB, 9 SO) ... As a team, SBU is hitting .238 and has a 5.74 team ERA ... The Bonnies are under the direction of 32nd season head coach Larry Sudbrook ... UMass: The University of Massachusetts Minutemen enter the week at 0-3 overall after dropping a three-game series at Elon March 3-5 in Elon, N.C. ... UMass is slated to face Maine in a three-game series in Delray Beach, Fla., before facing NDSU March 14 ... Through three games, the Minutemen are led offensively by sophomore infielder Cooper Mrowka (.250 avg., 3 H, 3 2B, 1 RBI) and junior outfielder Brett Evangelista (.364 avg., 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB) ... On the mound, UMass is paced by sophomore RHP Justin Lasko (1.29 ERA, 0-0, 7.0 IP, 5 H 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO) and senior RHP Mike Geannelis (2.57 ERA, 0-1, 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO) ... As a team, UMass is hitting .185 and has a 4.38 team ERA ... The Minutemen are under the leadership of 29th season head coach Mike Stone ... Lehigh: The Lehigh University Mountain Hawks enter the week at 1-5 overall after dropping a three-game series at Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., March 4-5 ... Lehigh is slated to play five more games before taking on the Bison March 15 in Babson Park, Fla. ... Through six contests, the Mountain Hawks are led at the plate by junior infielder James Bleming (.364 avg., 8 H, 5 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 7 BB) and senior catcher John Scarr (.292 avg., 7 H, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI) ... On the mound, Lehigh is led by sophomore LHP Ethan Frohman (0.00 ERA, 0-0, 10.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 SO) ... The Mountain Hawks are hitting .244 as a team and have a 4.86 team ERA ... Lehigh is under the direction of 22nd season head coach Sean Leary.
PETERSEN SURGING AT THE PLATE: Ben Petersen is hitting a blistering .364 at the plate with four hits, seven runs scored, three home runs, seven RBIs, four walks, one stolen base and a 1.182 slugging percentage in his last four games. He leads The Summit League with five homers.
NOTABLE HITTING AND ON-BASE STREAKS: Mason Pierzchalski has an 11-game hitting streak through 12 NDSU contests, while Ben Petersen is riding a four-game hitting streak ... Pierzchalski has also reached base safely in 11 of 12 contests.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE WELCOMES 14 NEWCOMERS IN 2017: Fourteen newcomers, including eight position players and six pitchers, join the Bison for the 2017 season. Position players include infielders Bennett Hostetler (Bozeman, Mont.), Charley Hesse (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Tucker Rohde (Scottsdale, Ariz.); outfielder Carter Thompson (Fargo, N.D.); catchers Nick Emanuel (Esko, Minn.), Jake Malec (Proctor, Minn.) and Calvin Kalthoff (Cold Spring, Minn.); and infielder/outfielder Axel Twenge (Minnetonka, Minn.). ... Pitchers include left-hander Mitch O'Connor (Bloomington, Minn.), and right-handers Ryan Olson (Halstad, Minn.), Riley Johnson (Apple Valley, Minn.), Devin Foster (Broomfield, Colo.), Austin Truso (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Kyle Ferderer (Savage, Minn.).
DITCH AND KEEFER JOIN NDSU COACHING STAFF: In addition to 14 new student-athletes, the Bison also have two new coaches for 2017. Jeff Ditch, who has coached college baseball for over 24 years, is the new hitting coach for North Dakota State, while former Bison left-handed pitcher Trent Keefer is a volunteer assistant coach. Ditch joined the Bison after serving as head coach for 11 seasons at Indiana University-Pennsylvania, where he was the all-time winningest coach in program history, recording 253 wins. He also spent time at West Virginia, Cincinnati and Penn State as an assistant.
SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Mason Pierzchalski (Feb. 19) and Ben Petersen (March 6) have received Summit League Player of the Week honors this season.
BISON 1660 TO BROADCAST MINIMUM OF 24 NDSU BASEBALL GAMES IN 2017: A minimum of 24 North Dakota State University baseball games will air live on Bison 1660 AM during the 2017 season, NDSU athletics and Radio FM Media announced Monday, Feb. 20. Bison 1660 will broadcast 24 regular season contests and all postseason games over the air, online at Bison1660.com, and on the Bison 1660 app. The "Voice of the Bison" Jeff Culhane will call the action, with Bison 1660 on-air personality Keith Brake providing color commentary. All broadcasts will feature a 30-minute pregame show. For a complete broadcast schedule, please visit www.GoBison.com.
SEVEN CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark seven straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for five Summit League tournaments, winning the tournament championship in 2014 and reaching the championship game in three of the last five seasons. This is NDSU's 10th season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent.
PRESEASON PICKS: The North Dakota State University baseball team was picked to finish third in The Summit League Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Thursday, Feb. 9, by the league office. The Bison tallied 17 points in the poll, which was voted on by the league's six head coaches. Defending Summit League regular season and tournament champion Oral Roberts was picked first and tallied 25 points with five first-place votes, while South Dakota State was second with 18 points and received the final first-place vote. NDSU was third, followed by Omaha (13 points), Western Illinois (nine points) and Fort Wayne (eight points).
THE COACH: Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) enters his 10th season as the head coach for the Bison and has a 221-255 record at NDSU. 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 Summit League championship game appearances in the past five seasons
- Five Summit League tournament appearances in the last six years
- Winning percentage of .520 the past five seasons
- 20 All-Summit League honorees, including seven first team selections
- 19 players who signed professional contracts
- Coached three NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients: Wes Satzinger (2014), John Straka (2013) and Kole Zimmerman (2008)
Players Mentioned
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INF/OF
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