Thursday, May 18
Fort Wayne, Ind.
2 p.m.
North Dakota State Athletics
at
Fort Wayne
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
1B
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
P
/ Baseball
P
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
P
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
P
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
Photo by: Carrie Snyder
NDSU Baseball Closes Out Regular Season with Series at Fort Wayne May 18-20
5/17/2017 11:23:00 AM | Baseball
Game 1: North Dakota State at Fort Wayne
Thursday, May 18 | 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT)
Fort Wayne, Ind. (Mastodon Field)
Game 2: North Dakota State at Fort Wayne
Friday, May 19 | 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT)
Fort Wayne, Ind. (Mastodon Field)
Game 3: North Dakota State at Fort Wayne
Saturday, May 20 | 1 p.m. ET (noon CT)
Fort Wayne, Ind. (Mastodon Field)
NDSU Game Notes (PDF) | Live Stats | Live Video
NDSU baseball on Twitter: @NDSUbaseball
SCENE SETTER: The North Dakota State University baseball team is scheduled to close out regular season action with a three-game Summit League series at Fort Wayne May 18-20 in Fort Wayne, Ind. The series opener is slated for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) Thursday, May 18, with the second game scheduled for Friday, May 19, at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) and the series and regular season finale slated for 1 p.m. ET (noon CT) Saturday, May 20.
MEDIA COVERAGE: Live stats and live video will be available for all three games. For links, please visit GoBison.com.
SERIES RECORD: The three-game series at Fort Wayne will mark meetings 49-51 in the all-time series that dates back to 2006. The Bison lead the series, 26-22, after sweeping a three-game series against the Mastodons in Fargo April 14-16. NDSU has not won a series at Fort Wayne since the 2012 season.
BISON NOTES: North Dakota State enters the week at 27-22 overall and 17-10 in Summit League play after sweeping Western Illinois in a three-game series May 12-14 in Fargo ... Through 49 games, NDSU is paced at the plate by junior outfielder Logan Busch (.319 avg., 26 R, 52 H, 12 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 28 RBI, 33 BB), junior infielder Mason Pierzchalski (.298 avg., 26 R, 57 H, 11 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 32 RBI, 14 BB) and senior designated hitter/first baseman JT Core (.283 avg., 17 R, 39 H, 9 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 18 BB) ... On the mound, NDSU is led by senior right-handers Reed Pfannenstein (3.29 ERA, 6-4, 1 CG, 2 SHO, 82.0 IP, 85 H, 34 R, 30 ER, 24 BB, 55 SO) and Luke Lind (4.78 ERA, 5-4, 2 CG, 2 SHO, 75.1 IP, 61 H, 41 R, 40 ER, 20 BB, 82 SO), and sophomore right-hander Jordan Harms (3.43 ERA, 3-7, 1 SHO, 60.1 IP, 56 H, 32 R, 23 ER, 28 BB, 55 SO) ... Lind leads The Summit League in strikeouts and strikeouts per game (9.80/game) ... Redshirt junior reliever Kevin Folman has a team-high eight saves in 19 appearances and 24.0 innings pitched ... North Dakota State has a .255 team batting average, .973 team fielding percentage and 3.66 team ERA ... The Bison rank second in The Summit League in both team ERA and fielding percentage, and fifth in team hitting.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: The Fort Wayne Mastodons enter Thursday at 8-41 overall and 3-24 in Summit League action after falling to Purdue in a non-league game Tuesday, 9-7 ... Fort Wayne has lost 12 of its last 13 games ... Through 49 contests, the Mastodons are led by senior infielder Jackson Boyce (.321 avg., 28 R, 59 H, 13 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 37 BB, 21 SB) and redshirt senior pitcher Jake Weber (.347 avg., 26 R, 52 H, 11 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 9 BB, 6 SB) ... Boyce leads The Summit League in stolen bases, while Weber ranks second in batting average ... On the mound, Fort Wayne is led by Weber (5.83 ERA, 0-7, 66.1 IP, 95 H, 59 R, 43 ER, 23 BB, 51 SO) ... The Mastodons have a .258 team batting average, .961 team fielding percentage and 7.74 team ERA ... Fort Wayne is under the direction of ninth season head coach Bobby Pierce.
LIVIN' ON TULSA TIME: After their series sweep May 12-14, the Bison officially secured no worse than the three seed in The Summit League Baseball Championship scheduled for May 24-27 in Tulsa, Okla., at Oral Roberts. North Dakota State can clinch the two seed with a win at Fort Wayne or a South Dakota State loss against Omaha. It marks the sixth time in the last seven years NDSU has qualified for the league tournament.
MAKING SUMMIT LEAGUE HISTORY: With its 8-0 win over Western Illinois Saturday, May 13, North Dakota State set a new program record for Summit League wins in a season. NDSU's 17 league wins eclipses the original record of 15 victories set in 2011.
TURNING TWO: In NDSU's 27 Summit League games, the Bison have turned a league-best 29 double plays. NDSU also leads the league in overall double plays and ranks 50th in the latest NCAA Division I national statistics with 45 double plays in 49 games. The Bison tied the program record for double plays in a season (45) in their 6-3 victory over Western Illinois Sunday, May 14. NDSU previously had 45 double plays in 1996 and 2010.
RECORD-BREAKING DEFENSE: Entering the week, the North Dakota State defense has a program-record .973 fielding percentage and has only committed 48 errors. NDSU ranks second in The Summit League and 76th nationally in fielding percentage.
PRODUCTIVE OUTS: The Bison rank second in The Summit League and 27th nationally with 26 sacrifice flies in 49 games. The 26 sac flies ties the North Dakota State single-season record, which was set in 1994 and matched in 2011 and 2012.
SWING AND A MISS: The Bison pitching staff ranks second in The Summit League in batters struck out at 352 in 49 games. The 352 strikeouts are the third most in NDSU single-season history.
PITCHING CONSISTENCY: Senior right-handed pitcher Reed Pfannenstein is a perfect 5-0 with a 1.51 ERA in his last seven starts. During that stretch, he has allowed only nine earned runs on 37 hits with 32 strikeouts and 17 walks in 53 2/3 innings pitched. Pfannenstein was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week after tossing his first career complete-game shutout in the Bison's 8-0 victory over WIU May 13.
WALK THIS WAY: In the latest Summit League statistics, the Bison have two players ranked in the top 10 in walks. Junior outfielder Logan Busch is third in the league with a North Dakota State single-season record 33 free passes, while Ben Petersen is sixth with 29 walks. As a team, North Dakota State is tied for third in The Summit League with 188 walks.
GETTING ON BASE: Logan Busch has a team-high 25 game on-base streak entering Thursday's series opener at Fort Wayne. In NDSU's series against Western Illinois last weekend, he hit .600 with six hits, four runs, two doubles, one triple and two RBIs.
POWER SURGE: Senior designated hitter JT Core hit .500 with six hits, three runs, two doubles and three RBIs in NDSU's three-game series against Western Illinois May 12-14. In his last six games, he is hitting .360 with nine hits, three doubles and five RBIs.
SCORCHING AT THE PLATE: Freshman Bennett Hostetler is hitting .409 with 18 hits, 10 runs, two home runs, a double and triple, and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games. He also has a .614 slugging and .426 on-base percentage during that span.
NOTABLE HITTING STREAKS: Bennett Hostetler and junior infielder Drew Fearing are riding seven-game hitting streaks entering the week, while Logan Busch is on a six-game streak.
TOUGH OUT: Junior infielder Mason Pierzchalski ranks 42nd on the list of toughest players to strikeout in the latest NCAA Division I statistics. Pierzchalski has only struck out 15 times in 191 at bats (12.7 average).
NATIONAL HONORS: Senior right-handed pitcher Luke Lind was named one of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Players of the Week for May 1 after tossing a one-hit complete-game shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts in NDSU's 3-0 win at South Dakota State April 28.
CLOSING THE DOOR: NDSU right-handed closer Kevin Folman leads the team and is second in The Summit League with eight saves in 19 relief appearances. The Hermantown, Minn., native has allowed only six earned runs on 17 hits with 19 strikeouts and six walks in 24.0 innings.
TAKE YOUR BASE: Two Bison rank in the top 10 in The Summit League in hit batters. Drew Fearing is tied for second in hit by pitch at 10, while Danny Palmiscno has been hit seven times, tying him for ninth in the league. The Bison have been hit 43 times through 49 games.
SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Mason Pierzchalski (Feb. 19), Ben Petersen (March 6), Luke Lind (March 13, May 1) and Reed Pfannenstein (May 15) have received Summit League Player of the Week honors this season.
EIGHT CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark eight straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for six 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 242-271 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:
Thursday, May 18 | 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT)
Fort Wayne, Ind. (Mastodon Field)
Game 2: North Dakota State at Fort Wayne
Friday, May 19 | 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT)
Fort Wayne, Ind. (Mastodon Field)
Game 3: North Dakota State at Fort Wayne
Saturday, May 20 | 1 p.m. ET (noon CT)
Fort Wayne, Ind. (Mastodon Field)
NDSU Game Notes (PDF) | Live Stats | Live Video
NDSU baseball on Twitter: @NDSUbaseball
SCENE SETTER: The North Dakota State University baseball team is scheduled to close out regular season action with a three-game Summit League series at Fort Wayne May 18-20 in Fort Wayne, Ind. The series opener is slated for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) Thursday, May 18, with the second game scheduled for Friday, May 19, at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) and the series and regular season finale slated for 1 p.m. ET (noon CT) Saturday, May 20.
MEDIA COVERAGE: Live stats and live video will be available for all three games. For links, please visit GoBison.com.
SERIES RECORD: The three-game series at Fort Wayne will mark meetings 49-51 in the all-time series that dates back to 2006. The Bison lead the series, 26-22, after sweeping a three-game series against the Mastodons in Fargo April 14-16. NDSU has not won a series at Fort Wayne since the 2012 season.
BISON NOTES: North Dakota State enters the week at 27-22 overall and 17-10 in Summit League play after sweeping Western Illinois in a three-game series May 12-14 in Fargo ... Through 49 games, NDSU is paced at the plate by junior outfielder Logan Busch (.319 avg., 26 R, 52 H, 12 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 28 RBI, 33 BB), junior infielder Mason Pierzchalski (.298 avg., 26 R, 57 H, 11 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 32 RBI, 14 BB) and senior designated hitter/first baseman JT Core (.283 avg., 17 R, 39 H, 9 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 18 BB) ... On the mound, NDSU is led by senior right-handers Reed Pfannenstein (3.29 ERA, 6-4, 1 CG, 2 SHO, 82.0 IP, 85 H, 34 R, 30 ER, 24 BB, 55 SO) and Luke Lind (4.78 ERA, 5-4, 2 CG, 2 SHO, 75.1 IP, 61 H, 41 R, 40 ER, 20 BB, 82 SO), and sophomore right-hander Jordan Harms (3.43 ERA, 3-7, 1 SHO, 60.1 IP, 56 H, 32 R, 23 ER, 28 BB, 55 SO) ... Lind leads The Summit League in strikeouts and strikeouts per game (9.80/game) ... Redshirt junior reliever Kevin Folman has a team-high eight saves in 19 appearances and 24.0 innings pitched ... North Dakota State has a .255 team batting average, .973 team fielding percentage and 3.66 team ERA ... The Bison rank second in The Summit League in both team ERA and fielding percentage, and fifth in team hitting.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: The Fort Wayne Mastodons enter Thursday at 8-41 overall and 3-24 in Summit League action after falling to Purdue in a non-league game Tuesday, 9-7 ... Fort Wayne has lost 12 of its last 13 games ... Through 49 contests, the Mastodons are led by senior infielder Jackson Boyce (.321 avg., 28 R, 59 H, 13 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 37 BB, 21 SB) and redshirt senior pitcher Jake Weber (.347 avg., 26 R, 52 H, 11 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 9 BB, 6 SB) ... Boyce leads The Summit League in stolen bases, while Weber ranks second in batting average ... On the mound, Fort Wayne is led by Weber (5.83 ERA, 0-7, 66.1 IP, 95 H, 59 R, 43 ER, 23 BB, 51 SO) ... The Mastodons have a .258 team batting average, .961 team fielding percentage and 7.74 team ERA ... Fort Wayne is under the direction of ninth season head coach Bobby Pierce.
LIVIN' ON TULSA TIME: After their series sweep May 12-14, the Bison officially secured no worse than the three seed in The Summit League Baseball Championship scheduled for May 24-27 in Tulsa, Okla., at Oral Roberts. North Dakota State can clinch the two seed with a win at Fort Wayne or a South Dakota State loss against Omaha. It marks the sixth time in the last seven years NDSU has qualified for the league tournament.
MAKING SUMMIT LEAGUE HISTORY: With its 8-0 win over Western Illinois Saturday, May 13, North Dakota State set a new program record for Summit League wins in a season. NDSU's 17 league wins eclipses the original record of 15 victories set in 2011.
TURNING TWO: In NDSU's 27 Summit League games, the Bison have turned a league-best 29 double plays. NDSU also leads the league in overall double plays and ranks 50th in the latest NCAA Division I national statistics with 45 double plays in 49 games. The Bison tied the program record for double plays in a season (45) in their 6-3 victory over Western Illinois Sunday, May 14. NDSU previously had 45 double plays in 1996 and 2010.
RECORD-BREAKING DEFENSE: Entering the week, the North Dakota State defense has a program-record .973 fielding percentage and has only committed 48 errors. NDSU ranks second in The Summit League and 76th nationally in fielding percentage.
PRODUCTIVE OUTS: The Bison rank second in The Summit League and 27th nationally with 26 sacrifice flies in 49 games. The 26 sac flies ties the North Dakota State single-season record, which was set in 1994 and matched in 2011 and 2012.
SWING AND A MISS: The Bison pitching staff ranks second in The Summit League in batters struck out at 352 in 49 games. The 352 strikeouts are the third most in NDSU single-season history.
PITCHING CONSISTENCY: Senior right-handed pitcher Reed Pfannenstein is a perfect 5-0 with a 1.51 ERA in his last seven starts. During that stretch, he has allowed only nine earned runs on 37 hits with 32 strikeouts and 17 walks in 53 2/3 innings pitched. Pfannenstein was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week after tossing his first career complete-game shutout in the Bison's 8-0 victory over WIU May 13.
WALK THIS WAY: In the latest Summit League statistics, the Bison have two players ranked in the top 10 in walks. Junior outfielder Logan Busch is third in the league with a North Dakota State single-season record 33 free passes, while Ben Petersen is sixth with 29 walks. As a team, North Dakota State is tied for third in The Summit League with 188 walks.
GETTING ON BASE: Logan Busch has a team-high 25 game on-base streak entering Thursday's series opener at Fort Wayne. In NDSU's series against Western Illinois last weekend, he hit .600 with six hits, four runs, two doubles, one triple and two RBIs.
POWER SURGE: Senior designated hitter JT Core hit .500 with six hits, three runs, two doubles and three RBIs in NDSU's three-game series against Western Illinois May 12-14. In his last six games, he is hitting .360 with nine hits, three doubles and five RBIs.
SCORCHING AT THE PLATE: Freshman Bennett Hostetler is hitting .409 with 18 hits, 10 runs, two home runs, a double and triple, and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games. He also has a .614 slugging and .426 on-base percentage during that span.
NOTABLE HITTING STREAKS: Bennett Hostetler and junior infielder Drew Fearing are riding seven-game hitting streaks entering the week, while Logan Busch is on a six-game streak.
TOUGH OUT: Junior infielder Mason Pierzchalski ranks 42nd on the list of toughest players to strikeout in the latest NCAA Division I statistics. Pierzchalski has only struck out 15 times in 191 at bats (12.7 average).
NATIONAL HONORS: Senior right-handed pitcher Luke Lind was named one of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Players of the Week for May 1 after tossing a one-hit complete-game shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts in NDSU's 3-0 win at South Dakota State April 28.
CLOSING THE DOOR: NDSU right-handed closer Kevin Folman leads the team and is second in The Summit League with eight saves in 19 relief appearances. The Hermantown, Minn., native has allowed only six earned runs on 17 hits with 19 strikeouts and six walks in 24.0 innings.
TAKE YOUR BASE: Two Bison rank in the top 10 in The Summit League in hit batters. Drew Fearing is tied for second in hit by pitch at 10, while Danny Palmiscno has been hit seven times, tying him for ninth in the league. The Bison have been hit 43 times through 49 games.
SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Mason Pierzchalski (Feb. 19), Ben Petersen (March 6), Luke Lind (March 13, May 1) and Reed Pfannenstein (May 15) have received Summit League Player of the Week honors this season.
EIGHT CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark eight straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for six 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 242-271 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
- Six Summit League tournament appearances in the last seven 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)
Vanderbilt vs. NDSU Baseball Highlights - March 8, 2026
Wednesday, March 11
NDSU Baseball Postgame Press Conference (NCAA Regional vs Creighton) - June 1, 2025
Sunday, June 01
NDSU Baseball Postgame Press Conference (NCAA Regional vs Kansas) - May 31, 2025
Sunday, June 01
NDSU Baseball Postgame Press Conference - NCAA Regional vs No. 3 Arkansas - May 30, 2025
Friday, May 30
