Game 1: North Dakota State at Omaha
Saturday, March 16 | 6 p.m. | Omaha, Neb. (Millard North High School)
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Game 2: North Dakota State at Omaha
Sunday, March 17 | 12 p.m. | Omaha, Neb. (Millard North High School)
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Game 3: North Dakota State at Omaha
Sunday, March 17 | 3 p.m. | Omaha, Neb. (Millard North High School)
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NDSU Game Notes (PDF) | NDSU Baseball on Twitter
 

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Scene Setter:
For the first time in over two weeks, the North Dakota State (2-8, 0-0 Summit) baseball team returns to action this weekend at Omaha (8-5-1, 0-0 Summit). The three-game series is the Summit League opener for both schools. Originally scheduled for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series, the two teams will play a night game on Saturday, followed by a doubleheader on Sunday. 

Series History:
The Bison own a 41-36 lead in the all-time series against Omaha that dates back to an 8-0 Mavericks victory in 1978. Last year, the Bison went 4-1 against the Mavericks. 

Last Time Out:
NDSU scored at least two runs in five of the seven innings, including three runs in the top of the seventh. The Bison struck early with two runs in the top of the first. Brookshaw doubled to left field to drive in Bennett Hostetler before Brock Anderson singled to right center to plate Brookshaw.
Northern Colorado responded with three runs in the bottom of the first, but NDSU regained the lead for good in the top of the third. Another double by Brookshaw to drive in Hostetler started the scoring before Hunter Koep doubled in Brookshaw. In the fifth inning, Koep hit his first home run of the season to center field before Charley Hesse drove in Anderson with a sacrifice fly.
The Bears added a run in the bottom of the fifth, but NDSU quickly answered with two more runs in the sixth. Brookshaw scored on a throwing error before Anderson scored on a passed ball. In the seventh inning, Hostetler singled to left field to drive in Hesse before Alec Abercrombie tripled to right center to plate Hostetler and Malec for the final runs of the game.
Hostetler, Brookshaw and Anderson each had three hits for the Bison, while Hostetler and Brookshaw each scored three times. Brookshaw, Abercrombie and Koep each drove in two runs.
Alec Holcomb earned the win in 2.1 innings of relief work. Holcomb struck out five and allowed a hit. Jordan Harms gave up an unearned run on one hit and four strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work before turning things over to Gabe Pilla for the final 2.2 innings. Pilla gave up a run on two hits.

Season Opener Streak:
The victory in the season opener at Sacramento State gave NDSU four-straight wins in season openers. Last year, NDSU beat Incarnate Word 8-2. The Bison beat Mississippi Valley State 10-4 in 2017 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff 2-0 in 2016. 

Last Time Against Omaha:
Carter Thompson and Matt Elsenpeter combined to hit three home runs as the North Dakota State University baseball team rolled to a 10-0 victory over the Omaha Mavericks in eight innings Sunday, April 29, at Newman Outdoor Field.
Thompson went 3-for-4 with two homers, three runs scored and a pair of RBI, while Elsenpeter added a pair of hits on a double and home run to lead NDSU at the plate. Bennett Hostetler hit his team-high fourth triple of the season, and Mason Pierzchalski and Alec Abercrombie each tallied two hits, respectively. 
Bison reliever Kevin Folman (3-2) earned the victory on the mound after giving up no earned runs on three hits with six strikeouts and no walks in four innings.
Thompson opened the scoring for NDSU in the second inning when he hit a towering shot that cleared the fence down the left field line, giving the Bison the 1-0 lead.
North Dakota State doubled its lead to 2-0 when Abercrombie scored on an Omaha (14-25, 9-9 Summit League) fielding error in the fifth.
NDSU broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth, plating five runs to balloon its advantage to 7-0. Abercrombie hit a two-run single to left field for the Bison's first two runs of the frame, before Hostetler smacked a two-RBI triple down the left field line, bringing two more runs for the home team. Hostetler crossed home plate on a wild pitch for the final run of the inning.
North Dakota State continued its offensive surge in the seventh when Thompson and Elsenpeter hit back-to-back homers to left field.
Pierzchalski ended the game in the bottom of the eighth after he hit a sacrifice fly to left center, scoring Abercrombie and invoking the 10-run mercy rule.
Thompson now has three home runs on the season, while Elsenpeter hit his first of 2018 Sunday.
Adam Caniglia went 1-for-4 with a double, leading Omaha in the batter's box.
UNO starter Andrew Brighton (2-2) took the loss after allowing six earned runs on eight hits with one strikeout and three walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Scouting the Mavericks: 
Omaha hasn't had as long of a layoff from playing as the Bison, as Omaha is coming off a series against Santa Clara in California March 8-10. The Mavericks picked up the victory in all four games, including pitching a pair of shutouts in the first two games against the Broncos. Max Gamm leads the offensive attack for the Mavericks with a .275 batting average. In four starts on the mound, Payton Kinney has a 3-0 record with a .78 ERA. Kinney has tossed a team-high 23 innings, allowing 17 hits and striking out 22.

Double Vision:
Freshman Peter Brookshaw leads the Summit League with seven doubles on the year. He also ranks fourth in the country with .70 doubles per game.

Nine-Straight 20 Win Seasons:
North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark nine straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for seven Summit League tournaments, winning the tournament championship in 2014 and reaching the championship game in four of the last seven seasons. This is NDSU's 12th season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent. 

Summit League Preseason Poll:
The Bison were picked to finish third in the Summit League Preseason Coaches Poll. Oral Roberts received all five of its possible first-place votes for 25 total points. South Dakota State received the final first-place vote and placed second with 21 points. North Dakota State followed in third (17 points) and Western Illinois was in fourth (12 points) while Omaha (9 points) and Fort Wayne (6 points) rounded out the poll. Jayse McLean and Parker Harm were named to the Summit League Players to Watch list.

McLean Voted to 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Baseball Team:
Jayse McLean was voted to the Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I Baseball Team, as selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America. It was McLean's inaugural selection to the team, as he was also named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District First Team earlier in the year. He was the first NDSU honoree since Tim Colwell in 2014 for the all-district team. McLean boasts a perfect 4.00 grade-point average majoring in mechanical engineering. 

The Coach:
Tod Brown is in his 12th season as the head coach for the Bison and has a 274-306 (.473) 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
Won school-record 19 Summit League games in 2017
Combined record of 88-82 (.518) over the last four seasons (2016-19)
54-21 (.720) record at home in the last four seasons
Four Summit League championship game appearances in the past seven seasons
Seven Summit League tournament appearances in the last eight years
25 All-Summit League honorees, including eight first team selections
21 players who have signed professional contracts
Coached three NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients: Wes Satzinger (2014), John Straka (2013) and Kole Zimmerman (2008)