NDSU Baseball Set to Face Defending Summit League Champion Oral Roberts

Friday, March 29

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Oral Roberts

North Dakota State University Bison starting pitcher Jordan Harms (39) delivers a pitch to the plate during a game against the University of Arizona Wildcats at Hi Corbett Field on March 11, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Zachary Lucy Photography)

Photo by: Zachary Lucy

NDSU Baseball Set to Face Defending Summit League Champion Oral Roberts

3/28/2019 7:54:00 PM | Baseball

Scene Setter:
The North Dakota State (4-12, 2-4 Summit) baseball team hits the road for the sixth time this season, as the Bison head to defending Summit League Champion Oral Roberts (11-11, 4-2 Summit) for a three-game series starting on Friday, March 29. The two teams will also play games on Saturday, March 30, and Sunday, March 31.

Media Coverage:
Oral Roberts will provide live stats for all three games this weekend at ORUAthletics.com. The game on Saturday will be broadcast on ESPN+, while Friday and Sunday's games will have a live video stream at Portal.StretchInternet.com/ORU.

Series History:
The Golden Eagles own a 36-12 lead in the all-time series that dates back to a 6-4 Oral Roberts win on April 4, 2008 in Tulsa. Oral Roberts has won nine-straight games, with the last Bison victory coming on May 6, 2017 in Fargo, when the Bison took two of three games in the series. The last NDSU win in Tulsa was a 4-3 victory on March 14, 2015. The Bison dropped seven games against the Golden Eagles last year, including a 6-4 game on May 24 in the Summit League Tournament.

Last Time Out:
The bats came alive in the nightcap of a doubleheader against Western Illinois, as NDSU tallied 13 hits in the 11-1 victory. The win gave the Bison a series victory over the Leathernecks. The first run came in the second inning, as Charley Hesse homered down the left field line. The Leathernecks tied the game with a run in the third inning, but the Bison started to pull away in the fourth inning. A one-out double by Jake Malec started the scoring, as Hesse scored on the play. With two outs, Hunter Koep singled through the left side to drive in Peter Brookshaw and Malec.
NDSU loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning, as the Bison put up five runs in the inning. Malec was hit by a pitch to score Carter Thompson before Bennett Hostetler was walked on four pitches to bring in Hesse. Ben Tallman scored as Brookshaw grounded into a double play. Malec scored on an infield single by Koep before Sean Noel scored the final run of the inning on a single to center field by Jack Simonsen.
The Bison sealed the game in the seventh inning with a pair of runs. A two-out double by Simonsen plated Koep and Noel for the final runs of the game.
Hesse led the Bison with three hits, while Koep, Simonsen and Tallman each had two. Hesse also scored three runs, while Noel and Malec each scored twice. Koep and Simonsen each drove in three runs, while Malec drove in a pair. Ben Smith improved to 1-1 on the mound, as he tossed four innings. Smith gave up a run on six hits and a walk, while striking out four. Jordan Harms earned his first save of the season, giving up three hits in three innings, while striking out one.

Last Time Against Oral Roberts:
The Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles scored five runs in the seventh inning to rally from a three-run deficit and earn a 6-4 victory over the North Dakota State University baseball team in The Summit League Baseball Championship Thursday, May 24, 2018 at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
Sophomore outfielder Carter Thompson went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a career-best four RBI, leading the Bison at the plate. Thompson has now tallied at least one hit in 15 straight games.
Senior reliever Kevin Folman (4-4) suffered the loss on the mound after giving up two earned runs and one unearned run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.
NDSU jumped out to a 3-1 lead after Thompson hit a bases-clearing three-run double down the left field line with two outs in the bottom of the first inning.
North Dakota State increased its advantage to 4-1 in the sixth when Thompson smacked an RBI double to left center, scoring Mason Pierzchalski.
Oral Roberts responded, though, and exploded for five runs on four hits and one error in the top of the seventh to take the lead for good.
Summit League Player of the Year Noah Cummings went 2-of-5 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBI to pace the Golden Eagles in the batter's box.
ORU starter Justin McGregor (6-1) earned the victory after allowing four earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks in six innings. Closer Kyler Stout secured his 14th save after throwing a scoreless bottom of the ninth for Oral Roberts.

Loven Is Dealin':
Freshman Max Loven ranks 20th in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings at .90, while also ranking 34th in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 8.0. Loven ranks 90th in the country in WHIP at .97.

McLean Named Candidate for Senior CLASS Award:
Jayse McLean was one of 30 NCAA baseball student-athletes selected as candidates for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
McLean graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 GPA. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in mechanical engineering. The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C's of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2019 College World Series® in June.

Road Warriors:
The Bison are one of 18 teams in NCAA Division I Baseball that haven't played a home game this year. Of the 18 teams, NDSU and Cornell (5-11) have played the fewest games at 16. The Bison have had five games canceled due to weather so far this season.

Scouting the Golden Eagles:
Oral Roberts has three players hitting over .300, led by Spencer Henson's .379 average. Henson and Trevor McCutchin each have a team-high five home runs, as the Golden Eagles have hit 22 long balls on the season. Henson is also one of four players with five or more doubles on the season, while he leads the team with two triples as well. Josh McMinn has tossed a team-high 40.2 innings on the mound, sitting with a 4-2 record and a 3.98 ERA. McMinn also has a team-high 35 strikeouts on the season, while allowing just eight walks. Trey Wolf has three of the four saves for the Golden Eagles this year. Wolfe has struck out 13, while allowing seven earned runs on nine hits in 10.2 innings of work.

Double Vision:
Freshman Peter Brookshaw ranks 15th in the nation with .50 doubles per game. He has eight doubles on the season, which leads the Summit League. Brookshaw also ranks 87th with .44 stolen bases per game this season.

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 276-310 (.471) 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 90-86 (.511) 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)