Bison Set to Host Oral Roberts

Friday, April 19

Fargo, N.D.

6:30 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Bill Powell

Bison Set to Host Oral Roberts

4/18/2019 7:08:00 PM | Baseball

Update: With the cooperation of Mother Nature, all games for the weekend series have been moved back to NDSU's home field in Fargo at Newman Outdoor Field.

Game 1: Oral Roberts at North Dakota State
Friday, April 19 | 2 p.m. | Moorhead, Minn. (Bucky Burgau Field)
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio

Game 2: Oral Roberts at North Dakota State
Saturday, April 20 | 11 a.m. | Moorhead, Minn. (Bucky Burgau Field)
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio

Game 3: Oral Roberts at North Dakota State
Saturday, April 20 | 2 p.m. | Moorhead, Minn. (Bucky Burgau Field)
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio

NDSU Game Notes (PDF) | NDSU Baseball on Twitter

Scene Setter:
The North Dakota State (9-17, 7-8 Summit) baseball team will have its "home opener" this weekend in Moorhead, Minn. at Bucky Burgau Field on the campus of Concordia College. The Bison will face defending Summit League Champion Oral Roberts (17-17, 8-7 Summit) in a three-game series. The two teams will play a game Friday, April 19 at 2 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, April 20, at 11 a.m.

Media Coverage:
Live Stats for all three games will be available at BisonStats.com. Live video will be available at GoBison.com/watch for the games, while Bison 1660 will broadcast all three games of the series.

Series History:
The Golden Eagles own a 38-13 lead in the all-time series that dates back to a 6-4 Oral Roberts win on April 4, 2008 in Tulsa. Oral Roberts had won 10-straight games in the series until NDSU won the middle game of the three-game set earlier this year in Tulsa. The last Bison victory in Fargo was May 6, 2017, when the Bison took two of three games in the series. 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:
South Dakota State used a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings before scoring three runs in the bottom of the 10th to beat North Dakota State 10-9 in a Summit League baseball game Sunday at J.J. Isaacson Field.
The Jackrabbits picked up the series victory in the finale, as they improved to 16-14 overall and 9-6 in Summit League play. NDSU dropped to 9-17 overall and 7-8 in the Summit League.
NDSU opened the scoring in the top of the first as Jack Simonsen singled to right field to bring in Brock Anderson. The Jacks added three runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead. NDSU didn't let the lead stand for long, as Bennett Hostetler hit his third home run of the season to left field, as Jake Malec scored on the play to tie the game at 3-3 in the second.
Neither team scored again until the seventh inning when the Jacks drove in two on a one-out single to take a 5-3 lead. In the top of the eighth, Sean Noel singled through the left side to bring in Peter Brookshaw before Anderson scored on a ground ball by Simonsen. Noel gave the Bison a 6-5 lead, as he scored on a wild pitch. NDSU extended the lead in the top of the ninth, as Malec scored on a sacrifice fly by Brookshaw, giving NDSU a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Falk homered to left field, driving in Smith, to tie the game and force extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Jayse McLean hit his second home run of the season to plate Simonsen and give the Bison a 9-7 lead. The Jackrabbits started the ninth with back-to-back walks before notching back-to-back singles to tie the game. With one out, Brown singled to first base to plate Steiger for the winning run.
Noel and Simonsen each had two hits for the Bison, while Anderson and Malec each scored twice. Hostetler, Simonsen and McLean each drove in a pair of runs. Charley Hesse extended his hitting streak to 11 games, while Brookshaw has now reached base in 20-straight games.
Ben Smith had a no-decision in the start, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk in six innings. Smith also had three strikeouts. Hunter Koep had two strikeouts in an inning and two-thirds, while Jake Drew (0-2) suffered the loss in two-thirds of an inning with a strikeout.

Last Time Against Oral Roberts:
Oral Roberts scored four runs in its final two at-bats, as the Golden Eagles defeated the North Dakota State baseball team 6-3 in the series finale at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
The loss dropped the Bison to 5-14 overall and 3-6 in Summit League play on the season. Oral Roberts, who won the series with a victory in the game on Friday night as well, improved to 13-12 overall and 6-3 in the Summit League.
Oral Roberts struck first with an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning. The Bison tied the game in the top of the third, as Peter Brookshaw hit a one-out single through the right side to drive in Jake Malec. The Golden Eagles took the lead back in the fourth inning on a one-out home run by Trevor McCutchin.
NDSU stayed within a run until the seventh inning when Oral Roberts pushed three across the plate. The Bison added a run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Jack Simonsen that brought in Bennett Hostetler. The Golden Eagles added a run in the bottom of the eighth before NDSU scored its final run of the game on a triple to right center by Hostetler that drove in Charley Hesse.
Six different Bison had a hit at the plate in the game. Ben Smith suffered the loss on the mound in 5.1 innings of work, allowing just two hits and two runs (one earned). Smith struck out two and walked one as he dropped to 1-2 on the year. Kyle Ferderer and Hunter Koep each struck out one.

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.

Loven Is Dealin':
Freshman Max Loven ranks 30th in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings at 1.3, while also ranking 30th in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 6.0. Loven also ranks 126th in ERA at 2.61.

Road Warriors:
The Bison are one of three teams in NCAA Division I Baseball that haven't played a home game this year. South Dakota State and Seton Hall join the Bison as the only three that have not played at home this year. Seton Hall is doing renovations to Owen T. Carroll Field and will be playing its Big East home games at a pair of stadiums in the area. South Dakota State has had its home opener postponed three times.

Scouting the Golden Eagles:
Oral Roberts is 17-17 on the year and 8-7 in Summit League play. Spencer Henson ranks 20th in the nation in slugging percentage at .702, while he ranks 97th with 1.03 RBI per game. Isaac Coffey, Matt Gaskins and Josh McMinn have each started nine games on the mound, which ranks 27th in the nation and is the most in the conference. The Golden Eagles rank 36th in the nation with 30 double plays turned on the season. They also rank 36th in the country with 37 home runs on the year. With a .428 slugging percentage, the Golden Eagles rank 61st in the nation.

Getting the Bunt Down:
Junior Bennett Hostetler ranks 58th in the country with .19 sacrifice bunts per game, while also ranking 102nd with five sacrifice bunts on the 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.

Brown Making Moves in Summit League Record Books:
North Dakota State Head Coach Tod Brown has moved up the charts of the Summit League record books this year. Brown has moved into fourth in Summit League history with 281 wins, passing former Oral Roberts coach Sunny Golloway for fourth on the list. Brown also joined Valparaiso's Paul Twenge as the only two coaches in Summit League history to have coached 300 or more league games.

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.