League-Leading Omaha Heads to Fargo to Face Bison Baseball

Friday, May 3

Fargo, N.D.

6:30 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Omaha

Photo by: Xavier Bonner

League-Leading Omaha Heads to Fargo to Face Bison Baseball

5/2/2019 1:38:00 PM | Baseball

Scene Setter:
The North Dakota State (13-20, 10-11 Summit) baseball team hosts Summit League leading Omaha (25-14-1, 17-4 Summit) in a three-game weekend series. The first game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3. The two teams will also square off on Saturday and Sunday, with 1 p.m. slated as the first pitch for those games. All three games will be played at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo.

Media Coverage:
Live stats for all three games will be available at BisonStats.com. A live video feed will be available at GoBison.com for all three games, while you can also find the three games on the radio on Bison 1660.

Series History:
The Bison own a 41-39 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. Earlier this season, the Mavericks swept a three-game set in Omaha.

Last Time Out:
The North Dakota State baseball team scored 15 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Western Illinois Saturday afternoon at Newman Outdoor Field. NDSU took the first game 7-1 before holding on for an 8-7 win in the nightcap. After a run from Western Illinois in the top of the first in the nightcap, the Bison scored six-straight runs over the first four innings. Brock Anderson started the scoring for the Bison in the first, as he doubled down the left field line to bring in Peter Brookshaw and Charley Hesse for an early 2-1 NDSU lead. In the third inning, Sean Noel reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Bennett Hostetler to score. Later in the third, Jack Simonsen singled to center to bring in Brookshaw before Noel scored on a double down the left field line by Tucker Rohde. In the fourth, Anderson reached on a fielder's choice as Jake Malec scored.
The Leathernecks scored an unearned run in the fifth, cutting the lead to 6-2, but the Bison answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Malec walked to bring in Simonsen. Rohde then scored on a sacrifice fly by Hostetler, pushing the lead to 8-2. Western Illinois wouldn't go away, as the Leathernecks scored four runs in the seventh inning to trim the lead. Western Illinois scored on a one-out single before getting back-to-back bases loaded walks and a wild pitch with two outs. In the ninth inning, Deion Thompson singled up the middle to plate Steve McShane with two outs, but the Leathernecks left runners on base to end the game.
Simonsen tied a career-high with four hits in the nightcap, while Brookshaw and Hostetler added three and two respectively. Anderson drove in three runs, while Hostetler and Brookshaw each scored twice. Ben Smith improved to 3-2 on the mound, getting the win in a career-high six innings. Smith allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks, while notching three strikeouts. Jordan Harms had a strikeout in a third of an inning, while Parker Harm struck out five in 2.1 innings of work. It was the second save of the season for Harm.

Last Time Against Omaha:
Omaha swept a Summit League baseball doubleheader from North Dakota State, as the Mavericks won the first game 3-0 before earning a 4-1 win in the nightcap.
NDSU tallied three hits in the nightcap and two in the first game, while Omaha had seven in the series finale and 11 in the first game on Sunday.
The Bison trailed 3-0 into the seventh inning of the second game before scoring their lone run of the game. A two-out single by Peter Brookshaw drove in Charley Hesse for the Bison run. The Mavericks added a run in the bottom of the eighth for the 4-1 victory.
Bennett Hostetler and Hesse also had hits for the Bison in addition to Brookshaw's RBI single. Ben Smith took the loss on the mound, as he dropped to 0-1 on the year. Smith gave up three runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out three in 3.1 innings of work. Hunter Koep and Kyle Ferderer each had a strikeout out of the bullpen.

Road Warriors:
NDSU was the last NCAA Division I baseball team to play a home game this season. The Bison played 26-straight games away from Newman Outdoor Field to start the season. Western Michigan (31) and Marist (25) also played 25 or more straight games away from home to start the year.

Loven Is Dealin':
Freshman Max Loven ranks 11th in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings at 1.1, while also ranking 14th in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 7.0. He leads the Summit League in both categories. Loven also ranks 90th in the nation in WHIP at 1.07 and 94th in ERA at 2.60.

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.

Scouting the Mavericks:
Omaha enters the final three league series of the year in the top spot of the Summit League standings. The gap got a little closer this past weekend when South Dakota State took two of three games in Omaha. Parker Smejkal leads the offensive attack for the Mavericks, hitting .360 with 36 hits on the year. Thomas Debonville has a team-leading 30 RBI, while Keil Krumwiede leads the Mavericks with 45 hits on the season. As a team, Omaha is hitting .275 with a .381 slugging percentage. On the mound, Omaha has a 4.43 ERA as a team with all three regular starters coming in under 4.00 in ERA. Payton Kinney is 8-1 on the year with a 1.46 ERA to lead the staff. Kinney also leads Omaha with 75 strikeouts on the year, with Spencer Koelewyn and Joey Machado coming in just behind him with 67 and 61 punchouts. The Mavericks ranks second in the nation in fielding percentage at .983. Koelewyn leads the nation with 4.27 hits allowed per nine innings, while Kinney ranks fifth in victories.

Getting the Bunt Down:
Junior Bennett Hostetler ranks 30th in the country with .21 sacrifice bunts per game, while also ranking 59th with seven sacrifice bunts on the season. He ranks second in the league in total sacrifice bunts.

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 285 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. Last week he became the third coach in Summit League history to coach in 600 or more games, joining Twenge and Illinois-Chicago's Dean Refakes.

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.

Purdue Fort Wayne Series Time Changes
With the series from earlier in the year against Purdue Fort Wayne being switched, times have changed for the series next weekend at Newman Outdoor Field. The game on Friday, May 10, will now be played at 2 p.m. On Saturday, the game has been moved to 7 p.m., while the game on Sunday will now start at 12 p.m.