ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The North Dakota State baseball team held off a late rally by Saint Louis on Friday, as the Bison beat the Billikens 7-4 at the Billiken Sports Center in the first game of a four game series between the two teams.

NDSU improved to 3-1 overall with its third-straight win, while the Billikens dropped to 1-4. The Bison and Billikens will play a doubleheader on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

Peter Brookshaw, Bennett Hostetler, Charley Hesse and Jake Malec each had two hits to lead the Bison. Brock Anderson and Nick Emanuel each scored twice, while Brookshaw drove in three runs. Anderson walked four times in the game, tying a school record. It was the 10th time a Bison has walked four times in a game in school history and the first since 2018. Tristen Roehrich tied a career-high with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work, while allowing one hit and two walks to take a no-decision. Jake Drew earned the win, as he improved to 1-0 on the year in two-thirds innings work. Wyatt Nelson earned his first career save in 1.2 innings of work, striking out one and walking one.

Anderson scored on a wild pitch in the first inning to start the scoring. In the second, Brookshaw singled up the middle to bring in Malec. The Bison earned bases loaded walks from Anderson and Hostetler in the sixth, as Emanuel and Jack Simonsen scored. Saint Louis cut the lead to 4-1 on a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Hesse singled to left field in the eight to bring in Hostetler. A 3-run home run by C. Redding in the eighth brought the Billikens within a run before Brookshaw doubled down the left field line in the ninth to bring in Anderson and Emanuel for a pair of insurance runs.