Bison Baseball Heads to Eastern Kentucky for Regular Season Finale

Thursday, May 20

Richmond, Ky.

5 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Eastern Kentucky

Photo by: Zachary Lucy

Bison Baseball Heads to Eastern Kentucky for Regular Season Finale

5/19/2021 7:36:00 PM | Baseball

NDSU Baseball Notes - Eastern Kentucky Live Streams

Scene Setter
The North Dakota State baseball team closes the regular season this week with three road games at Eastern Kentucky. The series will be three games over three days, starting on Thursday night in Richmond, Ky. First pitch for Thursday and Friday's games will be at 5 p.m. (central), while Saturday's game will start at 11 a.m.

Media Coverage
Live stats for all three games will be available on EKUSports.com. Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Series History
This week will be the first meeting between the Bison and Colonels.

Scouting the Colonels
Eastern Kentucky is 20-30 on the year and 13-17 in the Ohio Valley. The Colonels have won four of their last five games. Caleb Upshaw leads the Colonels with a .319 batting average. Upshaw also leads Eastern Kentucky in doubles (12), home runs (10) and RBI (46). Upshaw has a .550 slugging percentage and .394 on-base percentage. Daniel Harris IV and Cam Ridley each have 14 stolen bases on the year, tallying a combined 28 of the 38 swipes for the Colonels. Five different pitchers have appeared in 20 or more games for Eastern Kentucky this season, led by 30 appearances from Jacob Abbott. Abbott has a 6.02 ERA with a 3-3 record and a save. Will Brian has 10 saves in 24 appearances, along with a 2-1 record and a 2.56 ERA. Jake Lewis has made a team-high 13 starts, tallying a 1-5 record with a 7.60 ERA. Darren Williams has 12 starts on the year with a 3-7 record and 4.24 ERA.

What's at Stake
The top three seeds in next week's Summit League Championship have been locked up. The Bison will be the number two seed and face host, Omaha, Thursday night at Tal Anderson Field. Oral Roberts has locked up the number one seed. South Dakota State enters the final weekend with a slight edge over Western Illinois for the final spot in the field. The Jackrabbits host Oral Roberts, while Western Illinois hosts Omaha in the final weekend.

Record-Setting Bullpen
The Bison bullpen has a school-record 23 saves this season, breaking the previous school record of 17 saves during the 2016 season. Eight different Bison have recorded a save this season, led by senior Parker Harm with nine and freshman Wyatt Nelson's seven saves. NDSU is the only school in the country to have multiple players with seven saves or more each.

He's Simply The Best
At the NDSU Green & Gold Gala, senior shortstop Bennett Hostetler was named the Male Athlete of the Year. Hostetler took home the prize in a loaded category that featured football's James Kaczor, basketball's Rocky Kreuser, track and field's Alex Talley and wrestling's Luke Weber.

We've Been Everywhere, Man
North Dakota State leads the nation in road victories with 22 on the year. No other team has more than 19 victories on the road. By taking two of three games from Kansas in the last road trip, the Bison have now won a game in nine different states on the road (Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas).

Flaa Makes MLB Debut
Former Bison Jay Flaa made his Major League Baseball debut April 27 with the Baltimore Orioles against the New York Yankees. Flaa tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless relief in the eighth and ninth, while striking out two-time MLB All-Star Aaron Judge for his first MLB strikeout. Flaa was placed on waivers the next day, but was picked up by the Atlanta Braves.

Safe at First
In 215 career games, senior Bennett Hostetler has reached base safely in 177 games. His percentage of reaching base safely in 82.3 percent of his games is the highest total of any player in the country that has appeared in 150 games or more.

Elite Company for Hostetler and Malec
There are 892 NCAA teams playing baseball at the division I, II and III levels this year. Of those teams, only nine have multiple players on the roster with 68 or more hits on the season. Bennett Hostetler has 71 hits, while Jake Malec has 68. They both rank in the top 30 of NCAA Division I hit leaders this season.

Hot Through 30 Games
For just the fourth time in program history, NDSU was at least 22-8 through 30 games played. The Bison join the 2012 (23-7), 1998 (22-8) and 1996 (23-7) teams to have hit at least 22 wins in 30 games. The 2012 team finished the year 40-20, while the 1996 team was 37-11, the top two win totals in program history.

Breaking Records and Taking Names
Senior Bennett Hostetler broke a pair of career records during the home series opener against Western Illinois. Hostetler broke school records with his 92nd career walk (now has 101) and 13th career sacrifice fly (now has 15).

Summit League Honors
North Dakota State has earned five Summit League Player of the Week awards and three Summit League Pitcher of the Week honors. Senior Bennett Hostetler has earned the honor four times, while fellow senior Jake Malec earned the honor once. Last week, senior Parker Harm was named the Summit League Pitcher of the Week for the second time, while freshman Cade Feeney won the award earlier in the year.

Get on and Steal it
Senior Bennett Hostetler ranks eighth in the nation with a .522 on-base percentage. He also ranks 45th in stolen bases with 18 and 103rd in the country with .35 stolen bases per game.

Top Hitters in The Summit League
North Dakota State has a .278 batting average as a team, ranking 90th in the nation and second in the Summit League. Senior Bennett Hostetler has the top average in the league at .399 and ranks 22nd in the nation.

Road Warriors
In 2019, NDSU was the last NCAA Division I baseball team to play a home game. The Bison played 26-straight games away from Newman Outdoor Field to start the season in 2019. In 2020, the Bison were scheduled to play the first 27 games away from home before the season was cut short due to Covid-19. This season, the Bison played 26-straight road games before hosting Western Illinois April 9. With 26 road games to start the year, the Bison played the most games on the road before having a home game of any team in the country.

Turnin' Two
The Bison have turned 42 double plays in 51 games this season, ranking 11th in the country in double plays. The .82 double plays per game ranks 43rd in the nation.

Leave The Guy Alone
Senior Bennett Hostetler has been hit by a pitch 19 times this season, ranking eighth in the country. He ranks 10th among active NCAA Division I players with 49 career hit by pitches.

Three Bags at Once
With four triples this season, senior Jake Malec leads the Summit League and ranks 21st in the nation.

Making the Sacrifice
Bennett Hostetler has 15 career sacrifice flies, the most in school history and the 11th most among active NCAA Division I players. Zach Solano and Calen Schwabe rank 43rd in the country with seven sacrifice bunts this season.

Get On and Drive Them In
Leadoff hitter Jake Malec ranks 19th in the nation in runs scored with 53, while Bennett Hostetler, hitting in the three spot, ranks 44th in the country with 49 runs batted in. Malec leads the Summit League in runs scored, while Hostetler leads the league in RBI.

Harm Not Allowing Hits
Senior Parker Harm has allowed just 6.33 hits per nine innings over the course of his career. That ranks 24th among active NCAA Division I players.

How Low Can You Go
Sophomore Max Loven ranks eighth among active NCAA Division I players with 1.62 walks allowed per nine innings. That total is 16th lowest among all active NCAA players across all divisions.

Summit League Preseason Poll
The North Dakota State baseball team has been picked to finish third in the Summit League preseason poll. Omaha was picked first in the poll with 15 points, holding a one point edge over Oral Roberts. The Mavericks received three first place votes, while the Golden Eagles earned the remaining two. NDSU was third in the poll with 10 points, while South Dakota State (seven points) and Western Illinois (four points) rounded out the poll. North Dakota State finished the 2020 season with an 8-9 record that was shortened due to Covid-19. Omaha won the 2019 Summit League regular season and tournament titles. Senior shortstop Bennett Hostetler and senior pitcher Parker Harm were named to the Summit League Players to Watch list. Hostetler started all 17 games last year at shortstop. He finished with a .216 average and led the team with two home runs. Harm made five appearances out of the bullpen, finishing with a 1-0 record and a 3.00 ERA in nine innings of work. He struck out 11, while walking just four.

Bison Earn ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award:
The North Dakota State University baseball team earned the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award for the third-straight season last year. NDSU was the only Summit League school to earn the honor. The ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award honors high school and college programs coached by ABCA members that post a GPA over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the current academic year. The Bison had a 3.522 cumulative GPA for the 2019-20 school year, including a record 3.61 GPA in the spring semester.

Brown Joins 300 Club
North Dakota State Head Coach Tod Brown earned his 300th career win on Feb. 22 during the first game of the doubleheader at Western Kentucky. In the series win over South Dakota State to end the league slate, Brown moved into second in Summit League history with 170 career league wins. Brown is the third coach in Summit League history to earn 300 career wins. Brown joins Mitch McLeod as the only Bison coaches with over 300 wins, as McLeod has a school record 347. Brown ranks third in Summit League history with 335 wins. Brown is one of three coaches in Summit League history to have coached 300 or more league games. Last year, he became the third coach in Summit League history to coach in 600 or more games, joining Valparaiso's Paul Twenge and Illinois-Chicago's Dean Refakes.

Up Next
The Bison will travel to Omaha next week for the Summit League Championship. The Bison will be the number two seed and face the host school, Omaha, in the second game of the day on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.