Scene Setter
The North Dakota State baseball team travels to California this week for the NCAA Regional at Stanford. NDSU is seeded fourth in the region and will face top-seeded Stanford in the first game at 3 p.m. Friday. The Cardinal are the number nine overall seed in the bracket and ranked seventh in the country. In the other game, second seeded UC Irvine will face third-seeded Nevada at 8 p.m. This will be the second appearance in the postseason since the transition to NCAA Division I in 2005, while it is the fourth overall postseason appearance for the Bison.
 
Media Coverage
Bison 1660 will have live coverage of all NDSU games during the tournament. The entire tournament will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. The first game against Stanford will be on ESPN3, while the other networks for future games will be decided on a game-by-game basis. Links for live video and live stats for all games can be found at GoBison.com.
 
Series History
NDSU has never faced Stanford, UC Irvine or Nevada.
 
Postseason History
The Bison previously qualified for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 2014. In the last regional, NDSU faced the number one overall seed in Oregon State in the first round, with the Beavers winning 2-1. In the second game, second-seeded UNLV defeated NDSU 2-1. UC Irvine was also in that regional as the number three seed.
 
Summit League Tournament Champions
Entering the Summit League Tournament as the number two seed, the Bison went 3-1 to lock up their second Summit League title. NDSU beat Omaha 3-1 in the opener before shutting out top-seeded Oral Roberts 5-0 to advance to the championship series. The Golden Eagles took the first game before NDSU won the title with an 11-6 win in the finale. Jake Malec was named the Summit League Tournament MVP, while Bennett Hostetler, Nick Emanuel, Max Loven, Cade Feeney and Parker Harm joined Malec on the all-tournament team.
 
Hostetler Named Summit League Player of the Year
Bennett Hostetler is the second Bison to earn the Summit League Player of the Year award, as Tim Colwell picked up the honor in 2014. In league games, Hostetler led the Summit League in on base percentage (.500), RBI (31), total bases (67), hit by pitch (10) and sacrifice flies (3). He also ranked second in the league in batting average (.387), hits (41), and home runs (7). Hostetler ranked third in the league in slugging percentage (.632), fifth in walks (17) and third in total plate appearances (137). He had 14 multiple-hit games in 31 league games, including a stretch of seven straight from April 24-May 14.
 
Eight Bison Earn All-Summit League Honors
Shortstop Bennett Hostetler, outfielder Jake Malec, starting pitcher Cade Feeney and relief pitcher Parker Harm were all named to the All-Summit League First Team. Third baseman Tucker Rohde, outfielder Jack Simonsen and starting pitchers Max Loven and Evan Sankey were named to the second team.
 
Record-Setting Bullpen
The Bison bullpen has a school-record 26 saves this season, breaking the previous school record of 17 saves during the 2016 season. Nine different Bison have recorded a save this season, led by senior Parker Harm with 11 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. NDSU also leads the nation in saves and is the only school in the country with nine or more players to record a save.
 
We've Been Everywhere, Man
North Dakota State leads all NCAA schools in road victories with 25 on the year. Of the 903 teams playing across all levels, Central Michigan (D1-23), Cal Baptist (D1-22), Indiana State (D1-21) and Minnesota State (D2-22) are the only other teams with 20 or more road wins. The Bison have won a game in nine different states on the road (Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas), traveling over 12,000 miles on a bus this season. With the win on Thursday at Omaha, NDSU became the fifth NCAA Division I school in the last 10 years to win 25 or more road wins in a season.
 
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.
 
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 222 career games, senior Bennett Hostetler has reached base safely in 183 games. His percentage of reaching base safely in 82.4 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 903 NCAA teams playing baseball at the division I, II and III levels this year. Of those teams, only five have multiple players on the roster with 77 or more hits on the season. Bennett Hostetler has 79 hits, while Jake Malec has 77. 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.
 
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. Senior Parker Harm was named the Summit League Pitcher of the Week twice, while freshman Cade Feeney won the award once.
 
Get on and Steal it
Senior Bennett Hostetler ranks 14th in the nation with a .514 on-base percentage. He also ranks 63rd in stolen bases with 18.
 
Top Hitters in The Summit League
North Dakota State has a .277 batting average as a team, ranking 97th in the nation and second in the Summit League. Senior Bennett Hostetler has the top average in the league at .391 and ranks 30th 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 44 double plays in 58 games this season, ranking 25th in the country in double plays. The .76 double plays per game ranks 69th in the nation.
 
Leave The Guy Alone
Senior Bennett Hostetler has been hit by a pitch 19 times this season, ranking 13th in the country. He ranks 11th among active NCAA Division I players with 49 career hit by pitches.
 
Making the Sacrifice
Bennett Hostetler has 15 career sacrifice flies, the most in school history and the 12th most among active NCAA Division I players. Calen Schwabe ranks 41st in the nation with eight sacrifice bunts, while Zach Solano ranks 60th with seven.
 
Get On and Drive Them In
Leadoff hitter Jake Malec ranks 22nd in the nation in runs scored with 59, while Bennett Hostetler, hitting in the three spot, ranks 50th in the country with 54 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 6.18 hits per nine innings over the course of his career. That ranks 18th among active NCAA Division I players and 34th among active players at all NCAA levels.
 
How Low Can You Go
Sophomore Max Loven ranks eighth among active NCAA Division I players with 1.56 walks allowed per nine innings. That total is 49th lowest among all active NCAA players across all divisions and 14th in NCAA Division I.
 
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 340 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 winner of the NCAA Regional at Stanford will face the winner of the NCAA Regional at Texas Tech in next week's Super Regional.