ST. PAUL, Minn. – The North Dakota State baseball team returned to Summit League play rolling past St. Thomas, 13-3, and, 10-4, in a doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Koch Diamond.
With the wins, NDSU improves to 10-23 (6-2 Summit) on the season and has won each of its first three series to begin conference play. St. Thomas falls to 4-20 (2-6 Summit) and has dropped its last three games.
Peter Brookshaw also reached the 200 career games milestone. He has started all 200 games that he's appeared in over five seasons at NDSU. He currently ranks sixth for most games started and tied for sixth for most games played in Bison history.
NDSU wasted no time in game one scoring four runs on two hits in the opening frame.
James Dunlap got the scoring started with a two-run single before
Jack Steil and
Terrell Huggins both flied out to center field to send across three runs to make the score 4-0.
Druw Sackett kept the energy going in the second inning launching three-run home run to left to increase the advantage to 7-0.
After the Tommies plated runs in the second and third frames,
Cadyn Schwabe used a double to score
Will Busch to make the score 8-2 in the fourth. Schwabe then connected on an RBI triple in the sixth to push the lead up to 9-2.
The Bison continued to roll into the seventh pushing across three more runs on five hits to stretch the edge to 12-3 after Steil blasted a two-run single into right field. Dunlap put the game out of reach after getting on following a fielder's choice to allow Sackett to get home and make score 13-3 in the eighth.
Cade Feeney closed out the bottom half with two ground outs and strikeout to finish the complete game and pick up the 13-3 run-rule victory.
The Bison piled up 14 hits as a team. Schwabe connected on a career-high four hits in five at-bats, including two singles, one double and one triple. He also added two RBI, two runs and one stolen base to his stat line. Dunlap contributed a season-high four RBI with two hits and two runs.
Feeney (4-3), who has won his last four starts, logged his second career complete game and first since 2021. The Bismarck, N.D., native totaled a game-best four strikeouts with no walks and three runs over 8.0 innings.
NDSU carried the energy into game two of the doubleheader pushing across three runs on three hits in the opening inning. Dunlap used an RBI fly out to score Sackett before Huggins launched a two-run home run to make the score 3-0 in the first inning. The Tommies responded in the bottom half cutting the deficit to one, 3-2, after Max Moris delivered a two RBI single.
The Bison then erupted for six runs on six hits in the second inning to steal the momentum.
Stephen Lund started the frame with a two-run home run to make the score 5-2. Sackett followed it up with a single and advanced to second allowing
Garret Hill to score, before Dunlap sent a two-run double into centerfield. Steil finished out the inning with an RBI single to left field to increase the lead to 9-2.
St. Thomas started to work its way back plating a run in the third and sixth frames to pull back within five, 9-4, following an RBI single off the bat of Tanner Marsh. Huggins stretched the NDSU lead up 10-4 in the seventh with an RBI double into left field. The Tommies attempted to rally in the eighth loading up the bases before
Joey Danielson used a strikeout and line out to hold off the runners. NDSU went on to close out the final inning to earn the 10-4 victory.
The Bison reached double figures in hits for the third straight game with 13. Dunlap posted two hits with two runs and three RBI, while Huggins tallied two hits with one run and three RBI.
Tristen Roehrich (3-5) picked up the win throwing four strikeouts with two walks over 6.0 innings. Danielson earned his first career save with three strikeouts over the final 3.0 innings.
NDSU and St. Thomas will conclude the series tomorrow. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
