HAMMOND, La. – Nolan Johnson pitched seven strong innings and Will Busch drove in three runs to lead the North Dakota State baseball team to a 6-3 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday, March 9. Southeastern won the nightcap 8-6.
 
Johnson struck out eight and walked only one in the longest outing of his career while holding the Lions to three hits and two earned runs. Skyler Riedinger tossed a scoreless eighth and Joey Danielson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the year.
 
Busch homered to pull NDSU within 2-1 in the third inning, Davis Hamilton tied it with a homer in the fifth, and Busch added a two-run single in the seventh to put the Bison ahead for good. Busch finished 2-for-4 and Jake Schaffner was 2-for-4 with a bases-loaded walk.
 
In the second game, NDSU went ahead 5-3 on a bases-clearing two-out double by James Dunlap in the fifth inning, but Southeastern responded with a five-run sixth highlighted by Jake Haze's three-run home run with two outs in the inning.
 
Bison starter Logan Knight allowed three runs on four hits with four strikeouts in five innings of work, and reliever Leland Wilson took the loss with one inning of work. Reese Ligtenberg and Austin Bergum each threw one scoreless inning, but NDSU went down in order in the eighth and ninth.
 
The Bison managed only four hits in the loss including singles by Luis Garcia and Garret Hill and a solo home run in by Jack Steil that gave NDSU a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
 
North Dakota State (3-10) and Southeastern Louisiana (10-6) will play the final game of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 10.