NDSU Baseball Drops 9-4 Decision at Southern Illinois

Tuesday, March 3

Carbondale, Ill.

3 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

1-11

Southern Illinois

4-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
North Dakota St.	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	6	1
Southern Ill.	3	0	0	1	1	1	0	3	X	9	12	1

Photo by: Maureen Marks

NDSU Baseball Drops 9-4 Decision at Southern Illinois

3/3/2026 6:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Rylan Swenson

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois used an eighth inning three-run home run to seal the 9-4 win over the North Dakota State baseball team on Tuesday afternoon at Saluki Stadium.

Colten Becker put the Bison (1-11) in front early, as he drove in Diego Trujillo from second for a one-out RBI single in the top of the first. The Salukis (4-7) responded quickly in the bottom half, using two walks, two singles, and a hit by pitch to take a 3-1 lead. Evan Gustafson led off the top of the second with a double down the right field line, and would come around to score after back-to-back groundouts. Southern Illinois increased its lead in the bottom of the fourth with a sacrifice fly to left field to make the score 4-2.

In the top of the fifth, Chase Womack worked an eight-pitch walk, and a groundball from Bennett Freiter turned into an error, putting both men in scoring position with no outs. Kaden Connor drove them home with a single to center field, tying the game at four apiece. The Salukis put together two-out rallies in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, scoring a run both times to regain the lead, 6-4.

NDSU would put men on in the top half of the seventh and eighth innings, but would leave them stranded. The Salukis strung together four straight hits in the bottom of the eighth, highlighted by a three-run home run, expanding their lead to 9-4. The Bison went on to drop the contest, 9-4.

The Bison collected six hits as a team and were led by Connor, who finished 1-2 with two walks and two RBI. Gustafson and Trujillo both finished 1-4 with a double.

Six different Bison pitchers saw action with Matt Sargeant getting the start allowing two hits over 1.0 innings. Anthony Pardo pitched the next two innings and recorded two strikeouts, allowing no runs on three walks. Ethan Swaby picked up the loss and threw 1.2 innings with two strikeouts.

Zak Szabo and AJ Doll also appeared for the Bison, with Doll tossing a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout in his first appearance of the season. Cade Wiegert finished up the game on the mound for NDSU, giving up three runs on four hits.

The Bison will wrap up their midweek series against Southern Illinois tomorrow. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT.