Johnson Guides NDSU Baseball Past Omaha in Series Opener, 6-3

OMAHA, Neb. – Senior left-handed pitcher Nolan Johnson tossed a career-best 10 strikeouts as the North Dakota State baseball team picked up its fourth straight win after topping Omaha, 6-3, in the series opener at Tal Anderson Field on Friday afternoon.

Johnson (3-3) earned the win on the mound and sent the Mavericks (9-18, 3-7 Summit) down in order in each of the first five innings before Omaha connected on its first hit of the of the game in the sixth inning. He tossed a career-high 10 strikeouts over a season-best 7.0 innings with no walks and no runs. Danny Lachenmayer picked up his fourth save of the season after he closed out the final 1.1 innings with two strikeouts.

Both teams worked through three scoreless innings before Alex Urlaub broke through with an RBI single in the fourth to put the Bison (9-16, 7-2 Summit) the board, 1-0. He followed it up in the sixth inning with another RBI single to stretch the lead to 2-0. NDSU then cracked the game open with three runs on two hits in the seventh to push its edge to 5-0. Colten Becker started the frame with an RBI single before Davis Hamilton delivered an RBI triple into right field. Sam Canton finished out the big inning lifting an RBI sacrifice fly to score Hamilton.

Tommy Simon added some insurance in the eighth inning with an RBI single up the middle to increase the lead to 6-0. The Mavericks pushed back in the eighth with three runs on three hits to cut the deficit in half, 6-3. However, Lachenmayer closed out the final 1.1 innings and tossed two strikeouts in the ninth to help secure the 6-3 victory.

NDSU notched nine hits as a team with Urlaub going 2-of-3 at the plate with two RBI. Becker also contributed two hits with one run and one RBI.

NDSU will continue its series at Omaha tomorrow. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.