NDSU Baseball Splits Saturday Doubleheader at South Dakota State

BROOKINGS, S.D. – The North Dakota State baseball team split a doubleheader at South Dakota State after winning the first game, 8-4, and dropping the second game, 8-6, on Saturday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

In game one, the Bison (14-25, 11-9 Summit) bounced back with an 8-4 win over the Jackrabbits (11-28, 7-12 Summit) after scoring at least one run in seven of the nine innings. Davis Hamilton got NDSU off to a fast start driving a two RBI single through the right side to make the score 3-0 in the third inning. After the Jackrabbits got the board with an RBI single of their own in the third, NDSU stretched its lead to 5-1 with a single off the bat of Noah Gordon that allowed Sam Canton to get home.

Carter Sintek responded for the Jackrabbits in the bottom half of the fifth with a two RBI home run to cut the deficit to 5-3. NDSU answered with an RBI single from Colten Becker in the seventh and an RBI sacrifice fly from Hamilton in the eighth to make the score 7-3. SDSU then used its second home run of the game after Owen Siegert connected on the solo shot in the eighth to pull back within three, 7-4. However, Luis Garcia added insurance in the ninth with an RBI single to help secure the 8-4 win.

The Bison totaled 10 hits as team with Canton going 3-of-4 at the plate with one run and one RBI.

Logan Knight (2-5) earned the win tossing six strikeouts with three walks over 6.0 frames. Hayden Sylte picked up his first career save tossing two strikeouts over the final 3.0 frames.

In game two, the Jackrabbits scored six runs over the final three innings to steal the 8-6 win. After SDSU jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the second inning, NDSU responded with three runs on four hits in the third to steal the edge. Hamilton started the frame with an RBI double and Becker capped the inning with a two RBI single through the right side to make the score 4-2.

The Bison, who were the designated home team in the contest, then extended their lead to 5-2 in the fourth with an RBI single off the bat of Hamilton. Following two scoreless innings, Nolan Grawe sent a two RBI double into left center to cut the edge to 5-4. The Jackrabbits carried the momentum into the eighth with another RBI double from Bryce Ronken before he later scored on a throwing error to regain the lead, 6-5. Ronken then used a two RBI single in the ninth to push the advantage up to 8-5. Hamilton attempted to rally the Bison with an RBI single in the ninth, but NDSU couldn’t get anything going the rest of the way and dropped the contest, 8-6.

As team, the Bison connected on a season-high 16 hits with four different players logging multiple hit games. Hamilton totaled four hits on five appearances with four RBI and one run. He narrowly missed hitting for the cycle after notching a triple in the first, double in the third and a pair of singles in the fourth and ninth innings.

Garrett Shupe made the start going a season-long 5.2 innings with three strikeouts. Danny Lachenmayer also finished out the final 1.2 innings with a team-high eight strikeouts.

NDSU will wrap up its four-game series at South Dakota State tomorrow. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.