SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Covid-19 has impacted another weekend of Summit League play, this time cancelling the Omaha-Oral Roberts series that was scheduled to be played in Tulsa. The Western Illinois program is in the middle of a two-week pause and also will not play a non-conference series the Leathernecks had scheduled at Bradley.
North Dakota State, who fell just percentage points behind the Golden Eagles in the league standings after dropping two-of-three at home to ORU last weekend, has a four-game road series scheduled at South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits had their series last weekend with WIU cancelled, so their last action was two weeks ago at home against Omaha.
COMING UP
Friday
Omaha at Oral Roberts (cancelled)
North Dakota State at South Dakota State
Western Illinois at Bradley (cancelled)
Saturday
Omaha at Oral Roberts (cancelled)
North Dakota State at South Dakota State
Western Illinois at Bradley (cancelled)
Sunday
Friday
Omaha at Oral Roberts (cancelled)
North Dakota State at South Dakota State
Western Illinois at Bradley (cancelled)
RECENT RESULTS
Thursday, April 15
Omaha 2, BYU 1
Friday, April 16
Omaha 6, BYU 5
Western Illinois at South Dakota State (DH) (cancelled)
Oral Roberts 8, North Dakota State 6
Saturday, April 17
Omaha 4, BYU 1
Western Illinois at South Dakota State (cancelled)
Oral Roberts 18, North Dakota State 2 (7)
North Dakota State 14, Oral Roberts 11
Sunday, April 18
Western Illinois at South Dakota State (cancelled)
Oral Roberts at North Dakota State (cancelled)
DIAMOND NOTES
• Oral Roberts took two-of-three from North Dakota State before the finale of the four-game series was cancelled due to weather. Those two victories were enough to put the Golden Eagles in the top spot of the league standings, just percentage points ahead of the Bison, who have played one more series than ORU.
• That gap is going to grow to two series after this weekend because Covid-19 has once again impacted Summit League play as the virus has cancelled the Omaha-Oral Roberts series. Western Illinois is halfway through a two-week pause due to the virus and will not play at Bradley this weekend as regularly scheduled.
• In Fargo, the Golden Eagles scored 37 runs in the contests at Newman Outdoor Field with #SummitBSB Player of the Week Caleb Denny scoring nine of those. He went 7-for-10 at the plate, also drew four walks, doubled twice and homered against the Bison.
• ORU hit .364 in the series with Blake Hall driving in a team-high six runs after going 5-for-11 at the dish.
• Righthander Isaac Coffey improved 5-1 on the season, picking up his third straight win after tossing five innings and striking out five in the game-two victory. He now leads the Summit League in innings pitched (54.1) and strikeouts (61) and his win total is the second highest in the league.
• NDSU righthander Ben Smith holds the league-lead in victories with six as he was the winning pitcher in NDSU’s 14-11 win over the Golden Eagles. He improved to 6-2 on the season and the Bison are 7-2 in game he started this year.
• Omaha picked up a series sweep of BYU thanks in large part to the Mavericks’ starting pitchers. Joey Machado, Mark Timmins and Richie Holetz combined to allow just two earned runs in 23 innings of work against the Cougars. Timmins logged the program’s first nine-inning complete game since 2018 to earn #SummitBSB Pitcher of the Week honors.
• Machado went eight strong innings in the opening and was charged with only an unearned run in eight innings of work, while Holetz allowed just one earned run in six innings of work.
• Freshman Mike Boeve went 4-for-12 to pace the offense and delivered the walk-off hit in game two as the Mavericks took that contest 6-5.
#SUMMITBSB
