North Dakota State Interviews (Head Coach Tod Brown and catcher Nick Emmanuel)
OMAHA, Neb. – The North Dakota State batterymates of Max Loven and Nick Emanuel led the second-seeded Bison to a 3-1 victory over third-seeded Omaha in the second game of the 2021 #SummitBSB Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare Thursday at Tal Anderson Field.
Loven provided his production from the mound where he yielded just an earned run, scattered three hits and struck out seven over eight innings of work, while his catcher delivered a pair of run-scoring hits to put the Bison in the winner's bracket.
NDSU built a 2-0 lead in the second after taking advantage of a pair of a walks by Omaha starter Richie Holetz. Emanuel drove in the first run with a RBI-single to left field and Jack Simonsen drove in the second with a RBI-groundout.
Emmanuel made it a 3-0 contest with his second home run of the season when led off the fourth with a blast over the right field wall.
Omaha catcher Brett Bonar put the Mavericks on the board with a solo home run in eighth, which could have easily produced two runs if not for a strong throw from Jake Malec that retired Chris Esposito at second base after he tried to a stretch a single into a double in the previous at-bat.
Loven got through the eighth inning before giving way to Parker Harm, who retired the Mavericks in order to bring his league-leading save total to 10.
Holetz settled in after Emanuel's solo shot retiring the final 15 Bison he faced. Like Loven, he gave up just four hits, but those two second-inning walks would prove costly.
Pitcher of Record
Win – Max Loven (3-2): 8.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts
Loss – Richie Holetz (4-5): 8.0 IP, x hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Notable Notes
• NDSU advances to the winner's bracket for the first time since the 2018 tournament. The Bison also played in the winner's bracket in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
• Emmanuel's home run was his second of the season and first since April 27 against South Dakota State. It was also just his second multiple-hit game of the season with his first coming against the Mavericks on April 2 in the same park.
• Loven and Holetz both pitched a season-high eight innings for their respective clubs.
• Bonar's home run was his third of the season and first since homering against NDSU in the first game of a doubleheader on April 2.
Up Next
Omaha will play No. 4 seed South Dakota State in an elimination game at 11 a.m. CT in the first of three games Friday. North Dakota State will play Oral Roberts at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game.
#SummitBSB
