North Dakota State Interviews (Head Coach Tod Brown and Righthander Cade Feeney)

OMAHA, Neb. – No. 2 North Dakota State advanced to the title game of the 2021 #SummitBSB Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare Friday with a 5-0 victory over top-seeded Oral Roberts. Bison hurlers Cade Feeney and Zach Smith held the league's top-scoring offense off the scoreboard by scattering eight hits and allowing just one walk in the combined shutout.

Feeney picked up his seventh win of the season after cruising through the first six innings, while Smith picked up his first career save after fanning six over the final three frames.

The Bison bats churned out 13 hits and loaded the bases in the first off Summit League Pitcher of the Year Isaac Coffey to get things started. NDSU could scratch just one run across, scoring an unearned run on a RBI-single by Zach Solano after an error extended the inning.  

That would be the only run of the contest until the fifth when Jake Malec took Coffey deep for a two-run shot that gave him the league-lead in home runs with nine. Malec's homer coupled with an RBI-single from Charley Hesse put NDSU ahead by four.

Coffey was able to get through six innings for ORU, but he would be dealt just his second loss of an impressive sophomore campaign.

Oral Roberts was only able to get three hits off Feeney, but were able to match that total within four batters off Smith. The Bison righthander was able to get out of the jam, however, inducing a pop-up on the infield and a groundout to second to end that threat. The Golden Eagles got two more singles off Smith in the eighth, but he avoided any damage by striking out the side to keep it a 4-0 contest.

After Cade Denton pitched out of a bases-loaded jam for ORU in the eighth, Kaleb McCullough could not do the same as he walked in a run before yielding way to Brett Gregory with just one out in the frame. Gregory quickly induced a double-play to keep it a five-run game, but Smith pitched a clean ninth to put the Bison in their first championship game since 2017. 

Pitcher of Record
Win – Cade Feeney (7-1): 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
Save - Zach Smith (1): 3.0 IP, 5 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walk, 6 strikeouts
Loss – Isaac Coffey (9-2): 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeouts

Notable Notes
• This is the first loss for Coffey since March 6 against LSU. He had won his last eight decisions.   
• This marks the first time since NDSU won the tournament in 2014 that the Bison made it through the winner's bracket to advance to the title game. They also appeared in the 2017 title game advancing from the loser's bracket that year.  
• Oral Roberts has been shutout in two of its last three Summit League Tournament games after scoring at least once in 68 straight throughout the team's first 20 appearances. 
• NDSU shortstop Bennett Hostetler led NDSU's 13-hit attack with a 3-for-4 effort, raising his average to .398 and pushing his league-leading total in multiple-hit games to 27.
  
Up Next
Oral Roberts will play fourth-seeded South Dakota State in Friday's final game that is slated to start at 7 p.m.

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