TULSA, Okla. – The 2022 Summit League Baseball Championship is back at a familiar spot as the four-day event will be played at J.L. Johnson Stadium for the 17^th time starting May 25. What’s unusual is that tournament host Oral Roberts will not occupy the No. 1 seed, something it had done in 14 of the previous 16 times the tournament was played on the Golden Eagles’ home field.

The top line on the four-team bracket this year belongs to defending tournament champion North Dakota State. The Bison won the program’s first Summit League regular season title in 2022 and captured last year’s event as the No. 2 seed in Omaha when they defeated the top-seeded Golden Eagles in a winner-take-all game after ORU nearly rallied from the loser’s bracket to win it all.

The top two seeds are reversed this season as ORU will take aim at its 20^th Summit League postseason title as the No. 2 seed. Each game of the tournament will be televised by Midco Sports Network and streamed exclusively on the Midco Sports Plus app.

The Bison will face fourth-seeded Omaha in a rematch of last year’s two-three matchup at the Mavericks’ home park. NDSU won that game 3-1 and will play an Omaha team that won the last tournament played in Tulsa in 2019.

South Dakota State rounds out the field and is the only team arriving in Tulsa coming off a victory after they salvaged the series finale at home vs. ORU with a 7-3 victory. These two teams played in an opening game a year ago with the Golden Eagles winning that contest 7-1.

SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
Wednesday, May 25
G1: (1) NDSU vs. (4) Omaha | 12:05 p.m.
G2: (2) Oral Roberts vs. (3) SDSU | 6:05 p.m.

Thursday, May 28
G3: G1 Loser vs. G2 Loser | 12:05 p.m.
G4: G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner | 6:05 p.m.

Friday, May 27
G5: G3 Winner vs. G4 Loser | 4:05 p.m.

Saturday, May 29
G6: G4 Winner vs. G5 Winner | 1:05 p.m.
G7: G6 Winner vs. G6 Loser (if necessary) | 30 minutes following

All games will be televised on Midco Sports Network and streamed exclusively on the Midco Sports Plus app.

Need to Know
Location: J.L Johnson Stadium
Host: Oral Roberts University
Live Stats: Here
Live Stream: Midco Sports Plus app
Television: Midco Sports Network
 
Where to Look
For anything and everything regarding The Summit League Baseball Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare, visit the official championship website here.
 
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CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Team (Overall Records) | Titles (last)
(1) North Dakota State (14-11) | 2 titles (2021)
Worth noting: The Bison won their second tournament title in 2021, seven years after becoming the first No. 4 seed to win the title when the 2014 squad went 3-0 in Sioux Falls, S.D. This will be NDSU’s first appearances as the top seed in the field.
 
(2) Oral Roberts (66-7) | 19 titles (last 2018)
Worth noting: The Golden Eagles’ 66 victories in 21 previous tournament appearances are just eight fewer than the other 12 current and former members they played against combined to win in those tournaments (74).

(3) South Dakota State (20-19) | 1 title (2013)
Worth noting: The Jackrabbits have appeared in eight straight #SummitBSB Championships, the longest such streak in the field.

(4) Omaha (3-5) | 1 title (2019)
Worth noting: The last time the tournament was played in Tulsa, Omaha won the program’s first postseason title by defeating the Golden Eagles twice on their home field in 2019.

A team has come from the loser’s bracket to win the #SummitBSB Championship just four times since the first tournament was held in 1984. The last to do so was Oral Roberts in 2016.

REWIND TO 2021
No. 2 seed North Dakota State defeated top-seeded Oral Roberts 11-6 in the title game of the 2021 #SummitBSB Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare. The victory was the Bison’s second postseason title as a league member and broke a single-season program record for wins with 41, while also securing a spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament as the league’s automatic qualifier.
 
After the Golden Eagles forced a winner-take-all game with a 15-5 victory earlier in the day, the Bison bounced back with the five-run victory.

This marked the first time in ORU’s program history that it did not win the Summit League Tournament as the No. 1 seed (18-1).

2021 Championship Results
2021 Results
First Round
G1: (1) Oral Roberts 7, (4) South Dakota State 1
G2: (2) North Dakota State 3, (3) Omaha 1

Losers’ Bracket
G3: (4) South Dakota State 7, (3) Omaha 0
Omaha eliminated

Winners’ Bracket
G4: (2) North Dakota State 5, (1) Oral Roberts 0
 
Losers’ Bracket
G5: (1) Oral Roberts 5, (4) South Dakota State 3 (11)
SDSU eliminated
 
Championship
G6: (1) Oral Roberts 15, (2) North Dakota State 5
G7: (2) North Dakota State 11, (1) Oral Roberts 6

All-Tournament Team
Jake Malec, North Dakota State (MVP) // Nick Emanuel, North Dakota State // Max Loven, North Dakota State // Cade Feeney, North Dakota State // Parker Harm, North Dakota State // Bennett Hostetler, North Dakota State // Anthony Martinez, Oral Roberts // Ryan Cash, Oral Roberts // Blake Hall, Oral Roberts // Matt Gaskins, Oral Roberts // Adam Scoggins, Oral Roberts // Reece Anderson, South Dakota State // Drew Beazley, South Dakota State // Richie Holetz, Omaha

Bold: Playing in 2022 Championship

DIAMOND NOTES
• Top-seeded North Dakota State won all seven of its completed #SummitBSB series, finishing with a 17-5 record to secure the first Summit League regular season title in program history. The Bison secured the title by taking the first two games of their recently completed series with Western Illinois. It was just the second home series of the season for NDSU, who played its first 41 games of the season away from Fargo.
• NDSU opens tournament play against fourth-seeded Omaha for the second straight season. In fact, the four-team field is the same along with the opening two matchups, but the quartet of squads are all different seeds in 2022.
• The Bison took two-of-three from the Mavericks in the regular season series that was played in Omaha, but originally scheduled for Fargo. They won the opening-round matchup 3-1 en route to the title a year ago.
• Tournament host Oral Roberts earned the No. 2 seed, matching NDSU with 17 league victories. The Golden Eagles, who hit league-high .304 as a team in conference play, won seven of eight league series, only dropping two of three at home to Omaha in early April.
• The Golden Eagles open postseason play with third-seeded South Dakota State, who they defeated five of six times during the regular season, dropping only Saturday’s finale 7-3 in Brookings. ORU defeated SDSU 7-1 in last year’s opening game in Omaha when the Golden Eagles were the No. 1 seed and the Jackrabbits were the No. 4 seed.
• SDSU is the only squad in the four-team field that arrives in Tulsa having won their last game thanks to their four-run triumph over the Golden Eagles. North Dakota State dropped its series finale to Western Illinois, 6-3, while Omaha was swept in a three-game set at St. Thomas.
• ORU lefthander Ledgend Smith picked up his league-best third TicketSmarter weekly pitching honor after yielding just one hit and an earned run in five innings of relief against South Dakota State. Smith picked up his seventh win of the season as well, in what was the series-clinching win over the Jackrabbits.
• The Mavericks won the league’s postseason trophy the last time it was played in Tulsa behind the strong pitching performances of Payton Kinney, who now serves as Omaha’s pitching coach. Omaha led all league teams with a 3.16 ERA in 24 conference tilts.
• Omaha arrives in Tulsa looking for a clean slate after seeing leads slip away in all three losses to St. Thomas. The Tommies were led by freshman Brigs Richartz, who went 9-for-13 at the plate and delivered key hits in each win as he finished with multiple-hit efforts in all three contests. He would earn TicketSmarter Player of the Week honors for his efforts.
• Every game of the 2022 Championship will be televised by Midco Sports Network and streamed live at www.midcosports.com/streaming and on the Midco Sports Plus app.

ROUNDING THIRD ...
ROOKIE SUCCESS
First-year head coach Tyler Oakes took over a program that was coming off a 2021 Summit League Tournament title and NCAA Regional appearance, but the rookie skipper led NDSU to a first in program history when the Bison captured the regular season title with a 17-5 league mark.

DOMINANCE FROM THE TOP LINE COMES TO AN END
This will be only the third time since Oral Roberts joined the Summit League that the Golden Eagles are not the top seed. In 19 other tournament appearances, ORU was on the top line and 2021 marked the first time that it did not win the tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Golden Eagles won the title as the No. 2 seed in 2010 and lost in the championship game in 2019 as the No. 3 seed. ORU was a member of the Southland Conference from 2012-14.

THREE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER
Since the Summit League dropped the division format in 1999, the No. 3 seed is the only one among the top four to never win the title. The field size was six from 1999-2003 before reducing to four.

LUCKY NO. 7
Three different Summit League hurlers ended the regular season by sharing the league-high with seven victories. Each member of the trio is lefthanded with Ledgend Smith becoming the latest to join the group with a five-inning relief appearance in a series-clinching win at South Dakota State (May 20). NDSU lefty Max Loven and SDSU lefty Cody Carlson also won seven games.

POWERFUL RABBITS
Seven Summit League hitters hit nine or more home runs during the regular season and four of them are on South Dakota State’s roster. NDSU’s Logan Williams led the way with 11, but the Jackrabbits got 10 long balls from Luke Ira and Ryan McDonald, while Derek Hackman and Dawson Parry each added nine. SDSU paced all league teams with 59 total in overall games and had 41 of those against league foes, which nearly doubled NDSU, who was second in league play with 23.

BOEVE OF HITS
Omaha sophomore Mike Boeve shared the league-lead with 73 total hits and led the way with 21 doubles. He had 16 two-baggers as a freshman in 2021. Boeve also added eight home runs and a league-high .496 on-base percentage.

JUST HOW YOU DREW IT UP
NDSU righthander Jake Drew has not allowed an earned run in 17 appearances, covering 22 innings this season. He leads the Summit League with eight saves with half of those coming against league foes. He has 13 scoreless innings in conference action and the only two runs he yielded were unearned during a relief outing against Long Beach State on March 6.

#SUMMITBSB