SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- League-leading Oral Roberts takes to the road for the first time in Summit League play this weekend as the Golden Eagles travel to Omaha for a three-game series set to begin Thursday night. The Mavericks are one of two teams a pair of games behind the Golden Eagles after they swept Northern Colorado last weekend.
The Mavericks have won four in a row overall thanks to a 4-1 victory over cross-town rival Creighton Tuesday. North Dakota State is the other team sitting two games behind the Golden Eagles. The Bison are taking a break from League play with a three-game series at (19/22) Texas Tech on tap for this weekend. Those two teams will play a single game Friday followed by a Saturday doubleheader.
St. Thomas will visit Northern Colorado for the first home games for the Bears, while South Dakota State travels to Western Illinois for a three-game set. Those four teams are all at least two games behind the Mavericks and Bison as they enter play this weekend.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (7-20, 4-2 SL) | @ndsubaseball
Next Up: at (19/22) Texas Tech (4/7, 2 p.m. CT; 4/8, 2 p.m. CT (DH)); at Minnesota (4/11, 6 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. SDSU* (W, 10-2; L, 9-8; W, 5-4)
The Bison won their third straight series, including two in a row to open League play, taking two of three from South Dakota State ... Shortstop Peter Brookshaw went 2-for-4 with a home run in the 10-2 victory in game one ... Brookshaw is batting .360 in League play and five of his nine hits have gone for extra bases ... He has nine home runs in 27 starts and is hitting .319 overall ... Cade Feeney won his second straight start in the opener, allowing just one earned run in six innings against the Jacks ... In the rubber match, rightfielder Druw Sackett’s second homer of the series in the fifth inning proved to be the difference in a 5-4 victory for the Bison ... Parker Puetz finished the final three frames on the hill, striking out five as he surrendered just a solo home run to earn his first career save ... The Bison take a break from League play with a three-game series at (19/22) Texas Tech.
NORTHERN COLORADO BEARS (4-20, 2-4 SL) | @UNC_BearsBSB
Next Up: St. Thomas* (4/7, 2 p.m. MT; 4/8, 12 p.m. MT; 4/9 12 p.m. MT); at Colo. School of Mines (4/11, 5 p.m. MT)
Previous Games: at Omaha* (L, 5-4; L, 6-0; L, 16-6 (8))
The Bears were swept in a three-game series at Omaha ... Their best chance at victory came in game one when Craig Kenny delivered a first-inning grand slam, but UNC would not score the rest of the way in a 5-4 loss to the Mavericks ... Kenny and Hayden Heinze both finished 2-for-4 to pace the Bears’ offense in the opener ... After being blanked in game two, UNC pushed across six runs in the finale ... Jackson Meier has appeared in four League games and started three, holding a team-high .444 batting average ... The Bears are slated for their “true” home opener over Easter Weekend with St. Thomas set to play three games in Greeley.
OMAHA MAVERICKS (11-11, 4-2 SL) | @OmahaBSB
Next Up: Oral Roberts* (4/6, 6 p.m. CT; 4/7, 3 p.m. CT; 4/8, 1 p.m. CT); at Nebraska (4/11, 6 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: Northern Colorado* (W, 5-4; W, 6-0; W, 16-6 (8)); Creighton (W, 4-1)
Omaha has won four straight to get back to the .500 mark overall at 11-11 ... Three of those victories came in the series with UNC that saw the Mavericks rally for a 5-4 win in game one, get a two-hit shutout from Preston Tenney in game two and rout the Bears 16-6 in the finale ... Omaha’s Mike Boeve drew a bases-loaded walk to walk-off UNC in game one that saw Maverick starter Caleb Riedel fan 12 Bears in 7.1 innings of work ... Tenney was tossing a no-hitter through six before giving up a single with nobody out in the seventh ... He would strike out Cade Wagner in the ninth to finish off the two-hit shutout, which was Omaha’s League-leading third of the season ... Centerfielder Haiden Hunt and shortstop Devin Hurdle each had four hits in the finale as the Mavericks scored 16 runs on 22 hits ... Omaha entertains League-leading Oral Roberts in a three-game series set to begin Thursday.
ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (20-10, 6-0 SL) | @ORUBaseball
Next Up: at Omaha* (4/6, 6 p.m. CT; 4/7, 3 p.m. CT; 4/8, 1 p.m. CT); at (15/16) Oklahoma State (4/11, 6 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: Western Illinois* (W, 16-5 (7); W, 7-2; W, 13-3 (8)), Oklahoma (L, 12-2)
The Golden Eagles are off to a 6-0 start in League play and batting .409 as a team ... Leading that charge is a pair of newcomers ... Centerfielder Jonah Cox is batting .583 (14-for-24) and rightfielder Matt Hogan is not far behind, batting .579 (11-for-19) ... Hogan also has three home runs and 17 RBI and picked up his second weekly honor of the season after going 5-for-8 (.625) with four walks and a hit-by-pitch in a series sweep of Western Illinois ... Cox went 5-for-9 and scored eight runs as ORU outscored the 36-10 over three games ... Harley Gollert and Joshua Caravalho both improved to 4-1 after picking up wins over WIU ... ORU has also been one of the top defensive teams in the country to start the campaign, holding a .985 fielding percentage, which is the fifth best mark among Division I teams ... The Golden Eagles have made just 16 errors in 1, 094 changes and have turned 26 double plays.
ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (2-16, 0-3 SL) | @TommieBase
Next Up: at Northern Colorado* (4/7, 2 p.m. MT; 4/8, 12 p.m. MT; 4/9 12 p.m. MT); at Air Force (4/10; 1 p.m. MT)
Previous Games: at Creighton (L,15-4 (7); L, 8-5; L, 7-2); at Minnesota (CXD)
The Tommies return to League play with a three-game series at Northern Colorado after being swept in a non-conference series at Creighton ... St. Thomas pushed across 11 runs as a team against the Bluejays ... Catcher Charlie Bartholomew and third baseman Max Moris both registered five hits to pace UST’s offense ... Bartholomew had a season-high three hits in the finale ... Moris pushed his team-leading batting average to .328 with his 5-for-11 effort at Creighton ... Kolby Gartner returned to the mound after missing nearly four weeks of action ... He owns a 4.30 ERA which is tops among the Tommies’ starters.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (6-16, 2-4 SL) | @GoJacksBaseball
Next Up: at Western Illinois* (4/7, 3 p.m. CT; 4/8, 1 p.m. CT; 4/9, 1 p.m. CT); Briar Cliff (4/11, 3 p.m. CT); Dakota Wesleyan (4/12, 3 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. NDSU* (L, 10-2; W, 9-8; L, 5-4); at Minnesota (4/5, 3 p.m. CT)
The Jackrabbits dropped two of three to North Dakota State in a series played in the greater Omaha area ... After falling 10-2 in the opener, the Jacks bounced back in game two, holding on for a 9-8 victory ... Catcher Ryan McDonald belted a grand slam in the second inning and pinch hitter Thatcher Kozal broke a 6-6 tie with a three-ru shot in the eighth ... Reliever Ryan Bourassa picked up the win in relief, working the final 3.2 innings ... McDonald hit his fourth home run in six League contests late in the finale, but it was not enough to catch the Bison, who held on for a 5-4 win ... McDonald is batting .478 (11-for-23) and has four home runs and nine RBIs against League foes ... The Jackrabbits visit Western Illinois for a three-game set over Easter weekend.
WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS (3-20, 0-3 SL) | @WIUBaseball
Next Up: vs. SDSU* (4/7, 3 p.m. CT; 4/8, 1 p.m. CT; 4/9, 1 p.m. CT); at Eastern Illinois (4/12, 3 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Oral Roberts* (L, 16-5 (7); L, 7-2; L, 13-3 (8)); at Illinois State (CXD)
The Leathernecks ran into one of the hottest offenses in the country to open League play as Oral Roberts took all three games from visiting Western Illinois ... Shortstop Derek Botaletto did his part for WIU’s offense, who only got one game from their top hitter Nick Mitchell ... Botaletto went 6-for-13 (.462) with a pair of home runs and four RBI ... Botaletto was homerless in WIU’s first 20 games and only had eight RBI ... Mitchell went 2-for-4 in the opener, but did not appear in games two or three of the series ... Mitchell is batting .435 on the season and has 17 extra-base hits and a team-best 18 RBI ... Jake Allgeyer homered against ORU as well and is batting .322 on the season ... Allgeyer has three home runs and 14 RBI ... Western Illinois returns home for a three-game series against South Dakota State.
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