OMAHA, Neb. -- North Dakota State righthander Logan Knight fired a three-hit shutout to lead the No. 2 seed Bison to a 4-0 victory over No. 1 seed Oral Roberts in the winner's bracket game of the 2025 Summit League Baseball Championship Thursday at Tal Anderson Field.
NDSU blanked an opponent for the second straight game as three Bison pitchers have combined for 19 straight scoreless innings to open the tournament.
The Bison offense produced early in this one, putting up two runs in their opening at-bat as they forced ORU starter Nathan Love to make 28 pitches. Catcher Evan Gustafson plated those runs with a two-out single to center as Love also walked a batter and hit one in the frame.
After a scoreless second, the Bison tacked on two more runs to their lead in the third on a sacrifice fly from Gustafson and two-out RBI single by Colton Becker.
Love would settle in after that, retiring the next seven Bison in order as he got through six innings before giving way to Weston Rouse. The freshman lefthander would hold the Bison scoreless over his three innings of work but the Golden Eagles' offense could never solve Knight, who blanked ORU for the second time this season.
The Bison junior held ORU without a hit until Makani Tanaka led off the fifth with an infield single. He would hit Owen Coil to give the Golden Eagles two on the base paths for the first time but Knight would work out of that to keep his team in the lead at 4-0.
The NDSU defense would come up with three double plays in the contest to help support Knight, who fanned three and only allowed three singles in the contest.
Pitcher of Record
Win – Logan Knight (4-6): 9.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeout
Loss – Nathan Love (6-7): 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
Notable Notes
• Gustafson opened the scoring with a two-run single after having just five RBI during 18 regular season appearances
• NDSU's win over ORU was its first in the tournament since beating the Golden Eagles twice en route to the 2021 title that was also won at Tal Anderson Field when the Bison were the No. 2 seed
• The Bison became the second team to open the tournament with back-to-back shutous with NDSU's 2013 squad being the other one.
• Knight is the only Summit League player with a nine-inning shutout this season and he has done that twice against ORU
• The Golden Eagles' loss snapped a 10-game winning streak in tournament play after going 3-0 en route to winning titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024
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Up Next
No. 1 seed Oral Roberts will play No. 3 seed Omaha in an elimination game on Friday at 4 p.m. CT for the right to play the Golden Eagles in the 2025 Summit League Championship title game, which is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
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