OMAHA, Neb. -- In the ninth and most important meeting between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts this season, the second-seeded Bison defeated top-seeded Oral Roberts 4-2 to capture the 2025 Summit League Baseball Championship Saturday at Tal Anderson Field.
The Golden Eagles' evened the season series at four wins a piece with a 3-1 victory in the first game of the day, forcing the winner-take-all clash to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bison prevailed as Summit League Pitcher Nolan Johnson started his second game of the tournament and Danny Lachenmayer closed things out as NDSU won its second tournament title in the past five seasons.
Game One Recap: Oral Roberts 3, NDSU 1
For the second straight game, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Jack Schark executed a safety squeeze that scored Cooper Combs, who had doubled earlier in the frame and moved to third on a single by Wailele Kane-Yates.
For NDSU starter Parker Puetz, who had only made three appearances during the regular season, Schark's sacrifice would start a string of eight consecutive outs for the righthander as the score remained 1-0 through his three innings of work. He struck out a season-high five batters in his longest outing of the campaign.
ORU's Dalton Patten yielded only a one-out single to Colton Becker over the first three frames of his first career start for ORU. NDSU's Dante Smith put a charge into a ball with two outs in the third but Will Edmunson was able to make a sliding catch on the warning track in right field to preserve the one-run lead for the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles tacked on a run in the fourth as Kane-Yates scored on a sacrifice fly by Ethan Fender after ORU welcomed NDSU reliever Landon Koenig with back-to-back singles.
NDSU's Davis Hamilton led off the fourth with a double but Patten was able to leave him stranded and keep his team ahead 2-0. In the fifth, it was Blake Timmons opening NDSU's at-bat with a double and this time he was able to score to cut the Bison deficit in half.
Timmons advanced to third on a wild pitch by Patten and would cross the plate on a sacrifice fly from Jake Schaffner.
Koenig was able to pitch around a pair of two-out singles in the sixth, which was his final inning of work as the game remained 2-1 heading to the seventh.
After the Bison left the potential game-tying run stranded in scoring position in the seventh, Combs led off the eighth for ORU with a solo homer that pushed the Golden Eagles' lead to 3-1.
Conner Floyd came in for Patten to start the eighth and quickly found himself in trouble. Schaffner led things off with a single and Dante Smith followed with a walk but the hard-throwing righthander was able to retire the next three batters. He would do the same in the ninth to secure the "if necessary" game and keep ORU's chances alive for a fourth straight tournament title.
The Bison would get that runright back in the top of the fifth when Schaffner, who singled and swiped third on a double steal, scored on a RBI groundout from Davis Hamilton.
Pitcher of Record
Win – Dalton Patten (6-0): 7.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 unearned run, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
Save - Conner Floyd (9): 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
Loss – Parker Puetz (1-3): 3.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
Game Two Recap: Oral Roberts xx, NDSU xx
Following two scoreless frames to start the contest, NDSU opened the scoring in the third when Canton delivered a two-out, two-run single to lift the Bison to an early 2-0 lead.
ORU broke through off NDSU starter Nolan Johnson loading the bases in the fourth but the Golden Eagles could only scratch across one run after taking advantage of an error, a wild pitch and a RBI bunt single by Schark. Johnson would get out of the jam by getting Keaton Campbell to ground into a force out at second.
The Bison would get that run right back off ORU reliever Weston Rouse in the fifth. Schaffner singled and swiped third on a double steal before scoring on a RBI groundout by Davis Hamilton to extend NDSU's advantage to 3-1.
The Golden Eagles would load the bases again with two outs in the sixth off reliever NDSU reliever Hayden Sylte. The Bison would bring all-league first teamer Danny Lachenmayer into the contest. He would walk the first batter he faced as ORU drew within a run at 3-2 but get a big strikeout to end the threat and keep the Bison in the lead heading into the seventh.
Alex Urlaub delivered an insurance run in the top of the eighth when he laced a double down the left field line to score Blake Timmons and make it a 4-2 contest.
Lachenmayer would finish out the game, earning his eighth save of the season as he fanned seven Golden Eagles in 3.1 innings of work, including Combs to end the contest.
Pitcher of Record
Win – Hayden Sylte (1-0): 1.2 IP, 1 hit, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeouts
Save - Danny Lachenmayer (8): 3.1 IP, 2 hit, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
Loss – Keaton Ruthardt (0-1): 2.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts
Notable Notes
• NDSU won its third title (2014, 2021 and 2025), including both times the event has been held at Tal Anderson Field
• This was the 11th time that the "if necessary" game was played and the seventh time the team losing the first game of the day came back to win the second game. NDSU pulled off the same feat against ORU when the Bison won the 2021 title in Omaha.
• In game one, Patten made his first career start for ORU after coming out of the bullpen for his first 76 career appearances and went a career-long seven innings to improve to 6-0 on the season
• Combs' home run in game one was his ninth of the season
• Johnson worked four innings in his second start of the tournament, finishing those two appearances yielding just an unearned run on six hits in 11 total frames as he earned Championship MVP honors
• The Bison pitching staff combined to allow just five runs in 37 innings during four tournament games becoming just the 10th team in tournament history allow five or less during its run to a title
All-Tournament Team
Sam Canton, North Dakota State
Davis Hamilton, North Dakota State
Nolan Johnson, North Dakota State (Championship MVP)
Logan Knight, North Dakota State
Danny Lachenmayer, North Dakota State
Jake Schaffner, North Dakota State
Drew Borner, Omaha
Ben Weber, Omaha
Brenden Asher, Oral Roberts
Cooper Combs, Oral Roberts
Wailele Kane-Yates, Oral Roberts
Dalton Patten, Oral Roberts
Jack Schark, Oral Roberts
Carter Sintek, South Dakota State
Up Next
NDSU will find out its regional destination during the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Show Monday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
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