Bison Score Late to Seal Win in Series-Opener at Nebraska Omaha, 7-4

OMAHA, Neb. - North Dakota State scored twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth to seal a 7-4 victory over Nebraska Omaha in the first of a four-game college baseball series Friday, April 6, at the Ballpark at Boys Town.

It was the 14th straight victory for North Dakota State, which improved to 20-5 and has reached the 20-win mark for the third straight season.  Nebraska Omaha dropped to 9-20 with its fourth straight loss.

NDSU starter John Straka struck out nine batters in eight innings of work.  He allowed two earned runs on five hits with two walks.  Kyle Kingsley pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.

Catcher Tyler Steen was 4-for-4 and Wes Satzinger and Zach Wentz had two hits apiece for NDSU.  Wentz's RBI single on an 0-2 count with two outs in the eighth brought in Tim Colwell with the eventual winning run.

Nebraska Omaha got an unearned run in the eighth to make it a 5-4 game, but the Bison took advantage of two errors and scored two insurance runs in the ninth.

Satzinger started the NDSU ninth with a single and moved to third on two bunts before scoring on Blake Turbak's single to the outfield.  That put runners on the corners and Nick Anderson scored when UNO threw away Max Casper's sac bunt.

NDSU led 3-1 before the Mavericks tied the game in the sixth.  A leadoff double, walk and sacrifice bunt set up an RBI groundout by Connor McCrite and a run-scoring single by Scotty Donner.

The Bison left the bases loaded in the seventh against reliever Derek Landis, who got a strikeout and foul out to end the threat.  Straka retired the Mavericks in order in the bottom of the seventh to keep it tied.

NDSU went ahead for good in the eighth when Steen hit a leadoff single, moved up on Turbak's sac bunt, and scored from second on a pair of UNO errors.

Landis gave up four runs on four hits in the final two innings and dropped to 0-2 with the loss.  UNO starter Andrew Reck lasted 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

The Bison and Mavericks are scheduled to continue the series with a 10 a.m. doubleheader Saturday, April 7, at Werner Park in Papillion before playing the series finale at 12 p.m. Sunday, April 8, back at the Ballpark at Boys Town.