FARGO, N.D. – North Dakota State head baseball coach Tod Brown today announced the addition of Tyler Oakes as the team's pitching coach for the 2014 season.  Oakes replaces Jake Angier, who was hired in November as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Sacramento State.
 
Oakes was a graduate assistant pitching coach at South Dakota State  in 2010 and 2011 before spending the past two years as a volunteer assistant at Minnesota.  He was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten performer from 2006-09 at Minnesota, where he pitched in the starting rotation as a sophomore and worked out of the bullpen for three seasons.  Oakes signed with the Tampa Bay Rays as an undrafted free agent and played one season with the Princeton Rays of the Appalachian League.
 
"Tyler has a wealth of experience both as a player and a coach at the Division I level," Brown said.  "He has taken on a lot of responsibility early in his coaching career and will continue to have success at NDSU."
 
Angier spent three seasons at NDSU and was the first full-time pitching coach in program history.  His impact on the program was immediate as the Bison team ERA dropped by almost a full run in 2011 and in 2012 logged a 3.38 ERA that was the best at NDSU in 37 seasons.
 
"Jake is an incredibly talented young coach who brought out the best in our pitchers," Brown said.  "He will have new opportunities to grow as a coach at Sacramento State and it was a great fit for him personally."
 
North Dakota State went 26-27 last year including an 11-13 mark for fourth place in The Summit League.  The Bison have advanced to the Summit League championship game each of the past two seasons.  NDSU opens the 2014 season Feb. 21-23 with a three-game series in Los Angeles against Southern California.