Purdue Fort Wayne
NORTH DAKOTA STATE
Doubleheader Split Gives Mastodons Series Win
5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2009
Fargo, ND - IPFW split its final doubleheader of the 2009 season at North Dakota State Saturday afternoon. The Mastodons dropped the opener 17-7 but came back to win the nightcap 7-2.
The split gave the Mastodons their first Summit League series victory of the season.
In Game 1, IPFW fell behind the Bison 5-0 after three innings. The Mastodons would mount a charge and tie the game in the 5th inning. The 'Dons got RBIs from left fielder Joel Washko, third baseman Mark Carden and shortstop Chris Gottschall. The Bison should have been out of the inning with just the three runs but Bison centerfielder Luke Otto dropped a fly ball from second baseman Jordan Kohler that would have ended the inning. First baseman Shaun VanDriessche and Carden scored on the error making it five all.
However, that was one of the few things Otto did wrong on the afternoon. Otto was 5-6 in the contest and scored four runs as the Bison pulled away from the sixth inning on.
NDSU starter Zach Wentz helped his own cause by blasting a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth pushing the Bison lead back to five at 10-5.
North Dakota State outscored IPFW 7-2 the rest of the way for the 17-7 win. Wentz was credited with the win (3-2). He gave up five runs (three earned) on eight hits over 5.0 innings He fanned five 'Dons while walking one.
IPFW reliever Tyler Baatz took the loss (1-6). Baatz was touched up for 12 runs on 13 hits over four innings.
The Bison picked up right were they left off in Game 2 scoring twice in the opening frame on RBIs by Wentz and left fielder Zach Heidmann.
But that was all NDSU would be able to muster against IPFW starter Stacy Herrold. He settled in and got plenty of run support.
IPFW got a single run in the 3rd inning as center fielder Ryan Beer scored on a wild pitch by Bison starter John Straka.
The Mastodons blew the game open in the 5th inning with four runs, two of those coming on a single through the right side by designated hitter Quentin Brown scoring Garrett Segraves and VanDriessche.
IPFW added two more in the 6th inning as Beer would score on a passed ball and Wasko scored on a Segraves single.
That was more than enough for Herrold who struck out five and walked just one on his way to his third win of the year.
Straka took the loss for NDSU (4-3) who finish the 2009 campaign with a record of 16-28 and 10-14 in conference play.
Brown went 3-4 with 2 RBI in his final game at IPFW. He was 5-9 in the twinbill. Today also marked the final games for Tyler Baatz, Stacy Herrold, Chris Gottschall, Devin Taylor, and Mark Carden.
With the split, IPFW finishes the year with a record of 13-38 and 6-21 in the Summit League.
~Dons~
