Bison mangle Mastodons

After beating themselves against the Gophers Wednesday, the Bison needed to get back on track before the heart of the Summit League schedule arrived. Their opportunity to do so arrived this weekend, as the Bison squared off against conference opponent IPFW, taking three of four from the Mastodons in Indiana.

In game one Friday, the Bison exploded for three runs early and never looked back winning the series opener 8-4. John Straka delivered another Straka-esk performance in game one, pitching seven innings giving up only four runs and striking out nine Mastodons, adding to his team lead, 72.

Wes Satzinger led the Bison offensively in the top of the first delivering a single to left plating two runners.

The Bison saw their lead diminish in the bottom of the third, but quickly regained it the next inning. Kyle Kleindorst lead-off the top of the fourth with a ground-rule double. After advancing to third on a wild-pitch and a Max Casper ground-out, Tim Colwell drove home Kleindorst hitting a double and hustling his way around the bases to score the go ahead run on the same play on an error by the Mastodon centerfielder.

The Bison offense dominated during the first game of the double-header Saturday racking up 16 hits, as they cruised to victory, 11-4.

They used six hits in a row to accumulate six runs in the third ultimately crushing IPFW’s hopes early. In hindsight, the Mastodons only used one arm, Jason Kalber, who went all nine throwing an outstanding 143 pitches.

Luke Anderson pitched all seven innings of game two, shutting out the Mastodons and only allowing five hits, as the Bison rolled to victory, 6-0. Along with Anderson’s wizardry on the mound, the Bison where led offensively by a pair of RBI doubles by Nick Anderson in the first and Tyler Steen in the third inning.

Saturday’s wins extended the Bison’s conference winning streak to seven and set the squad up for another sweep on Sunday.

The Bison failed to complete the sweep Sunday afternoon, losing to the Mastodons on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Bison rallied back from a two run deficit, chipping away at the lead in the seventh, as John Skrbec singled to left scoring Satzinger minimizing IPFW’s lead to one. They would finally come back to tie it when Nick Colwell delivered a RBI single scoring Casper tying the game at three apiece. IPFW broke the 3-3 tie with a base loaded fielder’s choice winning the only game of the weekend for the Mastodons, 4-3.

The Bison stayed atop of the Summit League improving their record to 32-11, 9-3 in the conference. Their 30 plus win total marks just the fourth time in school history the team has reached that tally in the win column.

The Bison will play their last non-conference game of the season against the Beavers of Minot State. First pitch at Newman Outdoor Field will be at 6:00 p.m. tonight.