SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The Fighting Sioux baseball team split their conference opener with Augustana by scores of 4-8 and 6-1. With the split, North Dakota now has a record of 7-7 overall and 1-1 in the NCC while Augustana has an overall record of 12-12 and 1-1 in the NCC.
Game 1 - Augustana - 8 North Dakota - 4
North Dakota started off slowly by scoring one run in six innings, but senior Tim Burns hit a three-run homerun in the seventh inning to get the Sioux offense rolling.
Augustana jumped out to an early lead as they scored a run in the bottom of the first inning on a single from John Hemingson. North Dakota answered back in the top of the second inning with an RBI double from Tyler Merkel. Andrew Gudmunson and Mike Lundeen were hit-by-pitches in back-to-back at-bats and Merkely followed up with a double to get the first Sioux run across the plate.
Augustana would answer back in the second and third innings by scoring seven runs on seven hits and one North Dakota error.
The North Dakota bats fell cold until Tim Burns homered in the seventh inning. Tyler Merkel got the inning started off with an infield single to the shortstop and advanced to second on a throwing error by Augustana's Ian Strum. Bo Stanley then walked and Tim Burns was in the line-up for Tyler Frenzel. Burns then drilled the second pitch of the at-bat out of the park for his first homerun of the season.
Game 2 -- North Dakota - 6 Augustana - 1
In the second game, North Dakota got an outstanding pitching performance from junior Rob Bird Horse. Bird Horse pitched a complete game two-hitter for his second victory of the season. Bird Horse struck out three and walked none and had one earned run.
North Dakota opened up the scoring with a two-run second inning. Anthony Brenner and Mike Lundeen had back-to-back walks and freshman catcher Ryne Jungling singled down the left-field line to score Brenner from second base. Lundeen would advance to third on the play. Senior Tim Burns then hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Lundeen from third.
In the third inning, North Dakota loaded the bases, but could only get one of the runs across the plate. Chris Gulsvig and Anthony Brenner hit back-to-back singles and Mike Lundeen walked to load the bases. Ryne Jungling then hit into a fielder's choice to score Chris Gulsvig from third to give UND a 3-0 lead.
Augustana got their only run of the game in the fourth inning on one hit and one UND error.
North Dakota would add three more runs in the sixth inning to seal the 6-1 victory. With the victory, it was North Dakota's first conference win of the season.
Leading the North Dakota offense was Chris Gulsvig and Anthony Brenner. Gulsvig and Brenner each had two hits apiece. Gulsvig had two RBIs while Brenner had one RBI. Scott Schmidt, Mike Lundeen Ryne Jungling and Bo Stanley each had one hit apiece.
Extra Notes
- With the split, North Dakota is now 1-1 in the NCC and leads the all-time series 54-33
- Senior Mike Lundeen kept his hitting streak alive by getting a hit in each game of the doubleheader. Lundeen now has a hit in seven straight games
- Junior Scott Schmidt kept his hitting streak alive with his two singles, and now has a five-game hitting streak.
- Rob Bird Horse's complete game victory was his first conference victory of his career. It was his third complete game of the season.
