Edinburg, Texas – The University of North Dakota baseball team dropped its opening game of the Great West Conference Baseball Tournament on Wednesday morning, falling 9-3 to Houston Baptist in Pool One play at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium. The fifth-seeded Sioux (18-33) managed just eight hits off HBU (27-30) starter Dalton Schafer, who tossed his first career complete game for the fourth-seeded Huskies.
Junior Jake Magner (Grand Rapids, Minn.) collected two of those hits to set the UND single-season record with 70 on the campaign. The Sioux first baseman tied the mark in the first inning when he sent his 20th home run of the season over the leftfield wall and broke the mark in the eighth with a RBI double.
His round tripper equaled the single-season mark of 20 held by Carter Rogolla (1998). Magner broke the hits record that was shared by Troy Wasiloski (2004) and John Somrock (1998) at 69.
Junior Josh Lagein (Devils Lake, N.D.) had the only other Sioux RBI in the contest with a groundout in the fifth. Magner and Lagein were both honored prior to the game by the league office, being named to the All-Great West Conference first and second teams, respectively.
While Schafer was keeping the Sioux bats in check by retiring the side in order in the second, third and fourth innings, his offense tallied seven unanswered runs to build a six-run lead.
The Huskies put up four of those runs off UND starter Zac Salfer (Sleepy Eye, Minn.) with two each in the second and third innings. HBU tacked on three more runs in the fourth as the Sioux defense helped the cause by committing four errors in the opening five frames.
“We just did not come out very sharp today and that cost us,” UND head coach Jeff Dodson said. “We did not play well defensively and their pitcher did a nice job of keeping us off balance at the plate.
“The bright spot was Magner getting the single-season hits record and tying the home run mark. He deserves to be on those lists with the great hitters in the history of this program.”
Lagein's RBI groundout made it a 7-2 contest in the fifth, but HBU third baseman Josh Gonzales pushed the Huskies' lead back to seven with a two-run homer in the bottom half of the frame.
Gonzales had a great all around game for HBU, leading its 10-hit attack with a trio of hits and three RBI. He also made two diving plays at third base to thwart a couple of Sioux rally attempts.
Schafer, a second team all-conference honoree, improved to 8-5 on the season with the nine-inning effort. Sioux reliever Jameson Benson (Karlstad, Minn.) logged a career-high 5.2 innings of work in relief of Salfer (4-7), who was charged with the loss.
UND senior Josh Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) scored a run and had two singles in the contest.
The Sioux will continue tournament action against top-seeded Utah Valley on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
- Go Sioux -
