Wichita, Kan. — The Fighting Sioux baseball team ran into a hot pitching staff in its season opener as Wichita State blanked North Dakota, 15-0, on Friday afternoon at Eck Stadium. It was the third shutout of the season for the 23rd-ranked Shockers, who improved to 5-0 on the campaign.
Lefthander Charlie Lowell (2-0) tossed five hitless innings, striking out nine in his second scoreless outing of the season. Lowell has only allowed one hit in 10 innings of work in those two starts. The WSU southpaw and three relievers limited the Sioux to just a sixth-inning single by senior
Andy Sadler (Grand Forks, N.D.).
The Shockers' offense got the only runs it would need in the first off UND starter
Derek Biermaier (Roseau, Minn.). Centerfielder Kevin Hall led off the frame with a bunt single and after a walk and a passed ball, he scored on the first of two sacrifice flies in the frame.
Hall's single was the only hit surrendered by Biermaier (0-1) in the opening four innings, but control issues plagued the righthander, who ended up yielding seven earned runs on three hits, seven walks and a pair of hit batsmen in 4.2 innings of work.
“Wichita State is a very, very good ball club and they showed that today,” UND head coach
Jeff Dodson said. “You cannot give a team like that any extra opportunities because they will take advantage of them and make you pay for it. That's what happened today.
“We just had trouble controlling the strike zone. We walked 12 and hit three more and a lot of those guys came around to score. There were some bright spots and we made some decent plays in the field, but we just could not create many scoring chances.”
Designated hitter Preston Springer led a 14-hit Wichita State attack with a 4-for-5 effort at the plate. He scored twice and drove in three runs along with third baseman Erik Harbutz, who added a pair of hits.
With his team trailing 3-0, Biermaier retired the first two Shockers that he faced in the fifth, but Springer got the first ball out of the infield with a sharp single to left and he would come around to score on a two-run single by Harbutz.
The Shockers scored four in the frame to build a 7-0 lead and would add four in the sixth, one in the seventh and three more in the eighth as their bats heated up late in the contest.
UND got its lone hit of the contest after Lowell departed when Sadler ripped a single up the middle off reliever T.J. McGreevy.
Freshman
Ryan Gerber (Tucson, Ariz.) was hit by a Lowell pitch in the fourth and stole second to put a runner in scoring position for the Sioux, but he was left stranded there.
The two teams will play again on Saturday in game two of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be streamed live online at www.FightingSioux.com.
| Line Score |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
| UND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Wichita State |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
x |
15 |
14 |
0 |
WP Lowell (2-0; LP Biermaier (0-1)
– Go Sioux –
