FARGO — On March 15, the North Dakota State baseball team was 1-17 and sitting on a 13-game losing streak.
On Saturday, the Bison defeated South Dakota State 12-9 at Newman Outdoor Field in their final regular-season game, taking two of three from the Jackrabbits in the weekend series.
The Bison now head into the Summit League Championship on May 24-27 as the host team and are 10-3 in their last 13 games, a stretch which included a nine-game winning streak.
Since that desultory start, NDSU is 21-11 and finished second in the league standings at 16-7. The Bison are 22-28 overall.
They took two of three in both series against third-place South Dakota State during the regular season. In their one three-game series against league-leader Oral Roberts, the Bison lost the opener but won the second game and lost the third in 13 innings.
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NDSU's win in Saturday's slugfest was in doubt until the Bison overcame a one-run deficit with a nine-run sixth inning. They scored another run in the seventh to take a 12-3 lead.
The Jackrabbits weren't finished. They scored five runs in the eighth to close the gap considerably. In the ninth, SDSU's Adam Benes singled with two outs and later scored on Jess Bellows' RBI single. But Bison reliever Hunter Rosenbaum got the final out on a fielder's choice.
NDSU's Stephen Lund was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI, and Druw Sackett and James Dunlap both doubled and drove in two runs. Cadyn Schwabe, Peter Brookshaw and Will Busch all had two hits and an RBI. Jack Steil was 2 for 3 with a solo home run and Kyle Law was 2 for 4.
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