FARGO, N.D. - Western Illinois (21-35, 13-14) needed to win one game against North Dakota State (20-30, 14-12) on Friday to extend its season into the Summit League Tournament.
The road trip will continue on to Sioux Falls, S.D. as the Leathernecks won game one of the doubleheader 4-2 to secure a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
North Dakota State scored nine unanswered runs after Western Illinois jumped out to an early 1-0 lead to take game two of the day, 9-1.
With the victory the Bison will finish third the league and the Leathernecks are locked into the fourth and final spot for the playoffs.
Game One
Ryan Wachholder (3-7) collected his third consecutive quality start and his third straight victory. Wachholder allowed two runs on five hits while striking out three.
Both teams were held scoreless for the first three innings as both pitchers were sharp to open the game.
Matt Igara led off the fourth inning with a his fourth big fly of the season over the left field wall to finally break through on the scoreboard and give Western an early lead, 1-0.
The fifth proved to be a big inning for those wearing Purple & Gold and Western Illinois extended its lead to 4-0. With two outs, Danny Marcuzzo and Anthony Kaskadden drew walks before Chris Giglio sent a single into center field for an RBI.
Igara continued his domination of Bison pitching this series with a double down the left field line to plate both Kaskadden and Giglio.
Wachholder kept NDSU quiet until the bottom of the eighth when the Bison began their comeback attempt. Back-to-back singles and a walk forced the Leathernecks to go to the bullpen.
Senior Travis Pedersen entered the game. Pedersen recorded a strike out and induced a pop out to retire the first two hitters he faced. A single from Zach Heidmann drove in two runs to cut Western's lead in half, 4-2.
Beau Below got into the Western's record book with his third save of the season with a perfect ninth inning. The three saves this season is good for an eight-way tie for seventh place.
Wachholder continues the trimming of his ERA with seven strong innings to lower his ERA to 4.41.
Luke Anderson (2-2) also went seven innings allowing four runs, all of them earned and issuing five walks.
Igara was back atop the Leatherneck lineup where he saw so much success at the beginning of the season. When leading off this season, Igara is hitting .429 (27-for-63). The junior outfielder turned in a 2-for-4 performance with three RBI and a run scored.
Giglio also collected a RBI as he was the only other Leatherneck to record a hit.
Game Two
The start of game two was delayed until just after 5:00 p.m. due the rain in the area.
Igara was drilled on the elbow to start the top of the first inning. Dispensa shot a line drive into left field that was caught and forced Igara to retreat to first. The Bison left fielder attempted to throw Igara out at first but the throw was high and allowed Igara to move over to third base.Austin Cowen drove in Igara with a sacrifice fly to right field for an RBI.
Nic Obey continued his solid weekend with a two-RBI single in the Bison first inning to give NDSU the lead, 2-1.
Obey collected another RBI in the third to push the advantage to 3-1 in favor of NDSU.
The Bison kept the momentum rolling as the fifth and sixth innings saw North Dakota State put three runs on the board in each inning to pull away to the 9-1 victory.
Alexander Zarate (4-5) went five innings, allowing four earned runs and setting down three via the strikeout.
John Straka (3-2) went the distance and only allowed Western to collect three hits for the second time on the day. Straka allowed one unearned run, issued no walks and struck out two.
Cowen drove in the only run of the game while Bryan Jordan was 2-for-3 on the game.
Heidmann and Obey both collected three RBI while Nick Colwell picked up two RBI.
The series will conclude on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Tune in to the broadcast on Rocky Vision with Michael Broskowski starting at 12:45 p.m.
The Summit League Championship will get underway on Thursday with games scheduled for 2 and 7 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D. at Sioux Falls Stadium.
Stay informed at GoLeathernecks.com for the first round match up and a tournament preview with head coach Mike Villano, seniors Anthony Kaskadden and John Koszulinski and ace Dan Russell.
