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Western Illinois University Athletics

Tom Constand1.jpg
7
Winner Western Illinois WIU 12-25, 7-13 Summit
2
North Dakota State NDSU 10-26, 4-16 Summit
Winner
Western Illinois WIU
12-25, 7-13 Summit
7
Final
2
North Dakota State NDSU
10-26, 4-16 Summit
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 3 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 7 10 1
North Dakota State NDSU 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 4

W: Constand, Tom (3-5) L: Trent Keefer (3-5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Clinch Season Series Over North Dakota State

Western baseball defeated the defending Summit League Tournament Champions, 7-2.

FARGO, N.D. - Western Illinois baseball defeated North Dakota State, 7-2, on Saturday (April 25) in Fargo, North Dakota. The win clinches the season series over NDSU and marks WIU's first series win in Fargo in program history.

Chris Tschida led the Leathernecks, going 3-for-5 at the plate with three runs and a stolen base. Jake Moore added his fourth and fifth hits of the series and Tom Constand matched his season-high with seven innings in the start. The Leathernecks improve to 12-25 overall and 7-13 in The Summit League. NDSU falls to 10-26 and 4-16.

"Our dugout got us through some tough situations again. Every program has to do things differently, and our program has to play that way, with energy," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "It's about us, and us doing the things we need to do to be successful.  I'm just really proud of our guys. It's fun to watch them have a good time out there. That's when it's really enjoyable as a coach because guys are out there enjoying regardless of anything else. Anything can happen with baseball and when you start to get a little bit of belief that's when good things start to happen."

Constand opened the game with a bang, collecting two strikeouts in the first inning as Western sat the Bison down in order.

In the top of the second WIU grabbed an early three-run lead. JJ Reimer and Tschida hit back-to-back singles to start the inning off, and an NDSU error moved Reimer to third. Mark Garton drove a ball to right field that looked to be a hit, but was gloved on an impressive diving catch by the Bison's Ben Petersen. However, Reimer was able to tag and slide in at home under the throw from right. A dropped fly ball put Adam McGinnis on first and Colton Pogue singled to bring Tschida in from third. Kendall King capped the inning off with an RBI-single to score Pogue.

The Bison staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning that resulted in one run, and a solo home run an inning later made the score 3-2.

The Purple and Gold responded in the top of the fifth with two more runs. Brent Turner singled to score Pogue and Moore collected a two-out single to drive in Turner.

"Our guys took the batting practice approach and worked on getting good pitches to hit," said coach Brownlee. "Their pitcher was a guy that chewed us up at our place and we had a really good approach off him. We were able to look for our pitches and do some things on the base paths as well."

McGinnis would account for Western's final two runs with a stolen base plus a Bison throwing error in the sixth and an RBI single in the eighth. A scoreless fifth, sixth, and seventh from Constand would seal the deal. 

"Tommy (Constand) pitched great. He was working in and out, and changing speeds," said Brownlee. "Preston (Church) came in and cleaned it up. Our guys were pumping it in there. We limited free bases and when you do those things you're going to win."

The win moves Constand to 3-5 on the season, one win short of matching his career high. He pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Church's two-inning hold moves the sophomore to nearly nine innings of relief this season. 

Moore is now batting .500 on the weekend with a pair of RBIs, a run scored, and a stolen base. Turner's hit moves the senior's reached-base streak to nine games, matching his career high from 2014. McGinnis' stolen base gives the sophomore a team-high, nine, on the season. The Purple and Gold offense was assisted by four NDSU errors.

Western will go for the series sweep on Sunday (April 26) at 1 p.m. Live audio will be available starting at 12:50 p.m.
 
   
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