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Western Illinois University Athletics

Deion Thompson
7
Winner North Dakota State NDSU 8-13, 1-3 Summit
5
Western Illinois WIU 4-15, 2-2 Summit
Winner
North Dakota State NDSU
8-13, 1-3 Summit
7
Final
5
Western Illinois WIU
4-15, 2-2 Summit
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
North Dakota State NDSU 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 7 12 1
Western Illinois WIU 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 7 2

W: Chris Choles (2-1) L: Cottingham-Beard, Sam (1-1) S: Kevin Folman (2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Thompson Hits Two Home Runs in WIU Loss

Sophomore shortstop sets career-highs with two home runs and three RBI

MACOMB, Ill. – Deion Thompson hit his first two home runs of the season but a ninth inning rally by North Dakota State was the deciding factor in a 7-5 decision Friday afternoon (March 24) at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium.
 
Down by two heading into the eighth inning, Mitch Ellis started it off with a hard-hit single up the middle. Thompson, who earlier teamed with Ellis to hit back-to-back solo home runs in the third, sent Chris Choles' pitch well over the centerfield fence to tie the score at 4-4.
 
Pinch-hitting Cord Church struck out but reached on a wild pitch. He stole second and two batters later Adam McGinnis walked to put two runners aboard. Pinch-hitting Steve McShane delivered a RBI single to right, his first run driven in of the season giving WIU a 5-4 lead.
 
Relief pitcher Sam Cottingham-Beard (1-1) opened the ninth on a 3-2 count to leadoff hitter Drew Fearing but narrowly missed on an outside pitch to give up a leadoff walk. A double by JT Cole put both in scoring position. Cottingham-Beard got a flyball for out one, but a grounder to short tied the game. Logan Busch hit a 2-run homer to give NDSU the lead for good.
 
Conner Currier started the bottom of the ninth with a double to right field, but two groundouts and a strikeout ended Western's comeback attempt.
 
NDSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but starter Ian Koch settled in after that, keeping the Bison off the scoreboard until the seventh. Ellis and Thompson made it a 3-2 game following their consecutive home runs, the second time Western accomplished that feat this year.
 
Koch had a runner at third in the seventh with two outs, but he narrowly missed snaring a comebacker up the middle and NDSU took a 4-2 lead.
 
WIU's sophomore right-hander was charged for four runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings. He walked one and struck out five. Nate Westfahl struck out three in his 1.1 hitless innings of relief.
 
Thompson became the first Leatherneck since Tom Lilja in 2011 to hit two homers in a game. He now joins an eight-way tie in program history for the second-most home runs hit in a game. Ellis' home run was his first as a Leatherneck and he scored two runs with his two hits. The eight and nine hitters combined for four hits, four runs and four RBI for Western, as the team had just six home runs hit in the previous 18 games. With the wind blowing out, Western hit several other balls throughout the game deep to the outfield or to the warning track but came up empty.
 
Busch finished with four hits and four RBI for the Bison. Luke Lind gave up the solo home runs and struck out eight in his six innings. Choles (2-1) allowed three runs in his two innings but still earned the win. Kevin Folman pitched the ninth for his second save.
 
Game two of the series on Saturday (March 25) has been moved up to an 11 a.m. start.
 
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