LINCOLN, Neb. – The North Dakota State baseball team extended its win streak to five games after edging Nebraska, 6-5, Haymarket Park in front of 5,374 fans on Wednesday night.
With the win, NDSU improves to 16-26 overall and extends its season-best win streak to five games. It also marked the third win over a power five opponent after the Bison beat Texas Tech and Minnesota earlier this season. With the loss, Nebraska falls to 24-17-1 on the season.
The Bison pitching staff led the way combining for a season-high 16 strikeouts, which was the most in a game since NDSU tossed 16 at Omaha on March 16, 2019. Max Loven made the start on the hill notching a game-best five strikeouts over 3.0 innings. Carson Jacobs (1-4) earned his first career win contributing four strikeouts over 2.0 innings.
The Bison raced out a 5-0 lead in the opening frame on five hits. Druw Sackett sparked NDSU with a three-run home run to right field. Garret Hill and Will Busch then capped the big inning using RBI sacrifice flies to extend the edge to 5-0. The Bison then pushed their edge up to 6-0 in the third frame after Jack Steil scored on a wild pitch.
The Huskers cut the deficit down to four, 6-2, following back-to-back solo home runs off the bats of Cole Evans and Brice Matthews in the third inning. Nebraska continued to apply pressure trimming the edge to three, 6-3, after Griffin Everitt added a solo home run of his own down the left line in the fourth.
The Huskers attempted to rally in the seventh getting two runners on before Jacobs fired clutch back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. Nebraska made one final surge in the ninth with a two-run home run from Matthews to cut the deficit down to 6-5 before Skyler Riedinger picked up the final strikeout to seal the win.
The Bison totaled seven hits as a team with Cadyn Schwabe leading the way with a team-best two, while Steil notched two runs with one hit.
NDSU will be back in action at Northern Colorado on Friday afternoon. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. CT