GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Freshman Andrew Thome (St. Cloud, Minn.) tossed a four-hit shutout for the North Dakota baseball team in a 9-0 victory over Northern Colorado Friday at Kraft Field. The shutout was the first for a Fighting Sioux pitcher in the program's Division I era as UND (8-28, 2-11 GWC) ran its winning streak to a season-best four games.
"Andrew was phenomenal today," UND head coach Jeff Dodson said. "He had three pitches working for strikes and was really pounding the zone the entire game. Our offense gave him a nice lead early and he really settled in and got us a big win to open the series."
Thome scattered his four hits in separate innings and fanned a career-high seven Bears, who were held scoreless for the first time this season.
The Sioux offense finished with 11 hits as five different players registered two hits in the contest. Freshmen Tyler Follis (Bemidji, Minn.) and Jeff Campbell (Clearwater, Fla.) extended their hitting streaks to 11 and 13 games, respectively, with a pair of hits apiece.
Follis, who is the nation's top hitting freshman, also scored a career-high four runs in the contest.
UND gave Thome the only run he would need in the bottom of the first on a RBI-groundout off the bat of Zack Trygstad (Wayzata, Minn.). The Sioux gave their pitcher a nice cushion to work with after a five-run second inning.
Junior Kris Kwak (Maple Grove, Minn.) tripled in the first two runs of the frame and Follis added a RBI-single before Campbell capped the scoring with a two-run homer.
"It's just nice to be at home," Dodson said. "We usually swing the bats pretty well here at Kraft Field and that happened again today. Our guys are just comfortable here and hopefully we can keep the bats going throughout the weekend."
Northern Colorado's Jess Amedee settled down after the second inning, allowing only three unearned runs over the next four innings, but his counterpart never relented.
Thome's only bout of trouble came in the fifth when the Bears loaded the bases after Follis bobbled a ball on what would have likely been an inning-ending double play. Thome, who improved to 2-5 on the season with his third-complete game, quickly erased that miscue by getting another groundball. This one came right back to the hurler and Follis converted the double play on his second chance of the inning.
Kwak, freshman Alex Twenge (Minnetonka, Minn.) and senior Seth Means (Gillette, Wyo.) also finished with two hits for the Sioux, who have won five straight on their home field.
UND continues the four-game GWC series with Northern Colorado on Saturday with a doubleheader at Noon. The first game is scheduled to go seven innings with the night cap slated for nine innings.
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