GRAND FORKS, N.D. - All four Great West Conference series this weekend will have an impact on the seeding for the upcoming league tournament in Orem, Utah. Only two of the eight seeds have been decided as tournament host Utah Valley secured its third straight regular season title last weekend at NYIT.
The Bears of NYIT also know their fate as they will be the No. 8 seed and open up against the Wolverines in the final game of the opening day of the tournament on May 22.
All the seeds in between are up for grabs as the UND baseball team will be in the Windy City looking to win their third-straight series over Chicago State. If they are able to do to take at least 3-of-4 from the Cougars, then the Sioux will head to Orem as the No. 6 seed and CSU would be the No. 7 seed.
The Cougars are currently one-game ahead of UND in the GWC standings and need at least a split for them to secure the No. 6 seed, which would then make the Sioux the No. 7 seed.
Seeds two through five will be determined in series played out between Northern Colorado (currently No. 2 in the standings at 15-9) at top-seed Utah Valley; Houston Baptist (currently fourth at 13-11) at Texas-Pan American (currently third at 14-10) and NJIT (currently fifth at 12-12) at No. 8 seed NYIT).
The Sioux roll into Chicago after finishing off a 9-6 homestand at Kraft Field that saw them go 6-6 in GWC play during that stretch. They won each of the series openers behind freshman Andrew Thome (St. Cloud, Minn.), who went 3-0 with a 0.67 ERA in his three starts. He fanned 26 and walked only four, while becoming the only freshman in DI baseball this season to post a pair of nine-innings shutouts.
Senior Kyle Bolander (Hermantown, Minn.) carries the momentum of a hot homestand with him to Chicago State as well. The Sioux third baseman hit .476 with four home runs and 19 RBI. Shortstop Tyler Follis also hit over .400 during the homestand, going 24-for-59 (.407) and scoring 19 runs.
UND has taken 3-of-4 from the Cougars in their two previous GWC series and will need a similar result to move up in the GWC standings. The Sioux were the No. 5 seed at the inaugural GWC Tournament in Edinburg, Texas in 2010 and were the No. 7 seed at the event the team hosted last season at Kraft Field.
Chicago State Series
Game One - Thursday, 1 p.m.
Game Two - Friday, 12 p.m.
Game Three - Friday, 2 p.m.
Game Four - Saturday, 12 p.m.
Other noteables: Follis ranks second nationally among DI freshmen with a .381 batting average ... His .381 average is also sixth among overall hitters in the GWC ... Follis has 67 hits already on the season and needs only six more to tie Jake Magner (73, 2010) for the single-season record ... Freshman Jeff Campbell (Clearwater, Fla.) continues to share the national lead in home runs by a freshman with 11 (Michael Confort; Oregon State) ... Nine of Campbell's home runs have come in GWC play, which has him trailing only Utah Valley's Goose Kallunki (10) in that category ... Campbell, Thome and NYIT's Ryan Dillabough share the GWC lead with four complete games ... Thome is the only GWC pitcher with two shutouts in league play this season and is 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in league action ... Thome needs to complete two innings in his start vs. the Cougars to set the single-season innings pitched record at UND (80.2; J.J. Scheving, 2004) ... Junior Kris Kwak (Maple Grove, Minn.) has reached base in 14 straight games and carries a five-game hitting streak into the series with Chicago State ... Bolander has also reached base safely in 14 straight and has been hit by a pitch 19 times this season ... Those 19 plunkings are tied for the third most in a single season and no other Sioux player has been hit more than six times.
The Bears of NYIT also know their fate as they will be the No. 8 seed and open up against the Wolverines in the final game of the opening day of the tournament on May 22.
All the seeds in between are up for grabs as the UND baseball team will be in the Windy City looking to win their third-straight series over Chicago State. If they are able to do to take at least 3-of-4 from the Cougars, then the Sioux will head to Orem as the No. 6 seed and CSU would be the No. 7 seed.
The Cougars are currently one-game ahead of UND in the GWC standings and need at least a split for them to secure the No. 6 seed, which would then make the Sioux the No. 7 seed.
Seeds two through five will be determined in series played out between Northern Colorado (currently No. 2 in the standings at 15-9) at top-seed Utah Valley; Houston Baptist (currently fourth at 13-11) at Texas-Pan American (currently third at 14-10) and NJIT (currently fifth at 12-12) at No. 8 seed NYIT).
The Sioux roll into Chicago after finishing off a 9-6 homestand at Kraft Field that saw them go 6-6 in GWC play during that stretch. They won each of the series openers behind freshman Andrew Thome (St. Cloud, Minn.), who went 3-0 with a 0.67 ERA in his three starts. He fanned 26 and walked only four, while becoming the only freshman in DI baseball this season to post a pair of nine-innings shutouts.
Senior Kyle Bolander (Hermantown, Minn.) carries the momentum of a hot homestand with him to Chicago State as well. The Sioux third baseman hit .476 with four home runs and 19 RBI. Shortstop Tyler Follis also hit over .400 during the homestand, going 24-for-59 (.407) and scoring 19 runs.
UND has taken 3-of-4 from the Cougars in their two previous GWC series and will need a similar result to move up in the GWC standings. The Sioux were the No. 5 seed at the inaugural GWC Tournament in Edinburg, Texas in 2010 and were the No. 7 seed at the event the team hosted last season at Kraft Field.
Chicago State Series
Game One - Thursday, 1 p.m.
Game Two - Friday, 12 p.m.
Game Three - Friday, 2 p.m.
Game Four - Saturday, 12 p.m.
Other noteables: Follis ranks second nationally among DI freshmen with a .381 batting average ... His .381 average is also sixth among overall hitters in the GWC ... Follis has 67 hits already on the season and needs only six more to tie Jake Magner (73, 2010) for the single-season record ... Freshman Jeff Campbell (Clearwater, Fla.) continues to share the national lead in home runs by a freshman with 11 (Michael Confort; Oregon State) ... Nine of Campbell's home runs have come in GWC play, which has him trailing only Utah Valley's Goose Kallunki (10) in that category ... Campbell, Thome and NYIT's Ryan Dillabough share the GWC lead with four complete games ... Thome is the only GWC pitcher with two shutouts in league play this season and is 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in league action ... Thome needs to complete two innings in his start vs. the Cougars to set the single-season innings pitched record at UND (80.2; J.J. Scheving, 2004) ... Junior Kris Kwak (Maple Grove, Minn.) has reached base in 14 straight games and carries a five-game hitting streak into the series with Chicago State ... Bolander has also reached base safely in 14 straight and has been hit by a pitch 19 times this season ... Those 19 plunkings are tied for the third most in a single season and no other Sioux player has been hit more than six times.
