The North Dakota State Bison baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

program of

North Dakota State Bison The North Dakota State Bison are the athletic teams of North Dakota State University (NDSU), which is located in the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The teams are often called the "Thundering Herd". The current logo is a bison. Sports sponsored ...

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...

, United States. The program's first season was in 1909, and it has been a member of the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

since the start of the 2008 season. Its home venue is

Newman Outdoor Field Newman Outdoor Field is a baseball stadium in Fargo, North Dakota. It is located on the campus of North Dakota State University and is the home of the independent American Association's Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and the North Dakota State Bison bas ...

, located on North Dakota State's campus.

Tyler Oakes Tyler Oakes (born November 8, 1986) is an American college baseball coach, head coach of the NCAA Division I Summit League's North Dakota State Bison. He was the pitching coach, recruiting coordinator and associate head coach at North Dakota Sta ...

is the team's head coach in his second season. The program has appeared in 2 NCAA Tournaments. It has won 5 conference tournament championships and 2 regular season conference titles. As of the start of the

2021 Major League Baseball season The 2021 Major League Baseball season began on April 1, while the regular season ended on October 3. The postseason began on October 5. The World Series then began on October 26 and ended on November 2 with the Atlanta Braves defeating the Houston ...

, 2 former Bison have appeared in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

and 4 have appeared in Minor League Baseball.

History

Early history

The program's first season of play was 1909.

Conference affiliations

North Central Conference The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II. History The NCC ...

(1958–2004) *

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

(2005–2007) *

(2008–present)

Newman Outdoor Field

The stadium contains the

Maury Wills Maurice Morning Wills (October 2, 1932 – September 19, 2022) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1959 through 1966 and the latter part of ...

Museum in honor of the former

player who worked for the RedHawks as a coach and a radio analyst. The first number retired at the stadium was the #8 worn by hometown hero

Roger Maris Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new MLB single-season home run record with 61 ...

when he played for the

Fargo-Moorhead Twins The Fargo-Moorhead Twins were a minor league baseball team that existed from 1933 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1960, representing the neighboring cities of Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota. The Twins won six league championships during th ...

in the 1950s. The outfield distances replicate those of Yankee stadium where Maris made history. In 2012, college baseball writer Eric Sorenson ranked the field the sixth most underrated venue in Division I baseball.

Head coaches

North Dakota State's longest tenured head coach was Mitch McLeod, who coached the team from 1993–2007. North Dakota State's most successful coach in the Division 1 era is Tod Brown who had a record of 341–350 in his 14 seasons at NDSU. He also led the Bison to two NCAA Tournament berths in 2014 and 2021, including the Bison's first NCAA Tournament win when they defeated Nevada 6–1 at the Stanford Regional in the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

Postseason history

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Bison have appeared in two NCAA Division I Tournaments. Their combined record is 1-4.

Notable former players

Below is a list of notable former Bison and the seasons in which they played for North Dakota State. *

Neil Wagner Neil Wagner (born 13 March 1986) is a South African-born New Zealand Test cricketer who plays for New Zealand and Northern Districts cricket teams. He played for Northerns until 2007/08 and Otago between 2008 and 2018. Early career Wagner w ...

(2003–2005) Played for

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

in 2011 and the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

in 2013-14 *

Jay Flaa Jay Thomas Flaa ( ; born June 10, 1992) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves. He was drafted by the Orioles in the 6th round of the 2015 Major L ...

(2013–2015) Played for the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves in 2021, currently a free agent * Bennett Hostetler (2017–2021) Currently Plays on High-A Beloit for the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

* Parker Harm (2017–2021) Played in the High-A minors for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

in 2022. Also played for the

Brisbane Bandits The Brisbane Bandits are a professional baseball team in Brisbane, Queensland that plays in the Australian Baseball League and is one of the six founding teams of the league. From the 2010/11 season till the 2012/13 season their home ballpark w ...

of the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

in 2022.

Division I Awards and Honors

All-Summit League

*First Team **2012 ***Tim Colwell ***John Straka **2013 ***Wes Satzinger ***Tim Colwell ***Kyle Kleinendorst ***Joe Hechtner **2014 ***Michael Leach **2016 ***Drew Fearing **2017 ***Logan Busch **2019 ***Max Loven **2021 ***Bennett Hostetler ***Jake Malec ***Cade Feeney ***Parker Harm **2022 ***Calen Schwabe ***Logan Williams

Summit League Player of the Year

*Tim Colwell (2014)

Summit League Coach of the Year

*Tyler Oakes (2022)

Summit League Newcomer of the Year

*Max Loven (2019)

References

External links

* {{NorthDakota-baseball-team-stub