Eric Hall Helps Cougars Earn Series Win Over North Dakota 7-5

Box Score HTML Box Score / PDF Box Score

CHICAGO - Chicago State won its first Western Athletic Conference series of the year, and first ever series against North Dakota with a 7-5 victory on Sunday (April 20) afternoon. The win also gave the Cougars their first home series victory in the new Cougar Stadium.  

Chicago State started off the game with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Jared Patterson (Ventura, Calif./Buena) led off the game with a walk which was followed by back-to-back singles by juniors Mattingly Romanin (Burlington, ONT/Notre Dame) and Chase Matheson (McHenry, Ill./McHenry). Junior Jordan Stroschein (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar) recorded Chicago State's first RBI with a fielder's choice while the next two Chicago State first inning runs came on freshman Sanford Hunt (Chicago, Ill./Kenwood)'s RBI single and junior Matt Schmidt (Dundee, Ill./Jacobs)'s sacrifice fly.

North Dakota answered the Cougars' three-run first inning with a run in the top of the second off a wild pitch by the Cougars' starting pitcher junior Eric Hall (Oakville, ONT/Oakville Trafalgar). Hall settled down after that and threw 107 pitches in 7.1 innings of work allowing eight hits, three runs, only one walk, and three strikeouts. At one point, Hall retired 12 of 15 North Dakota batters. Hall is now 3-2 and his team leading ERA is now 2.79 on the season.

The Cougars plated another run in the bottom of the third inning before breaking the game open with three runs in the seventh. Matheson and Stroschein led off the seventh with consecutive singles and then Schmidt reached first base on a dropped third strike which loaded the bases for the Cougars. Sophomore Julian Russell (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) and junior Robert Swenson (Mason City, Iowa/Mason City) worked back-to-back bases loaded walks which made the game 6-2. Junior Evan Davis (Sterling, Ill./Sterling) finished off the scoring with an RBI groundout for another insurance run which gave Chicago State a 7-2 lead going into the eighth inning.

Junior Nick Kostalek (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) relieved Hall in the seventh inning and pitched 1.1 innings allowing two North Dakota runs in the top of the ninth. Kostalek's made the game's best defensive play for the final out of the eighth inning. UND had runners on second and third with two outs when Luis Calvo lined a ball back up the middle. Kostalek got his glove on the ball but in doing so saw his glove fly off his hand and the ball ricochet toward the plate. Kostalek jumped off the mound and recovered in time to get Calvo at first to end the inning.
 
In the ninth, Patterson came in with two outs to earn his second save of the season and preserve the Chicago State victory.

"North Dakota has been playing well in the WAC so it's nice to take a series from them," Chicago State head coach Steve Joslyn said. "Eric did what he does; he challenged hitters and stayed effective. Nick came in and made a great defensive play to end the eighth. Jared did what you want a closer to do. He kept coming back over the plate and finished it off."

The Cougars were led offensively by Hunt who finished 3-for-4 with an RBI. Matheson was 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored and Schmidt went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Russell was 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI while Romanin and Patterson had one hit and one run scored. Stroschein finished the day with one hit, one RBI, and two runs scored. 

North Dakota starter Jeff Campbell took the loss. He is now 3-4 on the year after going 6.1 innings.

The Cougars improve to 12-24 on the season and 2-10 in the WAC. North Dakota falls to 7-18 (7-5 WAC).

The Cougars play a home game Tuesday vs. Wabash (April 22) at 7 p.m. and then travel to Northwestern on Wednesday (April 23) before beginning a home WAC series with UTPA from April 25-27.