Just as he’s done so many times in his career, Tyler Follis stepped into the batter’s box and looked down at the third baseman.
The fielder was standing behind the base, so Follis went into his old routine.
Follis dropped a bunt down the third base line, hustled out of the box and beat the throw to first. This time, his bunt single meant a little more.
Follis broke UND’s career hits record on the play and kick-started North Dakota’s 5-3 win over Texas-Pan American on Friday at Kraft Field.
Follis, of Bemidji, had two hits on the day to reach 221 for his career, surpassing Aaron Larson’s record of 219. Larson played from 1997-01.
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“It feels cool to have it, but like we keep talking about, we have a big chance right now to secure a bye, a top-two seed, so that’s the priority right now,” Follis said of UND’s push in the WAC standings. “Records are cool, but winning a WAC championship is the big goal.”
Follis had plenty of help from his teammates in the series opener.
Starting pitcher Andrew Thome threw a complete game, allowing five hits and three unearned runs, all in the sixth inning. He struck out six and walked three for his third win of the season.
“I felt pretty comfortable out there,” Thome said. “I was able to throw a fastball on the corners of the plate and kind of let them get themselves out, which is fun. I had really good defense behind me, too. It was just a good team win.”
First baseman Ryan Reese had two hits and drove in four of UND’s five runs, including a pair in the bottom of the first inning to stake North Dakota to a 2-0 lead. Reese drove in another run in the third inning with a single and Dalton Parrott made it 4-0 in the fourth with one of his three hits.
“Thome pitches phenomenal no matter what, but when you give him the lead, he dominates,” Follis said. “It’s fun to play defense behind him when he’s on that pace. Sometimes you don’t even need to. He just pounded the zone today.”
Reese tacked on a fourth RBI in the top of the seventh.
UND will aim for its fourth consecutive WAC series win at 3 p.m. Saturday at Kraft Field. It previously grabbed series wins against Sacramento State, Seattle and Chicago State.
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At 11-8 in WAC play, UND sits in fifth place. Its final eight conference games are against teams below them in the standings.
“We still have a shot to secure one of the two byes at the WAC tournament,” UND coach Jeff Dodson said. “That would be really big. We’ve got to keep playing. It’s a day-by-day thing for us. We need to finish it out as strong as we possibly can.”
