Koep Shining in Two-Way Role for Bison Baseball

Koep leads the team in home runs and has only allowed four earned runs in 12 innings pitched.

FARGO, N.D. — The Bison baseball team was out at Newman Outdoor Field doing some prep work Wednesday afternoon.

Twenty-three games in, and the team has not been able to play any home games.

The schedule has them set to host Valley City State on Tuesday after a series against South Dakota State this weekend.

NDSU is 6-6 in Summit League play so far this season.

One of their biggest contributors has been Hunter Koep.

Koep is second on the team in batting average (.283), and he is first in home runs (4) and slugging percentage (.609).

Not only that, the sophomore has also been contributing as a pitcher.

He has made seven appearances out of the bullpen, only giving up four runs in 12 innings.

Having such a competent two-way player has been valuable for the Bison, and Koep hopes to keep showing off his versatility.

“If I have success at both, I’ll probably keep doing both,” he said. “At the beginning of the year I was specifically more of a pitcher. I didn’t have an at bat until Northern Colorado, which was four weeks in. Since then, I’ve been hitting quite a bit more.”

The coaching staff is trying to balance the challenges that come with deciding when to put Koep in the lineup and what he should focus on during practice.

“We have to do a good job in the office of scheduling when his bullpens are, when his hitting sessions are, how to divide him up during practice and do the best we can,” head coach Tod Brown said. “But ultimately, we only have so many hours per week, per NCAA rules, and he has to put in extra time on his own if he wants to keep up.”

The Bison’s next games are on Saturday.
They were supposed to play at SDSU, but the blizzard pushed the series to Omaha at a neutral site.

The Jackrabbits are 7-5 in League play this season.