Patrick Riewer.

Rivalries. Whether it’s in basketball or baseball, UND and NDSU have played intense games over the years, and Tuesday night was no different.

Over the last two years, UND is 3-2 against the rival Bison, and with one game left this season, the Green and White will look to increase their bragging rights.

Rivalry games always seem to produce a hero, a player who steps up their game, and on Tuesday night, that man was UND senior Patrick Riewer.

In an effort to save arms for the weekend series against Texas- Pan American, the coaching staff decided to put Riewer on the mound for the game.

Riewer had thrown three innings total before Tuesday night’s game.

Things got off to a rocky start for the senior as Riewer gave up three runs, two earned, in the first three innings.

After the bump on the road, Riewer focused in.

“He had four pitches going,” senior catcher Taylor Petetsen said. “He had his curveball behind in the count, he had that as his put away pitch. His fastball was at the knees. He worked around a lot of difficult situations we had today, whether it would be double play situations, whether it would be questionable calls, whether it would be a couple off-the-end singles that he really had to work through — but he did a tremendous job.”

After Riewer got settled, it was time for the batters to do their part.

Petersen led the way, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs on the night. The UND hitters rallied from the early 3-0 deficit to tie the game in the fifth inning. Even Riewer got into the hitting as the pitcher helped himself out by scoring a run.

In the sixth, the Green and White went ahead of their rivals for good as Jeff Campbell doubled to left and Petersen scored the final run.

The rest was up to Riewer, and he more than delivered.

Even when Coach Jeff Dodson wanted to pull the senior, Riewer assured him he had the game, and delivered the final two outs.

“Patrick just got stronger as the game went along,” UND coach Jeff Dodson said. “I kept asking him how he was doing and I got the vibe to just leave him alone, so I did. He didn’t lose velocity, he didn’t lose anything on any of his pitches. He gave us an opportunity to save the arms for this weekend.”

Riewer finished the night pitching a complete game, giving up two earned runs off of 10 hits, and striking out six Bison batters.

UND will face off against its rival NDSU once more on May 7 in Grand Forks, adding to the next chapter of the UND-NDSU rivalry.

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]