North Dakota State head baseball coach Tyler Oakes announced the hires of Brandon Hunt and Tanner Neale as assistant coaches on Friday, completing his first coaching staff heading into the 2022 season.

Hunt comes to NDSU after three seasons as a volunteer assistant at the University of Minnesota, and he also brings head coaching experience from two seasons at Division II Upper Iowa University in 2017-18. Hunt served as an assistant coach for Augustana University in Sioux Falls for four seasons, earning a promotion to lead assistant and recruiting coordinator after two years.

A native of Rapid City, South Dakota, Hunt played catcher collegiately at Augustana from 2002-05 after graduating from Rapid City Stevens High School.

Meanwhile, Neale joined the NDSU staff as a volunteer assistant coach in August 2020. Prior to coming to NDSU, he spent the 2020 season as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and three years at Upper Iowa from 2017-19 as a graduate assistant and full-time assistant.

Neale is a native of Watertown, South Dakota, and was a three-year starter at catcher for Division II Southwest Minnesota State.

The Bison set a school record with 42 wins in 2021, going 42-19 on their way to a Summit League Tournament title and the first NCAA Regional game victory of the school’s Division I era.

NDSU claims

Summit League’s Institutional Academic Achievement Award

For the second straight year, the North Dakota State University athletic department has captured the Summit League Institutional Academic Achievement Award, the league office announced Friday.

NDSU had 118 student-athletes earn spots on the 2020-21 Summit League Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence. The Institutional Academic Achievement Award goes to the league school with the highest percentage of list-eligible student-athletes earning the distinction. The Bison had 66.4 percent of their list-eligible student-athletes named to the Commissioner’s List.

In addition, NDSU topped the league with five of its teams claiming the top awards in each sport – baseball, men’s basketball, men’s cross country, men’s golf, and men’s track and field.

In order for a student-athlete to be selected to the Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence, the student-athlete must carry a 3.50 or better cumulative GPA, have used a year of eligibility, and completed one academic year at the nominating institution.