The South Dakota State baseball team was swept in a three-game series against Northern Colorado.
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GREELEY, Colo. — The South Dakota State baseball team was swept in a three-game series against Northern Colorado.
SDSU dropped to 17-25 overall and 9-13 in the Summit League. The Jacks will host a three-game series against North Dakota State this weekend.
Northern Colorado scored seven unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to propel the Bears past South Dakota State, 13-5, in the opening game of a three-game Summit League baseball series at Jackson Field.
The Jackrabbits staked starter Nic McCay to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the second innings. Cade Stuff was hit by a pitch with one out, advanced to third base on a double to the right-field corner by Luke Luskey and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Ronken. Luskey later scored on an opposite-field single by Matthew Werk.
McCay, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first inning, ran into more trouble in the third before being knocked out of the game in the fateful fourth. Caden Wagner put the Bears on the board with a run-scoring single in the third and contributed to the fourth-inning outburst with a walk and run scored.
The UNC fourth began with a walk and hit batter before an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt loaded the bases. Dalton Miller scored the tying run via a sacrifice fly by Carson Gross, on which SDSU right fielder Cael Frost made a catch on the run in the right-field corner before tumbling over the side fence. After the go-ahead run came across on a fielders choice in which no out was recorded, Garrett Fisher plated the third run of the inning with a base hit. A wild pitch allowed another run to score before Austin Bunn continued his torrid hitting against SDSU this season with a three-run home run to left field for an 8-2 lead.
McCay, who suffered his first loss of the season, was lifted after 3 2/3 innings in which he surrendered six hits, issued five walks, hit two batters and struck out five.
Fisher, who was 4-for-5 to lead UNC’s 12-hit attack, delivered a run-scoring single in the fifth inning, while Jackson Romero added a two-run single as part of a three-run sixth as the Bears put the 10-run rule in play.
SDSU, however, extended the game with a three-run top of the seventh. Luskey singled home Dawson Parry for the first run of the frame, then scored along with Cade Stuff on an outfield error.
Northern Colorado rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to pull out a 10-9 victory over South Dakota State in Summit League baseball action Saturday afternoon at Jackson Field.
The winning run scored by the Bears marked the only lead of the game for UNC. The Bears tied the game at 9-all on a two-run home run by Brandon Sanchez, which came after a leadoff walk to Carson Gross. After SDSU reliever Alex Clemons retired the next two hitters, Austin Bunn drew a walk, stole second and advanced to third base on an ensuing throwing error. Kai Wagner then walked to set the stage for Jake King, who lofted a fly ball to the warning track in left field that was dropped, allowing Bunn to complete the walk-off win.
SDSU touched UNC starter Murphy Gienger for three first-inning runs, starting with a leadoff home run by freshman Bryce Ronken. The Jackrabbits added runs on a sacrifice fly by Dawson Parry and an RBI double by Cade Stuff.
The Jackrabbit lead grew to 4-0 when Matthew Werk opened the second inning with his second home run of the season.
UNC tied the game with two runs in both the home half of the second and third innings. King doubled in the first tally of the second inning and added a two-run single an inning later.
Stuff, who was 4-for-5 in the contest, knocked in two runs in a three-run fourth inning as SDSU grabbed a momentary 7-4 lead, then put the Jackrabbits back in front at 8-7 with an RBI single up the middle in the eighth. In between, Northern Colorado had knotted the game at 7-all with a three-run sixth that was highlighted by RBI singles from Garrett Fisher and King.
A double by Colorado native Adam Benes in the top of the ninth pushed the SDSU lead to 9-7.
South Dakota State’s struggles against Northern Colorado continued Sunday, with the Bears completing a three-game sweep of a Summit League baseball series by posting a 14-6 victory Sunday afternoon.
Trailing 2-0 after a two-run home run by the Bears’ Jackson Romero in the bottom of the third, SDSU put together a five-run top of the fifth with a combination of small ball and power. Reece Anderson led off the frame with a bunt single, advanced to third base on a single by Dagen Schramm and later scored on a squeeze bunt by pinch hitter Cohen Henry. Schramm came across with the tying run on a base hit by Cade Stuff, which was followed by a three-run home run by Cael Frost. It was Frost’s 18th round-tripper of the season, putting him within one of the Jackrabbit single-season record set by Jesse Sawyer in 2009 and matched in 2010.
An error proved costly for the Jackrabbits in the home half of the fifth, which led to two runs scoring on the same play. With two outs, Kai Wagner’s chopper to third base was fielded cleanly, but Davis Carr’s throw sailed over the head of the first baseman and up the line into the expansive foul territory at Jackson Field, allowing Carson Gross to score from first base and Wagner to race all the way around the bases.
Carr stemmed the tide momentarily with a solo home run to left in the top of the sixth that pushed the Jackrabbit lead to 6-4.
From there, it was all Bears as UNC plated four runs in the home half of the sixth, five in the seventh and one more in the eighth against four Jackrabbit relievers. Gross tripled in two runs to tie the game and later scored the go-ahead run on a base hit by Caden Wagner. The final run of the sixth inning scored on an RBI single by Garrett Fisher.
The seventh-inning onslaught started with an RBI single by C. Kenny and ended with back-to-back home runs against two different Jackrabbit pitchers. Brandon Sanchez connected on a three-run home run off Jack Kruger and Wagner greeted Brady Hawkins with a solo shot to center field.
Gross capped his 3-for-4 day at the plate with his third hit and third RBI of the game on an eighth-inning single.
