FARGO, N.D. — South Dakota State baseball finished the regular season this weekend with a three-game series at North Dakota State. The Jacks took the opening game of the series on Thursday, but then dropped the second game on Friday and the final game on Saturday.
SDSU finished the regular season with a record of 22-26 and went 13-11 in Summit League play. The Jacks will return to Fargo and will be the No. 3 seed in the Summit League Tournament, which begins on Wednesday. SDSU and NDSU will play a fourth straight game as the two teams will meet in their respective tournament openers on Wednesday at 6:05 p.m.
Oral Roberts (43-11, 23-1) will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament and will play No. 4 seeded Omaha (21-26, 9-14) at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday. The tournament is double elimination and will conclude on Saturday.
Friday
• NDSU 5, SDSU 4
The Bison jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings and that proved to be enough in game two of the series.
NDSU’s first run of the game came on a double from James Dunlap in the first inning. The Bison then scored three runs in the second inning. Cadyn Schwabe hit an RBI single and Peter Brookshaw hit an RBI single and Schwabe scored on an error to make it 4-0.
NDSU added another run in the eighth inning as Dunlap hit another RBI double. SDSU scored two run in the top of the ninth, but the Jacks were unable to come all the way back. Nic Nelson scored on a wild pitch and Drew Beazley hit a sacrifice fly to make the final 5-2.
SDSU had seven hits on the night. Beazley did not have a hit but had an RBI. Luke Ira and Dawson Parry each went 2-for-4 and Cade Stuff went 2-for-3. Jess Bellows went 1-for-4.
Blake Kunz dropped to 1-6 on the season after pitching six innings and giving up four runs, three earned, on seven hits with four strikeouts and four walks. Dane Toman pitched the final two innings and gave up one earned run on two hits with one strikeout and no walks.
Saturday
• NDSU 12, SDSU 9
The two teams combined for 27 hits on the day and a nine-run sixth inning from the Bison gave them the advantage heading into the late innings and SDSU was unable to recover.
NDSU scored the first run of the day on a wild pitch in the third. SDSU then took a 3-1 lead in the fourth. Ira hit a solo home run to tie the game and Nelson then hit a two-run home run to left center to give the Jacks the lead.
Then came the sixth inning and it did not go well for SDSU. The Bison scored their first two runs of the inning on a double. They then hit three-straight RBI singles and a sacrifice fly to make it 9-3. A two-run double and another sacrifice fly made it 12-3 heading into the seventh.
The Jacks would cut the lead to 12-8 in the eighth. Parry got the scoring going with a solo home run to left field. Stuff then hit an RBI double and Jordan Sagedahl hit an RBI single to make it 12-6. Reece Anderson hit a sacrifice fly and Luke Ira hit an RBI single for the final runs of the inning.
SDSU was able to score one more run in the ninth on an RBI single from Bellows, but that was it and the Jacks dropped the final game of the regular season.
Nelson was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Ira was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Parry went 2-for-5 with an RBI Sagedahl went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Bellows went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Adam Benes went 2-for-4.
Jake Goble fell to 4-3 on the season after pitching the first five and a third. He gave up four earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Will Kent did not record an out and gave up two earned runs on one hit with one walk. Dylan Richey did not record an out as well and he gave up four earned runs on three hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Jack Kruger pitched the final two and two-third innings and he gave up two earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and no walks.
