Five Jackrabbits named All-Summit League

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Led by first-team selections Derek Hackman and Ryan Bourassa, five South Dakota State baseball players were honored Tuesday on the 2022 All-Summit League Baseball Team. Selections were determined by a vote among the league’s seven head coaches.

A senior from Johnston, Iowa, Hackman moved up to the first team after receiving second-team recognition in 2021. The left-handed-hitting Hackman finished the regular season tied for the team lead with 37 runs batted in, while hitting .293 with nine home runs.

Bourassa, a junior from West Fargo, North Dakota, has compiled a 2-3 record with five saves in 16 appearances this season, but has been dominant at times, striking out 61 batters in 39 1/3 innings. He is limiting the opposition to a .141 batting average en route to a 2.29 earned run average.

Representing the Jackrabbits on the second team were utility player Ryan McDonald, designated hitter Dawson Parry and starting pitcher Nic McCay.

McDonald posted team bests with a .324 batting average and 11 doubles, while tying for the team lead with 10 home runs and ranking third with 34 RBIs. The junior from Prior Lake, Minnesota, has seen action in right field, at catcher and at designated hitter during the 2022 season.

Parry shares the team lead with 37 runs batted in and has added nine home runs in his first season in the Jackrabbit line. The junior college transfer from Highland, Utah, carries a .250 batting average into the Summit League tournament.

McCay returned to the Jackrabbits’ starting rotation after missing the two previous seasons due to injury. The right-hander from Carlisle, Iowa, has turned in a 4-3 record over 13 starts while leading the staff with 66 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched.

South Dakota State, 22-21 overall, is seeded third in this week’s Summit League Baseball Championship. The Jackrabbits open the four-team, double-elimination tournament at 6 p.m. Wednesday against host Oral Roberts at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.