Jackrabbit baseball falls in season opener

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DALLAS, Texas – Dallas Baptist scored three times in the bottom of the fifth inning and went on to defeat South Dakota State, 4-1, in the college baseball opener for both teams Friday night at Horner Ballpark.

Austin Bell, who hit a solo home run in the third inning for the first run of the game, started the tie-breaking rally for DBU in the fifth by drawing a one-out walk against SDSU starter Adam Mazur. Each of the next three Patriot batters drew walks against Mazur and reliever Riley McSherry, the last of which, to Blayne Jones, forced in the go-ahead run.

DBU added two more runs in the frame on a wild pitch and run-scoring groundout off the bat of Ryan Wrobleski.

The Patriot rally came after SDSU scored its lone run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Josh Falk drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on Ryan McDonald’s double to center field and scored on a groundout by Landon Badger.

The Jackrabbits threatened again in the top of the sixth as Gus Steiger led off with a double to the left-center gap and Braeden Brown followed with a walk. However, DBU reliever Kragen Kechely struck out the next two SDSU hitters, and after a walk to Badger loaded the bases, fanned Luke Ira to end the threat and the inning..

Kechely, who earned the win after tossing three shutout innings, struck out five. In all, three Patriot pitchers on the evening combined for 15 strikeouts, including starter Ray Gaither striking out the side on nine pitches in the first inning en route to seven K’s over four innings.

Cole Reeves added four strikeouts in two perfect innings to record the save.

A freshman from Woodbury, Minnesota, Mazur struck out five and allowed five walks over 4 1/3 innings in his collegiate debut. McSherry notched a career-high five strikeouts over the final 3 2/3 innings.

Each team managed only three hits in the contest, with no player tallying more than one hit.

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The teams are slated to play the second game of their three-game series at 2 p.m. Saturday.