GREELEY, Colo. – South Dakota State scored three times in the top of the ninth to claim a 6-3 victory to wrap up a suspended game against Northern Colorado, then carried the momentum through for a 12-9 victory in the series finale to complete a sweep of a four-game nonconference college baseball series at Jackson Field.
With the two victories Sunday, the Jackrabbits improved to 5-2 overall. UNC dropped to 2-5 on the season.
The suspended game resumed in the top of the seventh, tied at 3-all. After the international tiebreaker went into effect for the second game in a row in the eighth inning, each team stranded a man at third base, with the Jackrabbits turning a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
In the ninth, Luke Ira gave SDSU a 4-3 lead with a double to left-center that scored Landon Badger, who had been placed on second base to begin the inning. The Jackrabbits’ added some insurance as freshman Jess Bellows doubled to the same gap, scoring both Ira and Derek Hackman for the 6-3 advantage.
Drew Beazley, who entered the game for the final out on Saturday before play was halted, went the rest of the way to earn the victory. He struck out three, while walking two.
SDSU had taken a 3-0 lead Saturday, scoring an unearned run in the bottom the third. The Jackrabbits added two runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI triple by Garrett Stout, who later scored on a bunt single by Colton Cox.
Jackrabbit starter Ryan Bourassa, who finished with 11 strikeouts, kept UNC off the board until the Bears put together a two-out rally in the home half of the sixth. Hayden Heinze scored the first run on a single by Sam Leach and Leach later scored on a base hit by Josh Glenn. Ben McKay plated pinch runner Blake Tweedt with the tying run on a double off Beazley.
The Jackrabbits’ seven hits were scattered among seven players.
• SDSU 12, Northern Colorado 9
The Jackrabbits hit three home runs, including two in a six-run sixth inning, before holding off Northern Colorado, 12-9, to finish off the sweep.
Wyatt Andersen gave SDSU a 2-0 lead in the top of the second as he lined a double down the third-base line that scored both Derek Hackman and Bellows.
Carson Max connected on an opposite-field three-run homer to left in the fourth inning to put the Jackrabbits ahead 5-3, but Northern Colorado countered with a three-run home half of the frame that was highlighted by a two-run shot by Ben McKay.
Riley McSherry entered in relief of Jackrabbit starter Owen Bishop with one out and facing the tying run in the bottom of the fifth, but struck out the next two hitters to keep the score 5-3.
Bellows continued his hot hitting with a solo home run to lead off the sixth, when the Jackrabbits sent 11 men to the plate. Beazley added a two-run shot later in the inning and Bellows capped the scoring with an RBI infield single. The other two runs of the inning scored on a Badger double and sacrifice fly by Ira.
The Bears chipped away at the deficit, scoring in each of the last three innings. C Gross doubled in two of the three UNC runs in the seventh, which ended when Jackrabbit second baseman Garrett Stout made a diving stop and threw a runner out at home end the rally.
Bellows, a native of Miles City, Montana, scored his fourth run of the game in the top of the ninth on a pinch-hit single by fellow freshman Avery Mellman.
Nate Holliday, the fourth pitcher of the game for SDSU, pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up the save after entering the game with two men on in the eighth. Bishop struck out three over 4 1/3 innings in his first collegiate start, while McSherry fanned five in 2 1/3 innings to earn the win.
Bellows was 3-for-3 to lead SDSU’s 11-hit attack.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are scheduled to open a three-game series Friday at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. at Simmons Complex on the SIUE campus.
• SDSU 6, Northern Colorado 2
GREELEY, Colo. – South Dakota State scored four times in the top of the 10th inning and Jackrabbit relief pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts in five innings as the Jackrabbits defeated Northern Colorado, 6-2, in the opening game of a nonconference baseball doubleheader Saturday at Jackson Field.
Game 2 of the doubleheader was suspended because of darkness at the end of the sixth inning with the game tied at 3-all.
In Saturday’s opener, the international tiebreaker went into effect in the top of the 10th. Jordan Sagedahl, who made the last out of the SDSU ninth, was placed at second base to start the inning and scored the go-ahead run on a double by fellow freshman Jess Bellows. The Jackrabbits tacked on an insurance run as Bellows scored after back-to-back bunt singles by Landon Badger and Luke Ira. Derek Hackman then gave SDSU a four-run lead with a two-run double to the right-center gap that plated both Badger and Ira.
Jackrabbit reliever Bret Barnett made the lead stand up as the junior left-hander struck out the side in order in the bottom of the 10th. Barnett pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for SDSU, notching strikeouts on seven of the eight outs he recorded.
SDSU took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning as Badger led off the game with a double and later scored on a groundout.
Northern Colorado answered with a run in the second inning and the two squads traded third-inning runs. Badger singled and later scored on an error, while Jake Gitter scored the UNC run on a base hit by Josh Glenn.
SDSU starter Cody Carlson exited after allowing leadoff single in the sixth inning. Eli Sundquist relieved and recorded four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. Carlson scattered seven hits, struck out three and walked two over five-plus frames.
Badger was 3-for-5 and scored three runs, with Ira adding three hits to pace the Jackrabbits’ 10-hit attack.
Friday
• SDSU 12, Northern Colorado 0 (7 inn.)
GREELEY, Colo. – Adam Mazur struck out 12 batters over six shutout innings, while Landon Badger and Ryan McDonald supplied the offense as South Dakota State blanked Northern Colorado, 12-0, in the opening game of a four-game college baseball series Friday afternoon at Jackson Field. The game was called after seven innings due to the 10-run rule.
SDSU broke a scoreless deadlock with a run in the top of the fourth as Luke Ira singled, moved to second base on a wild pitch and took third on a stolen base before scoring on Carson Max’s infield single.
The Jackrabbits scored three times in the fifth inning and broke the game open with a five-run sixth. Badger, a senior center fielder from Pierre, drove in runs in each inning, plating the first run of the fifth with a double and adding a two-run triple the next inning.
Badger tallied his third run-scoring extra-base hit in as many innings as he doubled in another run in a three-run seventh inning, while McDonald notched run-scoring singles in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
To lead SDSU’s 11-hit attack, Badger went 3-for-5 with a career-high four runs batted in and three runs scored. McDonald was 3-for-4 with a career-high three RBIs.
Meanwhile, Mazur carved his way through the Northern Colorado lineup. After striking out the side in order in both the second and third innings, he fanned the first two hitters of the fourth inning to give him eight consecutive strikeouts. The next UNC batter reached on a single, but Mazur recorded another strikeout to end the inning, marking nine consecutive outs via the K.
A returning freshman from Woodbury, Minnesota, Mazur walked two and surrendered only three hits. Brett Mogen pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to close out the Jackrabbit victory.
Northern Colorado starter Dylan Bowers nearly matched Mazur in the strikeout department, fanning 11 over 5 1/3 innings, but also walking five.
