FORT WAYNE, Ind. – South Dakota State scored multiple runs in each of the middle three innings to open a three-game Summit League baseball series with an 8-6 victory over IPFW on Friday afternoon at Mastodon Field.
The Jackrabbits, who won for the eighth time in their last 10 Summit contests, improved to 11-23 overall and 9-7 in league play. The Mastodons fell to 9-29 overall and 5-14 in the Summit League.
Trailing 3-1, the Jackrabbits tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. After Newt Johnson and Josh Falk opened the inning by being hit by pitches, Landon Badger singled home Johnson and Derek Hackman followed with his second consecutive run-scoring hit to plate Falk.
SDSU gained the lead for good with a three-run fifth. After loading the bases with nobody out, Johnson came through with a sacrifice fly to score Anthony Schneider with the go-ahead run and Falk plated two more with a double to left field.
Schneider provided the final tally for SDSU with a two-run home run in the sixth. It was his fourth home run of the season and staked the Jackrabbits to an 8-3 lead.
Although he wasn’t as sharp as his first outing of the season against the Mastodons when he fanned a career-high 13, Brady Stover was credited with his third win of the season after striking out eight over five innings. The sophomore left-hander allowed a run on a sacrifice fly in the second inning, then gave up a two-run homer to Jacob Dickson in the bottom of the third for IPFW’s lone lead of the day.
Stover walked five and surrendered three hits before giving way to Derek Feige. IPFW touched Feige for a pair of runs in the sixth on a walk, two hits and a balk, then pulled to within 8-6 on a solo home run by Robert Young III in the eighth.
Alex Marro pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.
SDSU out-hit the Mastodons, 12-7. Tony Kjolsing was 3-for-5, while Hackman, who opened the Jackrabbit scoring with a two-out RBI single in the second inning, and Nick Smith each tallied two hits. IPFW’s seven hits were spread among seven different players.
Up Next
Game 2 is today at 1 p.m. and the series concludes with a third game Sunday at noon.
Notes
SDSU leads the all-time series, 51-13, and has won 10 games in a row versus the Mastodons dating back to last season. ... Stover upped his season strikeout total to 58 in only 38 2/3 innings. ... Jackrabbit pitchers combined to record 11 strikeouts and struck out at least one Mastodon batter in every inning except the eighth. ... Newt Johnson reached base safely for the 27th consecutive game. ... Smith extended his hitting streak to 13 games and recorded his eighth multi-hit game in that span. ... Falk moved into a tie with Johnson for the team lead in multi-RBI games this season with seven. ... Hackman drove in runs in each of his first two at-bats after entering the day with only one RBI in his first 33 collegiate at-bats. ... Neither team committed an error in the contest.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 8, IPFW 6
SDSU 010 232 000 – 8 12 0
IPFW 012 002 010 – 6 7 0
Brady Stover, Derek Feige (6), Alex Marro (9) and Derek Hackman; Brandon Phelps, Trevor Armstrong (7) and Dylan Wilbert. W – Stover (3-1). L – Phelps (4-4). Sv – Marro (4). 2B: SDSU, Josh Falk; IPFW, Brady Hettinger. HR: SDSU, Anthony Schneider; IPFW, Jacob Dickson, Robert Young III.
