OMAHA — The South Dakota State baseball team clinched a spot in the Summit League Tournament on Sunday as the Jackrabbits won their second game over Omaha in three days.
SDSU won on Friday …
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OMAHA — The South Dakota State baseball team clinched a spot in the Summit League Tournament on Sunday as the Jackrabbits won their second game over Omaha in three days.
SDSU won on Friday as well, but fell to the Mavericks on Saturday.
The Jacks have won seven of their last 10 games and are now 16-30 overall and 12-14 in conference play. They’ll close out the regular season this upcoming weekend with four games against Oral Roberts.
SDSU and ORU will play a doubleheader on Thursday and then will play one game on both Friday and Saturday. The Summit League Tournament is May 21-24 in Omaha.
The South Dakota State pitching tandem of Arlen Peters and Jake Goble cooled the Omaha bats for the first eight innings while Carter Sintek continued his hot hitting for the Jackrabbit baseball team in a 7-3, series-opening victory Friday night at Tal Anderson Field.
Omaha grabbed the early lead with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Paul Schuyler led off the frame with a single against Jackrabbit starter Arlen Peters, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Henry Zipay’s single to left field.
The reigning Summit League Peak Performer of the Week who played high school baseball at nearby Fremont, Sintek put the Jackrabbits out front with a two-run double as part of a four-run top of the fifth. The rally began when Jess Bellows reached on an error and Davis Carr walked. After both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, Keagen Jirschele walked to load the bases. Two batters later, Sintek doubled into the left-field corner to score both Bellows and Carr.
SDSU tacked on two more runs in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Nolan Grawe and Sintek capped the scoring when he came across to score on an infield single by Bryce Ronken.
Peters would keep the Mavericks off the board in the fourth and fifth innings as he registered three strikeouts and walked only one in recording his first victory in two seasons as a Jackrabbit.
The Jackrabbits then turned the ball over to Goble to start the sixth, who followed with three scoreless innings. In the meantime, SDSU extended its lead to 7-1 with three runs in the top of the seventh. Jirschele opened the inning with a walk, stole second and scored on Sintek’s second hit of the game, a single through the left side. Later in the frame, Adam Benes came through with a two-run single up the middle that plated both Nolan Grawe and Ronken.
Sintek, Grawe and Owen Siegert each tallied two of the Jackrabbits’ eight hits.
Goble, who struck out three and walked three, ran into trouble in the bottom of the ninth, when he gave up a leadoff double to Mason Gaines and issued two of his walks before Jackson Trout dumped a two-run single to center field with two outs. Jackrabbit closer Dylan Driessen then entered the game and struck out Zipay with the tying run on deck to notch his sixth save of the season.
Tyler Bishop was the lone player for Omaha with more than one of the Mavericks’ seven hits.
Omaha starter Ben Weber took the loss despite striking out seven in six-plus innings. Only two of the five runs he allowed were earned, but he put five runners on via walks and gave up five hits.
Omaha erupted for 11 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held off a late South Dakota State charge to even their Summit League baseball series at a game apiece Saturday night with a 14-11 victory at Tal Anderson Field.
SDSU scored in each of the first three innings to build an early 5-1 lead. Freshman third baseman Nolan Grawe factored in each of the first two Jackrabbit runs as he singled and scored on a base hit by Owen Siegert in the first inning before doubling home Keagen Jirschele an inning later.
The Jackrabbits took advantage of three Omaha errors in the bottom of the third inning to up their lead to four runs. After reaching on the first miscue of the frame, Jess Bellows scored when Nicholas Werk’s ground ball to short was mishandled. Two more runs scored when Carter Sintek’s hard-hit ball to second base was booted, allowing both Jirschele and Dagen Schramm to score.
Omaha began its comeback with a pair of runs on Henry Zipay’s second double of the game in the bottom of the fifth.
The fateful bottom of the sixth, in which the Mavericks sent 14 men to the plate, lasted more than 40 minutes and featured four Jackrabbit pitching changes. Mason Gaines began the outburst with a single off SDSU starter Caleb Duerr, with the Jackrabbit right-hander pulled after hitting Tyler Palmer with a pitch two batters later. None of the next three Jackrabbit pitchers retired a batter as Tristan Augedahl walked both men he faced, Ty Madison surrendered a two-run single to Eli Hoerner and an RBI infield hit to Jackson Trout, and Brady Hawkins hit Zipay with a pitch before leaving with an apparent injury. Tyler Bishop then greeted SDSU’s Owen Bishop with a two-run single and Palmer drew a base-loaded walk before Cardel Dick capped the 11-run frame with a grand slam to left.
Trout was 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored to pace the Mavericks’ offense.
However, SDSU didn’t go down without a fight. Owen Bishop recovered to toss two scoreless innings and the Jackrabbits got a boost off the bench from a couple freshmen in mounting a late comeback. Dayton Franke connected on a pinch-hit two-run home run in the top of the seventh and Brady Brown’s first collegiate hit resulted in a two-run single in the eighth. The Jackrabbits also received run-scoring hits from Adam Benes and Bellows earlier in the eighth, and also brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth.
Omaha reliever Cameron Teinert earned the win after pitching 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. He struck out five and walked one while surrendering two hits. Oliver Mabee recorded the final four outs for the save.
Duerr struck out five in 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision effort for the Jackrabbits. He gave up four earned runs on seven hits.
SDSU finished with a 12-11 advantage in hits and was led by Benes’ 3-for-5 night at the plate. Grawe, Siegert and Bellows each notched a pair of hits.
South Dakota State scored four times in the top of the first inning and carried the momentum through for a 14-3 series-clinching, seven-inning victory over Omaha in Summit League baseball action Sunday afternoon at Tal Anderson Field.
The first-inning outburst began when Carter Sintek hit a leadoff single and Nolan Grawe drew a walk. Owen Siegert put the Jackrabbits on the board with an RBI single, which was followed by a ground-rule double by Adam Benes that plated Grawe. The line kept moving as Jess Bellows delivered a run-scoring single and Benes came across for the fourth and final run of the inning when Davis Carr’s squeeze bunt was misplayed.
SDSU pushed the lead to 7-0 with a three-run third. Siegert doubled and Benes lined a single up the middle for his sixth hit and fifth run batted in of the series. Two more runs scored on the Mavericks’ second error of the game.
After Omaha put up a run in the home half of the third on a run-scoring single by Noah Greise, the Mavericks handed SDSU six more runs in the fourth to put the 10-run rule into. effect. The Jackrabbits mustered only two hits in the inning as Omaha pitchers delivered seven free passes. After the bases were loaded via a walk and two hit batters, three more Jackrabbit batters — Dayton Franke, Nicholas Werk and Sintek — were all hit by pitches in succession to force in runs. Grawe was later walked with the bases loaded before Bryce Ronken plated the final two runs of the inning with a single to left field.
Blake Stenger drove in each of the Mavericks’ final two runs with an RBI groundout in the fourth and a double in the sixth.
Jess Bellows was 3-for-3 to lead the Jackrabbits’ 13-hit attack. Bellows reached base in all five of his plate appearances as he also was hit by a pitch and coaxed a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning to account for the final SDSU run. Siegert was 3-for-4 and scored three runs, while Ronken and Benes each tallied two hits.
Sam Schlecht allowed one run over three innings of relief to pick up his third win of the season. Jackrabbit starter Dylan Richey worked the first 2 2/3 innings, striking out one and walking one.
