BROOKINGS — South Dakota State’s conference tournament hopes took another hit on Thursday afternoon as the Jackrabbits fell to Omaha 16-6 in eight innings at Erv Huether Field.

SDSU is now 19-27 overall and 10-15 in the Summit League. The Jacks are half of a game out of fifth place in the Summit League and if they can move into fifth place they’ll make the Summit League Tournament.

The Jackrabbits and Mavericks will play the final two games of the series on Friday and Saturday. Each game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

The Jacks and Mavs were tied 1-1 after the first inning but Omaha then outscored SDSU 11-1 over the next five innings.

Omaha put runners on second and third with two outs and Jackson Trout hit a single to third base and that scored M Goetzmann. Reece Anderson led off the bottom of the inning for the Jacks and hit a home run to left field to tie the game.

Haiden Hunt hit a single to lead off the top of the second and he scored on a Trent Burkhalter ground out to make it 2-1. The Mavericks then loaded the bases with no outs in the third and scored two runs on wild pitches to make it 4-1.

Omaha then broke the game open with eight runs in the sixth. Matt Goetzmann and Drew Lechnir each hit RBI singles to make it 6-1. Trout followed with a two-run single and Hunt hit an RBI single to make it 9-1. Cardel Dick then hit a two-run single and Goetzmann capped the inning off with an RBI single to make it 12-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

SDSU scored one run in the bottom of the inning. Luke Luskey walked with one out and then came around to score on a Dawson Parry single to make it 12-2.

A Trout two-run home run put the Mavericks up 14-2 and forced the Jacks to score three or more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Luskey would hit a two-run single and a Parry RBI single followed by an error kept the Jacks’ hopes alive as they trailed 14-6 going into the eighth.

However, those hopes didn’t last long as Lechnir and Tyler Bishop hit an RBI single and RBI double on back-to-back at bats to push the lead back to 10. SDSU then went down one-two-three in the bottom of the inning and the game ended due to the 10-run rule.

Omaha had 16 hits as a team. Nic McCay started the game and pitched five innings for the Jacks. He gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. Reece Arbogast then came in and didn’t record an out while giving up three earned runs on one hit with two walks.

Sam Schlecht then recorded one out and gave up five earned runs on four hits with one walk. Will Kent got the final two outs of the sixth inning and gave up two hits and had one strikeout. Brady Hawkins pitched the final two innings and gave up four earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

SDSU had seven hits as a team. Parry was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Luskey was 1-for-2 with two RBIs. Anderson was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Jordan Sagedahl was 1-for-4.