Jacks earn Sunday split but win series

BROOKINGS, S.D. (SDSU) — South Dakota State pushed a run across in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 2 to earn a split of a Sunday doubleheader against Summit League-leading St. Thomas with a 4-3 victory at Erv Huether Field. The Jackrabbit victory, which secured a two-games-to-one advantage in the weekend series, came after UST posted an 11-6 win in the opener.

SDSU moved to 17-20 overall and 9-8 in league play. The Tommies ended the day 14-16 overall and 9-5 in The Summit League.

Game 1: St. Thomas 11, SDSU 6
All nine starters had at least one hit for St. Thomas and left-hander Evan Esch struck out nine over six solid innings as the Tommies opened the day with an 11-6 victory.

The Tommies broke a scoreless deadlock with four runs in the third inning after two outs. Max Moris and Matthew Maulik drove in the first two runs with run-scoring singles while the last two runs scored on one of four Jackrabbit errors in the contest.

The St. Thomas lead grew to 7-1 with a three-run fifth inning and 9-2 with two more runs in the seventh. Brigs Richartz’ RBI double in the fifth inning was the lone extra-base hit by the Tommies out of their 15 hits in the game. Joe Vos added a run-scoring single in the fifth, while the seventh-inning runs came across on a bases-loaded walk to Mikey Gottschalk and an infield single by Tanner Recchio.

SDSU, which scored single runs in the third and fifth innings on respective RBI doubles from Dawson Parry and Jordan Sagedahl , drew to within 9-6 as the Jackrabbits made a bid to record a comeback victory for the second day in a row. The Jacks plated three runs in the seventh on only one hit — a two-run double by Cael Frost — and plated another run in the eighth when Reece Anderson doubled home Matthew Werk , who led off the inning with a double of his own.

The Jackrabbits tallied five doubles among their nine hits, with Anderson recording three hits.

St. Thomas tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning to secure the win.

Esch fanned nine, walked only one and scattered six hits in allowing two runs over his six innings of work. Wyatt Nelson threw the final three innings for the Tommies.

Jackrabbit starter Jake Goble was charged with the loss after allowing seven runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked three.

Game 2: SDSU 4, St. Thomas 3
After making a stellar defensive play in the top of the eighth inning, the Jackrabbits carried the momentum through to the home half of the frame by scoring the tie-breaking run in a 4-3 SDSU victory.

St. Thomas threatened to take the lead in the top of the eighth after a single by Max Moris and error put runners at the corners with one out. Alex Clemons came in from the Jackrabbit bullpen in relief of Dylan Driessen and proceeded to strike out the first man he faced for the second out of the inning.

Zan Von Schlegell then hit a sharp groundball to the left of SDSU third baseman Bryce Ronken , who made a diving stop and quickly popped to his feet and threw across the diamond for the out at first base.

Sophomore shortstop Matthew Werk started the game-winning rally for the Jackrabbits in the bottom of the eighth with a leadoff single. After moving to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Dagen Schramm , Werk advanced to third base on a bloop single to right field by Reece Anderson . Jordan Sagedahl then stepped to the plate and lofted a high fly ball to deep left center field for a sacrifice fly that brought home Werk.

Clemons, who picked up the win in both of SDSU’s weekend victories, finished off the series-clincher with two more strikeouts in the ninth inning. Schramm also threw out a would-be base stealer for the second out of the final frame.

The two teams traded solo home runs in the early innings as Sagedahl connected on his eighth round-tripper of the season in the bottom of the first and Brigs Richartz countered with a blast to right in the top of the second.

Ronken singled in a run in the third and Jess Bellows tied the game at 3-all with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth after the Tommies scored after a pair of SDSU errors in the top of the inning.

Owen Bishop , who was making his first start of the season, held St. Thomas to one run over three innings. Driessen tossed 4 1/3 innings of solid relief with four strikeouts as SDSU pitchers limited the Tommies to four hits.

Frost was 3-for-5 to pace SDSU’s 12-hit attack. Ronken and Werk each posted a pair of hits.

Ben Vujovich tallied two hits for St. Thomas. Both starter Devon Schewe and reliever Kolby Gartner notched six strikeouts for the Tommies.

UP NEXT
SDSU continues its season-long seven-game homestand with a nonconference game Wednesday afternoon against Dakota Wesleyan. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

NOTES
• SDSU won the season series, three games to two
• The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series, 12-2
• Driessen’s 4 1/3 innings in Game 2 matched the longest outing of his collegiate career (Feb. 19 at New Mexico State)
• Clemons has not allowed a run over his last five appearances, covering 8 2/3 innings, with only three hits allowed
• Frost extended his hitting streak to 10 games and has a hit in 33 of 37 games this season
• Parry reached base safely for the 21 ^st consecutive game in the opener, but did not play in Game 2
• Sagedahl has a hit in 14 of his last 15 games

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