Northern Colorado rolls past SDSU baseball

GREELEY, Colo. (SDSU) — Northern Colorado scored seven unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to propel the Bears past South Dakota State, 13-5, in the opening game of a three-game Summit League baseball series at Jackson Field.

UNC improved to 10-32-1 overall and 9-12-1 in The Summit League. SDSU dropped to 17-23 overall and 9-11 in league play.

The Jackrabbits staked starter Nic McCay to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the second innings. Cade Stuff was hit by a pitch with one out, advanced to third base on a double to the right-field corner by Luke Luskey and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Ronken . Luskey later scored on an opposite-field single by Matthew Werk .

McCay, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first inning, ran into more trouble in the third before being knocked out of the game in the fateful fourth. Caden Wagner put the Bears on the board with a run-scoring single in the third and contributed to the fourth-inning outburst with a walk and run scored.

The UNC fourth began with a walk and hit batter before an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt loaded the bases. Dalton Miller scored the tying run via a sacrifice fly by Carson Gross, on which SDSU right fielder Cael Frost made a catch on the run in the right-field corner before tumbling over the side fence. After the go-ahead run came across on a fielders choice in which no out was recorded, Garrett Fisher plated the third run of the inning with a base hit. A wild pitch allowed another run to score before Austin Bunn continued his torrid hitting against SDSU this season with a three-run home run to left field for an 8-2 lead.

McCay, who suffered his first loss of the season, was lifted after 3 2/3 innings in which he surrendered six hits, issued five walks, hit two batters and struck out five.

Fisher, who was 4-for-5 to lead UNC’s 12-hit attack, delivered a run-scoring single in the fifth inning, while Jackson Romero added a two-run single as part of a three-run sixth as the Bears put the 10-run rule in play.

SDSU, however, extended the game with a three-run top of the seventh. Luskey singled home Dawson Parry for the first run of the frame, then scored along with Cade Stuff on an outfield error.

The bottom five batters in the Jackrabbit lineup accounted for eight of the team’s nine hits. Luskey led the way with a 3-for-4 afternoon, while Werk notched a pair of hits.

UNC starter Dylan Smith logged six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Jack Tuttle tossed two perfect innings of relief to close out the victory.

UP NEXT
The middle game of the series is slated for a noon Mountain Time (1 p.m. Central) first pitch on Saturday.

NOTES

• UNC leads the season series, 4-0
• SDSU holds a 40-32 advantage in the all-time series
• The Jackrabbits dropped to 8-4 in series-opening games this season
• Ronken extended his hitting streak to six games, while Jordan Sagedahl had his six-game streak snapped
• Luskey is batting .563 (9-for-16) against UNC so far this season
• McCay’s 85 strikeouts this season rank seventh on the Jackrabbit single-season charts
• McCay made his 39 ^th career start, tying him with Billy McMacken (39 starts) from 1987-90 for fifth place in program history

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