Jacks sweep series on walk-off grand slam

Sunday, April 8

Joplin, No.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

7-19, 5-5

Fort Wayne

6-20, 2-10

Fort Wayne

South Dakota State

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

4/8/2018 6:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

JOPLIN, Mo. – Phil Velez hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting South Dakota State to a 13-9 victory and series sweep over Fort Wayne in Summit League baseball action Sunday afternoon at Warren Turner Field.

The Jackrabbits improved to 7-19 overall and evened their league record at 5-5. Fort Wayne dropped to 6-20 overall and 2-10 in The Summit League.

Velez's heroics came after Fort Wayne tied the game with a grand slam of its own in the top of the ninth. With the Mastodons down to their final strike, Robert Young III connected on his fourth home run of the season – a shot to left field off Jackrabbit reliever Austin Suhr.

SDSU's game-winning rally began when Anthony Schneider led off the bottom of the ninth with a single that fell in between two Mastodon infielders. After a sacrifice bunt moved Schneider to second base, Nick Smith was intentionally walked and Newt Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Fort Wayne hurler Duane Miller struck out Landon Badger for the second out to send up Velez, who hit a towering fly ball on a 1-0 pitch that landed just over the left-field fence for his first career grand slam.

For the second day in a row, the Jackrabbits put together a five-run first inning to build an early lead. Schneider, who was one of six SDSU players with two or more hits, led off the game with a triple and scored on a double by Smith. Velez and Gus Steiger also delivered run-scoring hits, with the other two runs scoring on an error and back end of a double steal.

Fort Wayne got to SDSU starter Tyler Olmstead in the fourth inning, scoring three times. Travis Upp plated the first run, while Dylan Wilbert came through with a two-run single to left-center.

Smith recorded his second run-scoring extra-base hit of the game in the home half of the fourth, tripling to the right-center gap to drive in Derek Hackman. Smith later scored on an error.

Jacob Dickson hit his second home run of the series in the fifth, but the Jackrabbits got the run back in the sixth as Velez notched a sacrifice fly as he finished the day with a career-high six runs batted in.

The two teams traded runs in the eight, with Skyler Wenninger scoring the Jackrabbit run on a base hit by Steiger.

SDSU finished the game with a 15-11 advantage in hits. Tony Kjolsing led SDSU with three hits, while Shannon Baker was 3-for-4 to lead Fort Wayne.

Olmstead struck out three and walked three before exiting after 4 2/3 innings. Bret Barnett retired all four batters he faced and Bryce Johnson added a scoreless eighth inning. Korey Kuhlmann recorded the final out of the ninth to be credited with the victory.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are scheduled to play Tuesday night at Creighton. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park in downtown Omaha, Nebraska.

NOTES
*SDSU leads the all-time series, 50-13, and has won the last nine meetings
* Velez finished the series 6-for-7 (.857 batting average) with a home run, seven RBIs and 1.429 slugging percentage
* Velez's grand slam was the second by a Jackrabbit this season, joining Anthony Schneider (March 2 at Southeast Missouri State)
* Velez's six RBIs are the most in a game by a Jackrabbit this season
* Newt Johnson and Badger each extended their hitting streaks to seven games
* Johnson has reached base safely in 19 consecutive games
* SDSU did not commit an error in the series, compared to seven by Fort Wayne

-GoJacks.com-