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South Dakota State University Athletics
Baseball home opener set for Friday
4/16/2009 11:00:00 PM | Baseball
After playing its first 27 games of the season in 10 different states, the South Dakota State University baseball team is scheduled to play its long-awaited home opener Friday afternoon, kicking off a four-game series against Summit League rival North Dakota State.
First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Erv Huether Field on the SDSU campus. A doubleheader is set for a noon start on Saturday, with the series concluding with a 1 p.m. matchup on Sunday.
SDSU will attempt to snap a seven-game losing streak, during which the Jackrabbits have lost five Summit League games. The Jackrabbits enter the series with a 5-22 overall record, 1-6 in league play.
North Dakota State, meanwhile, holds a 9-16 overall record and 3-4 mark in The Summit League.
THE SERIES: Friday's series opener will mark the renewal of a rivalry that dates back to 1956, when North Dakota State swept a two-game series in Brookings.
Since then, SDSU has held the upper hand, compiling an 84-43 series advantage. Both teams moved to the Division I level during the 2005 season and have met 24 times, with SDSU holding a 13-11 edge in those games.
Last season, NDSU won the season series, 3-1, with all four games played in Fargo. SDSU's lone win in the season-ending series was a 7-5 victory in the second game of a doubleheader on May 16.
ERV HUETHER FIELD: The 2009 season marks the second year South Dakota State will play its home games at the new Erv Huether Field.
The on-campus facility was home to six Jackrabbit home games in 2008, during which SDSU compiled a 3-3 home record. SDSU christened the new field on April 21, 2008, with a 22-3 victory over Presentation College (S.D.).
The original Erv Huether Field was located directly north of the Stanley J. Marshall HPER Center and served as the Jackrabbits' home field from 1957 through the 2001 season. From 2002-07, SDSU played its home games at the municipally operated Bob Shelden Field in Brookings, and occasionally hosted games in Sioux Falls.
In all, SDSU is now scheduled to host 20 games at Erv Huether Field this season.
Erv Huether Field is named after the longtime Jackrabbit baseball coach, who compiled a 352-376-2 record in 34 seasons from 1950-83. Huether was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1984.
REVISED SCHEDULE: SDSU and North Dakota have rescheduled one of the doubleheaders lost March 28-29 due to the weather. The two teams are now scheduled to play a twinbill at Erv Huether Field on April 20, starting at 2 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT: Derek McCallum hit a pair of home runs and drove in six runs, lifting 23rd-ranked Minnesota to a 9-6 victory over South Dakota State in college baseball action Wednesday afternoon at Siebert Field in Minneapolis.
SDSU held early leads of 1-0 and 3-1 before McCallum gave the Golden Gophers the lead for good at 5-3 on a three-run home run by McCallum in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Jackrabbits scored in the top of the first as Joel Blake led off the inning with a double and scored on a Jesse Sawyer single. After Minnesota tied the game at 1-all in the bottom of the second, SDSU grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third inning. John Lee led off the frame with a base hit and moved to second on an error. Tony Martin and Billy Stitz followed with run-scoring doubles.
SDSU pulled back to within a run at 5-4 in the fifth inning on a run-scoring single by Stephen Turner that plated Sawyer. However, Minnesota regained the momentum with a pair of unearned runs in the sixth inning and added two more in the eighth on a two-run blast by McCallum.
Trailing 9-4, the Jackrabbits put together a rally in the ninth inning, scoring twice. The first run scored on a groundout and Tony Martin capped the scoring with a single up the middle to score Blake.
The Jackrabbits held a 14-10 advantage in hits, with Blake, Martin and Stitz collecting three hits each. McCallum ended the game 3-for-4 with three runs scored to lead Minnesota, which also received two hits apiece from Matt Nohelty and A.J. Pettersen.
Eight different pitchers worked one inning each for the Jackrabbits. Senior left-hander Caleb Thielbar notched his 39th career start, tying him with Billy McMacken (1987-90) atop the Jackrabbit career charts. Isaac Johnson, who pitched the fourth inning, took the loss in his first decision of the season.
Scott Fern, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief for Minnesota, was credited with the victory. Golden Gopher starter Dustin Klabunde worked the first four innings, giving up four runs and 10 hits.
PRICE ERA BEGINS: SDSU enters a new era of leadership as the Jackrabbits will play the 2009 season under interim head coach Ritchie Price.
Price served as infield and third base coach for the Jackrabbits in 2008, and was elevated to interim head coach following the resignation of Reggie Christiansen in June 2008.
A native of San Luis Obispo, Calif., Price has been around college baseball nearly his entire life. His two brothers ? Ryne and Robby ? have played at the University of Kansas, where their father, Ritch, is currently the head baseball coach.
Ritchie Price also played at Kansas, setting Jayhawk career records for games played (255), at bats (1,022), hits (312), runs scored (204), sacrifices (35) and hit by pitches (53). Price's graduating class owns the most wins of any class in Kansas baseball history.
In 2006, Price helped lead the Jayhawks to a Big 12 championship, as Kansas went 4-0 to win the conference title. After earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, Price's squad went 1-2, earning a win over Hawaii in the opening game.
Price was one of the ironmen of college baseball, starting 252 consecutive games at shortstop. Although no official records are kept by the NCAA, his streak likely ranks among the best in college baseball history. He was a four-time all-Big 12 selection, and was named the conference's best defensive shortstop in 2004 by Baseball America.
Following his highly successful career with the Jayhawks, Price was an 18th-round draft pick of the New York Mets in Major League Baseball's first-year player draft. Not only did Price play rookie ball with the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League, but he also spent a week in Class A, playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League.
Price graduated from Kansas in 2007 with a degree in communication studies.
SUMMIT LEAGUE RACE: South Dakota State has been picked to finish fourth in the eight-team Summit League race, according to a preseason poll conducted by the league's coaches.
SDSU received one first-place vote and 30 points, while defending conference champion Oral Roberts was picked to win its 12th consecutive Summit League title with seven first-place votes and 49 points.
Southern Utah was picked second with 49 points, followed by Centenary in third place with 35.
Rounding out the fifth through eighth spots were: Western Illinois (29), Oakland (17), IPFW (13) and North Dakota State (11).
TRANSITION OVER: The NCAA Division I Management Council Administrative Committee, acting on behalf of the DI Management Council, announced in late June 2008 that South Dakota State University has met the requirements to become an active member of NCAA Division I, starting at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year.
Previously a member of Division II, SDSU successfully completed the five-year process of moving its athletics programs to comply with Division I membership requirements. Requirements include compliance with Division I rules for the final four years, meeting minimum financial aid and contest scheduling limits, engaging in a rules compliance review and successfully completing the athletics certification process.
SDSU officials submitted an extensive self-study to the NCAA in the spring of 2007 and a peer-review team completed the study during a campus visit in October 2007.
CAREER UPDATES: Several Jackrabbit players are moving up the career charts in the pitching and fielding categories this season.
Senior left-hander Caleb Thielbar is poised to put his name atop several pitching categories in the coming weeks. Thielbar, who has come out of the bullpen in four of his last five appearances, took over the career lead in innings pitched two weeks ago at Centenary, passing Trevor Schulte's career mark of 218.1 innings set from 1991-94. Thielbar enters the weekend with 229.2 innings pitched.
With one more start, the Randolph, Minn., native will break a tie with Billy McMacken (1987-90) for most career starts with 39. In addition, Thielbar is currently fifth in career appearances with 54 and joined the Jackrabbit top 10 for career victories with his victory at Centenary on April 4. He enters the weekend with a 17-17 career record, tying him for eighth with four others on the career victories chart.
Reliever Kirby Morsching begins the weekend ranked tied for third in career appearances with 58. Morsching also ranks in a tie with Brandon Groebner (1994-97) for sixth place on the Jackrabbit career saves chart with eight.
Fellow senior right-hander Isaac Johnson is tied with Morsching for third place in career appearances with 58. Johnson is expected to rejoin the starting rotation this weekend, after making five consecutive relief appearances.
In the fielding department, senior catcher Tony Martin vaulted into fifth place in career putouts with 671. In the past week, Martin moved past Russ Langer (643 putouts from 1998-2001), Chris Studer (648 from 1999-2002) and Josh Guse (663 from 1997-2000). Next on the list is Ryan Krogman, who recorded 814 putouts from 1991-94.
CANADIAN CONNECTION: SDSU has received some strong performances at the plate from a pair of Canadian newcomers. Jesse Sawyer and Joel Blake currently rank among the top four hitters on the team this season.
Sawyer, from Calgary, Alberta, leads the team with four home runs, while ranking second with 16 runs batted in and fourth among regulars with a .287 batting average. Sawyer, who has seen action at designated hitter, first base and third base, was named Summit League Player of the Week on March 16. His three-run home run with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of the Missouri State series finale on March 11 tied the game at 6-all, a game SDSU eventually won 7-6 in 12 innings. Sawyer also hit a two-run home run that stood up as the difference in the Jackrabbits' 4-2 victory March 15 at Creighton (Neb.).
Blake, a native of Langely, British Columbia, has been a consistent hitter this season, ranking third on the team with a .297 average and tied for second in home runs with two. He has put together separate hitting streaks of seven and six games so far this season.
Two other Canadians are on the roster this year: freshman infielder Daniel Marra (Toronto), freshman outfielder Daniel Telford (Newmarket, Ont.).
MORE FROM MARTIN: Senior catcher Tony Martin has picked up where he left off offensively from a season ago, when he posted the second-highest batting average by a Jackrabbit player in the Division I era.
Martin, who hit .365 in 2008, again leads the team with a .333 average this season. A starter in all 27 games this season, he also leads the team with 35 hits and shares the team lead with seven doubles.
The Omaha native also has an outside chance to reach the 200-hit plateau this season. He enters weekend play with 162 career hits.
THE ROSTER: The 2009 SDSU baseball roster features 28 players from 11 different states plus Canada. Of the 28 players, six are from South Dakota, five are from Minnesota, three hail from Iowa, with two each from California and Texas. Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oregon are represented by one player each. In addition, four players are from Canada. By class, seven are seniors, five are juniors, seven are sophomores and nine are incoming freshmen.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to make up a doubleheader with the University of North Dakota on Monday, April 20. The twinbill is set for a 2 p.m. start at Erv Huether Field.
From there, SDSU will play its final Summit League road series of the season, traveling to Macomb, Ill., for a four-game set April 24-26 at Western Illinois.
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