Upcoming Event: Baseball at UTSA on February 13, 2026 at 4 p.m.
/
4 p.m.
Baseball
at UTSA
South Dakota State University Athletics
Jacks host Oakland for four games
4/30/2009 9:00:00 PM | Baseball
The South Dakota State University baseball team will attempt to maintain its advantage for the fourth and final playoff spot in The Summit League race, hosting Oakland in a four-game weekend series.
The series gets under way at 2 p.m. Friday at Erv Huether Field on the SDSU campus. The two teams are scheduled to play a noon doubleheader on Saturday, with Sunday's series finale starting at 11 a.m.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children in grades K-12.
Saturday's doubleheader has been designated as “Feed the Fans” day at the ballpark. The first 300 fans will receive a free hamburger and drink courtesy of Burger King.
SDSU enters the key weekend series with a 14-26 overall mark, including a 7-8 record within The Summit League. The Jackrabbits swept a four-game series at Western Illinois last weekend, vaulting from seventh place in the league standings into a percentage-points lead for fourth place.
Oakland enters the weekend a half-game behind SDSU in the league standings at 7-9, after splitting a four-game series at Southern Utah last weekend. Overall, the Golden Grizzlies are 16-23 following a doubleheader sweep of non-conference opponent Toledo (Ohio) on Wednesday.
THE SERIES: Friday's series opener will mark only the second game SDSU and Oakland have played in baseball.
The Jackrabbits won the only meeting, 8-5, on April 11, 2008, in Rochester, Mich. The final three games of the scheduled series were wiped out due to rain and a security threat on the Oakland campus.
In the lone meeting, SDSU scored three times in the top of the ninth inning to earn the victory. The first four Jackrabbit hitters in the ninth inning reached base. Tim Hanigan led off the frame by being hit by a pitch, then moved to third on a single to right center by Korby Mintken. Hanigan scored the eventual game-winning run on a single up the middle by Tyson Fisher, and Craig Parry plated Mintken with another base hit. The final run of the inning scored on a double-play grounder.
Kirby Morsching worked around a two-out hit in the bottom of the ninth to earn the save. Caleb Thielbar pitched the first six innings before giving way to Matt Baerlocher, who was credited with the victory.
ALUMNI WEEKEND: Jackrabbit baseball alumni will be recognized during Saturday's doubleheader. The group of former SDSU players also be taking part in several other events during the day, including a golf scramble in the morning and an evening social.
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 was 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.
EARLIER THIS WEEK: Robbie Knight and Vicente Cafaro each hit home runs in the fifth inning, lifting Creighton to a 5-2 victory over South Dakota State in non-conference baseball action Tuesday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
The visiting Bluejays improved to 24-18 on the season, and claimed the season series by a 3-1 count. SDSU, which had its season-best seven-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 14-26 overall.
The Jackrabbits got on the board first, scoring an unearned run in the third inning. Beau Hanowski reached on an error and came around to score on John Lee's second double of the game. SDSU added a run in the fourth inning as freshman Eric Cain led off his second home run of the season.
Creighton cracked the scoring column in the top of the fifth as Knight hit a leadoff homer to left field off Jackrabbit reliever Sam Pieczynski. After Darin Ruf singled with one out, Cafaro followed with a two-run shot to put the Bluejays in the lead at 3-2.
The Bluejays added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning. Ruf walked to lead off the frame and scored on T.J. Roemmich's triple to the right-center gap. Roemmich later scored on a sacrifice fly.
SDSU put together a rally in the ninth inning, sending the tying run to the plate. Pinch-hitter Joel Blake led off with a walk and Jesse Ayala singled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. However, Creighton reliever Jack VanLeur retired the next three Jackrabbit hitters to record the save.
For the game, SDSU stranded 10 runners while Creighton left eight men on base. Stephen Turner also extended his hitting streak to 10 games for the Jackrabbits.
A Brandon native and the NCAA leader in appearances with 29, VanLeur pitched the final two innings, walking one and striking out two. Jeremy Hauer, who threw only one-third of an inning, was credited with the victory after pitching out of a two-out jam in the fourth. Six different pitchers saw mound duty for the Bluejays.
Caleb Thielbar started for SDSU. The senior left-hander worked around four walks and a hit to pitch three scoreless innings.
SAWYER SIZZLING: South Dakota State University third baseman Jesse Sawyer is receiving regional and national accolades following an impressive week at the plate for the Jackrabbit baseball team.
The reigning Summit League Player of the Week, Sawyer has been recognized by College Baseball Insider as its Central Region Player of the Week and was named a member of the National All-Star Lineup by the College Baseball Foundation. In addition, Sawyer was honored by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as its National Co-Hitter of the Week.
A sophomore from Calgary, Alberta, and a product of the Prairie Baseball Academy, Sawyer homered in six of the Jackrabbits' eight games last week, including three two-home-run games. In leading SDSU to a 7-1 record, Sawyer hit .500 (14-for-28) with nine home runs and 15 runs batted in, tallying a 1.536 slugging percentage. He also walked seven times for a .641 on-base percentage and scored 19 runs.
Sawyer put together a streak of five consecutive games with a home run ? one shy of the school record. He homered in all four games of home-and-home doubleheaders against North Dakota on April 20 and 22, and extended his streak in the opening game of a four-game series at Summit League opponent Western Illinois on April 24. He closed the WIU series with two home runs on April 26.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: The Jackrabbits put up some big offensive numbers in their sweep of Western Illinois, scoring double figures for runs in all four games.
As a team, the Jackrabbits scored 65 runs, posted a .436 team batting average and hit 16 home runs.
Individually, Tony Martin led SDSU with a .667 batting average (12-for-18), with Stephen Turner hitting .550 (11-for-20) with four home runs and 16 runs batted in, tallying a 1.250 slugging percentage. As a team, the Jackrabbits slugged .828 in the four games.
STREAKING: The players manning the right side of the Jackrabbit infield each bring season-best 10-game hitting streaks into Friday's series opener against Oakland.
Senior first baseman Stephen Turner is batting a team-best .429 (18-of-42) over the last 10 games with five home runs and 19 runs batted in. Turner's slugging percentage in that span is .833.
Fellow senior, Jesse Ayala, has compiled a .424 batting average (14-of-33), tallying two home runs and six RBI while starting the last nine games at second base.
AWESOME APRIL: After a slow start to the 2009 season, Jackrabbit right fielder John Lee has been one of the team's most consistent hitters in recent weeks.
The Mason City, Iowa, native entered the month of April batting only .192. In 22 games, including 21 starts, during the month of April, Lee raised his batting average by exactly 100 points by going 30-of-85 (.353) at the plate with six doubles, three triples, five home runs and 16 runs batted in. He tallied a .671 slugging percentage during the month and scored 23 times.
Lee began his collegiate career at Nebraska before returning home to play at North Iowa Area Community College.
PIECZYNSKI IN NEW ROLE: South Dakota State right-hander Sam Pieczynski has made the transition from setup man to starter during the 2009 season.
A junior from Des Moines, Iowa, Pieczynski made 22 career relief appearances before making his first career start at Centenary (La.) on April 4. After losing his first two decisions of the season, Pieczynski has turned in back-to-back winning performances. Working under a pre-determined pitch count, he pitched the first three innings of the April 17 game against North Dakota State, then pitched a career-best 6 1/3 innings in an April 20 victory over North Dakota.
Pieczynski is the scheduled starter for the series opener on Friday.
PITCHING PROWESS: Despite earning only a split of the four-game series against North Dakota State April 17-19, the Jackrabbit pitching staff put together its best series of the season.
SDSU did not allow more than three runs in any of the four games, compiling a team earned-run aveerage of 1.06 over 34 innings of work. Jackrabbit pitchers surrendered only 23 hits as the Bison batted only .187 for the series. In addition, SDSU hurlers combined for 24 strikeouts and only seven bases on balls.
In the series finale, senior left-hander Caleb Thielbar struck out a career-high 12 batters and walked only one in a losing effort.
Freshman Layne Somsen pitched the first complete game by a Jackrabbit this season in the second game of a doubleheader on April 18. The Yankton native allowed only one unearned run over seven innings, striking out four and walking four.
In the first game of the twinbill, Isaac Johnson mark his return to the starting rotation by giving up only one run in six innings. Johnson struck out two and walked one, while giving up four hits.
SDSU opened the series with a 19-0 victory over North Dakota State. Five pitchers combined on the first Jackrabbit shutout of the season: Sam Pieczynski worked the first three innings, followed by two innings each by Mike Robinson and Blaine Alberta. Trever Vermeulen and Matt Spinar worked the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
GRAND ENTRANCE: Freshman Zach Briggs hit the first grand slam by a Jackrabbit player this season, capping the scoring in SDSU's 19-0 rout of North Dakota State on April 17.
Briggs' eighth-inning blast also was his first collegiate home run. He added his second home run of the season in the second game of the April 22 doubleheader at North Dakota.
Splitting time behind the plate and at designated hitter, Briggs has seen his playing time increase in recent weeks. His five RBI in the April 17 game versus North Dakota State set an individual career high.
CAIN IS ABLE: Freshman Eric Cain has taken over the starting shortstop duties for the Jackrabbits this season. The Littleton, Colo., native and graduate of Dakota Ridge High School has started 22 of the team's last 24 games and 33 overall.
After tallying only one run batted in over his first 75 collegiate at-bats, Cain has driven in 10 runs in his last 42 trips to the plate. He broke the drought with a 2-for-4, three-RBI day at the plate April 17 against North Dakota State and added a pair of hits and two RBI a day later against the Bison.
Cain hit his first career home run in the second game of the April 22 doubleheader at North Dakota, and added a solo shot April 28 versus Creighton.
CANADIAN CONNECTION: SDSU has received some strong performances at the plate from a pair of Canadian newcomers, Jesse Sawyer and Joel Blake.
Sawyer, from Calgary, Alberta, leads the team with 13 home runs, 39 runs scored and a .646 slugging percentage, while ranking third among regulars with a .313 batting average. Sawyer, who has seen action at designated hitter, first base, third base and left field, is a two-time Summit League Player of the Week (March 16, April 27). 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.
Blake, a native of Langely, British Columbia, was the team's most consistent hitter in the early going of the season, and currently is tied for second on the team with six home runs. Blake set a Jackrabbit season high by hitting three home runs in the series opener at Western Illinois on April 24.
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 .359 average this season. A starter in all 40 games this season, he also leads the team with 56 hits and 10 doubles, and shares the team lead with three triples.
The Omaha native also has a chance to reach the 200-hit plateau this season. He enters weekend play with 183 career hits.
CAREER UPDATES: Several Jackrabbit players are moving up the career charts in the pitching and fielding categories this season.
Senior left-hander Caleb Thielbar has put his name atop two career pitching categories in recent week weeks. Thielbar took over the career lead in innings pitched at the beginning of the month and enters the weekend with 245, passing Trevor Schulte's career mark of 218.1 innings set from 1991-94. With his start April 19 against North Dakota State, the Randolph, Minn., native broke a tie with Billy McMacken (39 from 1987-90) for most career starts. Thielbar made his 41st career start against Creighton on April 28.
In addition, Thielbar is currently tied for fourth in career appearances with 58 and joined the Jackrabbit top 10 for career victories with his victory at Centenary on April 4. He enters the weekend with a 17-18 career record, tying him for eighth with four others on the career victories chart. Thielbar also has moved into fourth place in career strikeouts with 159, passing both McMacken (156 from 1987-90) and Chad Coley (157 from 1990-93) last weekend. Thielbar leads the staff this season with 63 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings, including a career-best 12 in his April 19 start against North Dakota State.
Senior right-hander Isaac Johnson stands in third place for career appearances with 61. Johnson is 3-0 since rejoining the starting rotation against North Dakota State, after making five consecutive relief appearances.
Reliever and fellow senior Kirby Morsching begins the weekend ranked fourth in career appearances with 58. Morsching, who has been sidelined from pitching duties in recent weeks due to injury, also ranks in a tie with Brandon Groebner (1994-97) for sixth place on the Jackrabbit career saves chart with eight.
In the fielding department, senior catcher Tony Martin has vaulted into fifth place in career putouts with 720. In the past two weeks, 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.
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.
ON DECK: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to play the remainder of their regular season schedule at home, including a four-game series next weekend against IPFW.
Game times are set for 3 p.m. on May 8, noon for a May 9 doubleheader and 1 p.m. for the May 10 series finale.
For more information, download the entire release below.
Baseball Highlights vs Omaha (05.22.2025)
Thursday, May 22
Baseball Highlights vs Oral Roberts (05.21.2025)
Wednesday, May 21
Baseball Weekly Update (05.19.2025)
Monday, May 19
Baseball Highlights vs Oral Roberts (05.17.2025)
Saturday, May 17