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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jackrabbits close regular season with SUU
5/13/2009 12:45:00 PM | Baseball
The South Dakota State University baseball team will attempt to lock up a berth in next week's Summit League postseason tournament when it opens a four-game series Thursday afternoon against Southern Utah.
The Jackrabbits enter the final weekend of regular season play with a magic number of 1 ? needing only one victory or one North Dakota State loss to clinch a spot in the four-team Summit League Championship May 21-23 in Tulsa, Okla. SDSU has won 11 of its last 12 Summit League games to up its league record to 14-9 and overall mark to 21-27.
Southern Utah has already clinched a spot in the Summit League Championship and remains in contention for the No. 1 seed. The Thunderbirds come into the series with a 14-4 league mark, trailing Oral Roberts (15-2) in the league standings. Overall, SUU has posted a 25-19 record.
Thursday's series opener is set for a 3 p.m. start at Erv Huether Field. A doubleheader is slated for a noon start on Friday, with Saturday's series finale scheduled for an 11 a.m. start.
Daily admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children grades K-12.
JACKRABBITS ONLINE: Fans can follow this week's action through a variety of multimedia options at GoJacks.com, the official website of South Dakota State University Athletics.
Audio broadcasts of all four games will be available via the Jackrabbit Extra. Audio subscriptions can be purchased for $4.95 per month and will include all Jackrabbit baseball games for the remainder of the season.
The broadcasts originate from KJJQ ESPN Radio 910 AM in Brookings, with Dellas Cole calling the play-by-play. Pre-game shows both over the air and online begin 15 minutes before scheduled first pitch.
Fans also can follow the action via Live Stats by clicking on the Multimedia tab at GoJacks.com.
THE SERIES: Thursday's series opener will mark the fifth time SDSU and Southern Utah have met on the baseball diamond.
The Thunderbirds hold a 3-1 series advantage after the two squads met in a four-game series last April in Cedar City, Utah. SUU won the opener, 11-9, before the Jackrabbits claimed the second game of the series by a 7-5 count. Southern Utah closed out the series with 3-2 and 6-2 victories.
SUU went on to turn in second-place finishes in both the regular season race and postseason tournament during the 2008 campaign.
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.
LAST WEEKEND: The Jackrabbits moved a step closer to a postseason tournament bid by winning three of four games against IPFW at Erv Huether Field.
SDSU extended its Summit League winning streak to nine games with a rain-shortened 7-0 victory in the series opener on May 8.
Jesse Sawyer hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Jackrabbits the lead, and Sam Pieczynski and Mike Robinson combined on the five-inning shutout.
The Jackrabbits' winning streak was snapped in the opening game of a doubleheader on May 9, falling 7-5 to the Mastodons. SDSU could not come up with a clutch hit in the late innings, tying a season-high by stranding 13 baserunners in the game.
Joel Blake was 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles in a losing effort, while Eric Cain was 3-for-4.
SDSU came back with a vengeance in the nitecap, scoring a season high for runs and matching a season high with 21 hits in a 20-6 victory.
Sawyer, who was 4-for-4 with six RBI and four runs scored, hit a three-run home run as part of a six-run fifth inning. For Sawyer, it was his 17th round-tripper of the season, tying the Jackrabbit single-season mark set in 1993 by Terry Van Engelenhoven.
Jesse Ayala also was 4-for-4 for the Jackrabbits, doubling twice, scoring three times and knocking in three runs. Blake and Stitz each notched three hits, with all three of Stitz's hits going for doubles. As a team, SDSU set a season high with eight doubles.
In the series finale on May 10, Caleb Thielbar pitched six shutout innings and South Dakota State put together a balanced offensive attack. The Jackrabbits' 16 hits were spread among eight different players with two hits each. Stephen Turner drove in three runs, while Sawyer added a pair of RBI.
For the weekend, the Jackrabbits out-hit IPFW .434 to .237, out-scoring the Mastodons by a 43-16 margin.
DOUBLE THE FUN: Twice in the last two weeks the Jackrabbit baseball team has set a season high for doubles in a game.
SDSU set a season high with seven doubles in the opening game of a four-game series against Oakland (Mich.) on May 1. The Jackrabbits then tallied eight doubles in a seven-inning game versus IPFW on May 9.
In the IPFW series, the Jackrabbits racked up 19 doubles as a team. Joel Blake led the way with seven doubles, upping his season total to a team-best 18. Billy Stitz added six two-baggers in the series.
SAWYER SIZZLING: South Dakota State University third baseman Jesse Sawyer received regional and national accolades following an impressive week at the plate for the Jackrabbit baseball team from April 20-26.
Named the Summit League Player of the Week on April 27, Sawyer also was 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 during the 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.
Sawyer and the Jackrabbits received more national attention when they were featured in a college baseball notebook on ESPN.com late last week. To read the article, use the following URL: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4150738
TGIF: Friday's have been very good to the Jackrabbit baseball team in recent weeks as SDSU has opened each of its last four series with strong offensive showings.
In winning its last four Summit League series openers, all of which have been played on a Friday, SDSU has scored a combined 60 runs (19 vs. North Dakota State, 19 at Western Illinois, 15 vs. Oakland and seven in a rain-shortened game against IPFW).
Three Jackrabbits are hitting over .500 in those last four Friday games. Tony Martin leads the way with a .611 batting average (11-for-18), while Joel Blake has hit a combined .600 (12-for-20) with six home runs, four doubles, 14 RBI and 12 runs scored. Jesse Sawyer has added a .533 batting average (8-for-15) with three home runs and seven runs batted in.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: SDSU has put up some big offensive numbers during their recent Summit League turnaround.
Winners of 11 of their last 12 league games, the Jackrabbits have out-scored the opponents by a 149-74 margin, hit .431 (191-of-443) as a team and tallied 30 home runs.
Individually, Tony Martin has led SDSU with a .532 batting average (25-for-47), with Joel Blake hitting .491 (28-for-57) with seven home runs and 21 runs batted in, along with a 1.035 slugging percentage.
As a team, the Jackrabbits have slugged .747 in their last 12 games, with Jesse Sawyer leading the way with a 1.040 slugging percentage.
Eight of the nine regular starters are now hitting .300 or better for the season. Only starting center fielder Billy Stitz is below the .300 mark, checking in with a .297 average.
THREE FOR THREE: Three weeks, three different players of the week for the South Dakota State University baseball team.
Jackrabbit outfielder/designated hitter Joel Blake took his turn at being honored as Summit League Player of the Week, league officials announced Monday.
A sophomore from Langley, British Columbia, Blake helped lead the Jackrabbits to a 3-1 record last weekend against IPFW. In the four-game series, Blake hit a team-best .611 (11-for-18) with six runs scored and six RBI. Of his 11 hits, seven were doubles and one was a home run. Blake doubled in every game against the Mastodons, including hitting two doubles in each of the last three contests.
Blake joins Jesse Sawyer (April 27) and Stephen Turner (May 4) as recent winners of the Summit League weekly award.
Turner had his 15-game hitting streak snapped in the opening game of a May 9 doubleheader against IPFW. In hitting safely in 17 of his last 18 games, Turner has compiled a team-best .438 batting average with seven home runs, 31 runs batted in and a .795 slugging percentage.
LEE LOCKED IN: After a slow start to the 2009 season, Jackrabbit right fielder John Lee has turned into 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 26 games, including 25 starts, since April 1, Lee has raised his batting average by 128 points to .320 by going 45-of-120 (.375) at the plate with nine doubles, three triples, six home runs and 25 runs batted in while batting second in the lineup. He enters the weekend with the team's longest hitting streak at 11 games.
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 , Pieczynski has won five of his last six decisions to up his season record to 5-3.
Last weekend, Pieczynski showed her versatility by pitching eight shutout innings over two appearances against IPFW. Working under a pre-determined pitch count, he threw the first three innings of the series opener on May 9. He came back the next day with five shutout innings during a relief appearance in the first game of a doubleheader.
For the week, Pieczynski struck out eight, walked only one batter and scattered six hits. He leads the team with five victories and ranks second on the team in appearances (18) and strikeouts (40).
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 30 of the team's last 32 games and 41 overall.
After tallying only one run batted in over his first 75 collegiate at-bats, Cain has driven in 12 runs in his last 66 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 17 home runs, 53 runs scored and a .685 slugging percentage, while ranking fourth with a .331 batting average (100 AB minimum). 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 10 home runs. Blake set a Jackrabbit season high by hitting three home runs in the series opener at Western Illinois on April 24 and added two against Oakland on May 1.
Two other Canadians are on the roster this year: freshman infielder Daniel Marra (Toronto), freshman outfielder Daniel Telford (Newmarket, Ont.).
MORE FROM MARTIN: Senior 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 .373 average this season while recently splitting time between left field and catcher. A starter in all 48 games this season, he also leads the team with 69 hits and shares the team lead with four triples.
The Omaha native is on pace to reach the 200-hit plateau for his career this weekend, and would become the 12th player in SDSU history to reach the milestone. He enters the series with 196 career hits, and also could challenge for the Jackrabbit single-season record of 77 hits set by Matt Hanson in 2002.
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 257, 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 42nd career start against May 10 against IPFW.
In addition, Thielbar is currently fourth in career appearances with 61 and joined the Jackrabbit top 10 for career victories with his victory at Centenary on April 4. He enters the weekend with an 19-18 career record, tying him for sixth with McMacken on the career victories chart. Thielbar also has moved into third place in career strikeouts with 173, passing Steve Mousel (163 strikeouts from 1971-75) two weeks ago. Thielbar leads the staff this season with 77 strikeouts in 70 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 63. Johnson is 3-1 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 fifth 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/outfielder Tony Martin has vaulted into fifth place in career putouts with 747. In the past month, 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: Should SDSU qualify for the The Summit League Championships, the double-elimination tournament is set for May 21-23 in Tulsa, Okla.
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