Jackrabbits rally to sweep twinbill

Saturday, May 2

Huether Field

12 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oakland (Mich.)

5/2/2009 7:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

Zach Briggs dumped a two-run single down the right field line to plate the game-winning run in a four-run seventh inning as South Dakota State finished off a doubleheader sweep of Oakland (Mich.) with a 6-5 victory in Summit League baseball action Saturday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

The Jackrabbits, who won Saturday's opener 12-4, improved to 17-26 overall and 10-8 in Summit League play. SDSU has won seven consecutive league games.

Oakland, meanwhile, dropped to 16-26 overall, 7-12 in The Summit League.

Trailing 5-2 entering their last at-bat, the Jackrabbit rally started when Billy Stitz led off the seventh with a walk against reliever Dan Augustine. Joel Blake followed with a home run to center field to pull SDSU within a run. For Blake, it was his third home run of the series and ninth of the season.

John Lee followed re-started the rally with a single and Jesse Sawyer followed with a double to left center that put runners at second and third with no outs. Kasey Kearcher then entered the game for Oakland and issued a walk to Tony Martin to load the bases. Kearcher was able to strike out Stephen Turner for the first out of the inning, but that only set the stage for Briggs' heroics.

Oakland led the entire game until the bottom of the seventh. Andrew Stafford put the Golden Grizzlies on the board with a solo home run in the first inning, and OU made it 2-0 later in the frame on an RBI double by Jonathan Zalenski that scored Taylor Traub.

The Golden Grizzlies made it 3-0 in the top of the third on a Traub run-scoring single.

SDSU made it a 3-2 game in the home half of the third on Jesse Sawyer's 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot to right center.

Oakland stretched its lead back to three runs in the fifth inning as Tommy Jablonski scored from second base on a wild pitch and Traub later beat a throw home on a play at the plate later in the at-bat.

Jackrabbit freshman Layne Somsen went the distance to earn his first collegiate victory. The Yankton native gave up eight hits, walked three and struck out two.

Augustine took the loss despite an impressive beginning to his relief outing. The right-hander entered the game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and a two-ball count to Jesse Ayala before battling back to record a strikeout.

OU starter Aaron Wick scattered six hits, while walking three and striking out five in his 5 2/3 innings of work.

Blake, Sawyer and Eric Cain each had two of SDSU's 10 hits. Stafford and Traub led Oakland with two hits apiece. The Golden Grizzlies tallied eight hits as a team.

In the opener, the Jackrabbits scored in every inning but the fourth in cruising to a 12-4 victory.

Turner singled in the first run of the game and led off the third inning with a solo home run. The senior first baseman was a double away from the cycle as he went 4-for-5.

SDSU broke the game open in the second inning, scoring four times. Lee doubled in the first two runs and Martin added a run-scoring single. Lee scored the final run of the inning on the back end of a double steal.

Lee, who was 4-for-6 and drove in four runs, added run-scoring hits in the fifth and eighth innings, while Ayala added two RBI on a solo home run to lead off the seventh and a single to center field in the eighth.

Ayala was 3-for-4 as part of the Jackrabbits' 18-hit attack, while Blake was 3-for-5.

Jackrabbit pitchers limited Oakland to six hits in the game, including two by Traub. Starter Isaac Johnson faced the minimum number of hitters through the first four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth. Johnson walked the bases loaded before Rob Merkle delivered a sacrifice fly and Tim Ryan added an RBI double.

Johnson walked five before giving way to Sam Pieczynski, who started Friday's series opener. Pieczynski followed his three-inning stint on Friday with 3 2/3 innings of one-run ball on Saturday, striking out four batters en route to his fourth win of the season.

Oakland starter Greg Welke gave up eight runs and 11 hits in his five innings. The right-hander walked five and struck out three in falling to 4-5 on the season.

The two teams will wrap up their four-game series Sunday morning, starting at 11 a.m. at Erv Huether Field.

NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series against Oakland, 4-0 ... Turner extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an infield single in the sixth inning of Game 2 ... Ayala had his hitting streak end at 12 games in Game 2 ... the Jackrabbits are 11-7 in doubleheader games this season, recording three sweeps and five splits, while being swept once ... SDSU improved to 12-0 when hitting two or more home runs in a game this season ... the Jackrabbits turned three double plays in the opener

Game 1: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 12, OAKLAND 4
OU    000    021    001    4-6-2
SDSU    141    021    12X    12-18-1
OU: Greg Welke, Mark Leichtman (6), Shane McCatty (8) and John Estes. SDSU: Isaac Johnson, Sam Pieczynski (5), Blaine Alberta (9) and Zach Briggs, Tony Martin (7).
W-Pieczynski (4-3). L-Welke (4-5).
HR: SDSU-Stephen Turner (7), Jesse Ayala (3).

Game 2: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 6, OAKLAND 5
OU    201    020    0    5-8-0
SDSU    002    000    4    6-10-0
OU: Aaron Wick, Dan Augustine (6), Kasey Kearcher (7) and Ryan Waldhart. SDSU: Layne Somsen and Zach Briggs.
W-Somsen (1-7). L-Augustine (1-2)
HR: OU-Andrew Stafford (5); SDSU-Jesse Sawyer (14), Joel Blake (9).