Upcoming Event: Baseball at UTSA on February 13, 2026 at 4 p.m.
/
4 p.m.
Baseball
at UTSA
South Dakota State University Athletics
Sunday, May 3
Huether Field
11 a.m.
South Dakota State University
8
vs
5
Oakland (Mich.)
SDSU finishes off sweep of Oakland
5/3/2009 3:30:00 PM | Baseball
Stephen Turner hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning and South Dakota State added a pair of solo shots in the eighth as the Jackrabbit baseball team completed a four-game sweep of Oakland (Mich.), 8-5, Sunday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
With their eighth consecutive league victory, the Jackrabbits improved to 11-8 in The Summit League to solidify their hold on fourth place in the league standings. Overall, SDSU upped its record to 18-26.
Oakland dropped to 16-27 overall, 7-13 in The Summit League.
The Golden Grizzlies took a 2-0 lead against SDSU starter Mike Robinson in the top of the first on run-scoring singles by Scott Sexton and Dan Ryan. OU made it 3-0 in the fifth as Andrew Stafford hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot to left field off reliever Trever Vermeulen.
SDSU tied the game in home half of the fifth on an opposite-field three-run home run by Jesse Sawyer. For Sawyer, it was his team-leading 15th home run of the season.
The Jackrabbits took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Ayala that scored Eric Cain.
Oakland regained the lead with a two-run seventh inning. Traub drove in Stafford with a sacrifice fly and Ryan followed two batters later with a solo home run to right field off Caleb Thielbar.
Tony Martin led off the seventh inning with a walk, setting the stage for Turner. After striking out against OU reliever Kasey Kearcher in the late innings on Saturday, Turner got his revenge by hitting a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right-center field to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Thielbar retired the side in order in the eighth, and the Jackrabbits went back to work offensively. John Lee, who was 3-for-3, led off the inning with a home run to right center and Martin followed two batters later with another solo shot to nearly the exact same spot to provide for the final margin.
Eric Cain also collected three hits for the Jackrabbits, while Billy Stitz added a pair of singles.
Oakland, which out-hit SDSU 14-12, was led by D.J. Jarrad's three hits. Five different Golden Grizzlies notched two hits each.
Thielbar worked the final four innings to earn the victory. The senior left-hander gave up six hit, but struck out four.
Kyle Teague started for Oakland, recording 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed six hits and walked three.
SDSU returns to action Friday, opening a four-game home series against IPFW. First pitch Friday is set for 3 p.m. at Erv Huether Field.
NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series with Oakland, 5-0 ... as a team, the Jackrabbits hit .424 (61-of-144) in the series, with Cain leading the individuals with a .667 batting average (8-for-12) ... SDSU hit 10 home runs in the series ... Lee added a .556 average (10-for-18) in the series to up his hitting streak to seven games ... during their eight-game Summit League winning streak, the Jackrabbits have outscored their opponents 106-58 and have hit 26 round-trippers ... Thielbar's victory was the 19th of his career, tying him for sixth place on the Jackrabbit career charts with Billy McMacken (1987-90) ... Thielbar also moved into third place on the SDSU career strikeouts list with 165, passing Steve Mousel (163 from 1971-75) on Sunday
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 8, OAKLAND 5
OU 200 010 200 5-14-1
SDSU 000 031 22X 8-12-0
OU: Kyle Teague, Kasey Kearcher (6), Mark Leichtman (7), Jake Arendsen (8), Connor Mielock (8) and Ryan Waldhart. SDSU: Mike Robinson, Trever Vermeulen (5), Caleb Thielbar (6) and Zach Briggs, Tony Martin (8).
W-Thielbar (3-7). L-Kearcher (0-3).
HR: OU-Andrew Stafford (6), Dan Ryan (3); SDSU-Jesse Sawyer (15), Stephen Turner (8), John Lee (6), Tony Martin (3).
With their eighth consecutive league victory, the Jackrabbits improved to 11-8 in The Summit League to solidify their hold on fourth place in the league standings. Overall, SDSU upped its record to 18-26.
Oakland dropped to 16-27 overall, 7-13 in The Summit League.
The Golden Grizzlies took a 2-0 lead against SDSU starter Mike Robinson in the top of the first on run-scoring singles by Scott Sexton and Dan Ryan. OU made it 3-0 in the fifth as Andrew Stafford hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot to left field off reliever Trever Vermeulen.
SDSU tied the game in home half of the fifth on an opposite-field three-run home run by Jesse Sawyer. For Sawyer, it was his team-leading 15th home run of the season.
The Jackrabbits took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Ayala that scored Eric Cain.
Oakland regained the lead with a two-run seventh inning. Traub drove in Stafford with a sacrifice fly and Ryan followed two batters later with a solo home run to right field off Caleb Thielbar.
Tony Martin led off the seventh inning with a walk, setting the stage for Turner. After striking out against OU reliever Kasey Kearcher in the late innings on Saturday, Turner got his revenge by hitting a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right-center field to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Thielbar retired the side in order in the eighth, and the Jackrabbits went back to work offensively. John Lee, who was 3-for-3, led off the inning with a home run to right center and Martin followed two batters later with another solo shot to nearly the exact same spot to provide for the final margin.
Eric Cain also collected three hits for the Jackrabbits, while Billy Stitz added a pair of singles.
Oakland, which out-hit SDSU 14-12, was led by D.J. Jarrad's three hits. Five different Golden Grizzlies notched two hits each.
Thielbar worked the final four innings to earn the victory. The senior left-hander gave up six hit, but struck out four.
Kyle Teague started for Oakland, recording 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed six hits and walked three.
SDSU returns to action Friday, opening a four-game home series against IPFW. First pitch Friday is set for 3 p.m. at Erv Huether Field.
NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series with Oakland, 5-0 ... as a team, the Jackrabbits hit .424 (61-of-144) in the series, with Cain leading the individuals with a .667 batting average (8-for-12) ... SDSU hit 10 home runs in the series ... Lee added a .556 average (10-for-18) in the series to up his hitting streak to seven games ... during their eight-game Summit League winning streak, the Jackrabbits have outscored their opponents 106-58 and have hit 26 round-trippers ... Thielbar's victory was the 19th of his career, tying him for sixth place on the Jackrabbit career charts with Billy McMacken (1987-90) ... Thielbar also moved into third place on the SDSU career strikeouts list with 165, passing Steve Mousel (163 from 1971-75) on Sunday
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 8, OAKLAND 5
OU 200 010 200 5-14-1
SDSU 000 031 22X 8-12-0
OU: Kyle Teague, Kasey Kearcher (6), Mark Leichtman (7), Jake Arendsen (8), Connor Mielock (8) and Ryan Waldhart. SDSU: Mike Robinson, Trever Vermeulen (5), Caleb Thielbar (6) and Zach Briggs, Tony Martin (8).
W-Thielbar (3-7). L-Kearcher (0-3).
HR: OU-Andrew Stafford (6), Dan Ryan (3); SDSU-Jesse Sawyer (15), Stephen Turner (8), John Lee (6), Tony Martin (3).
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
1B
/ Baseball
RHP
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