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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jacks open baseball season Friday at Murray State
2/25/2010 5:00:00 PM | Baseball
For the second consecutive year, the South Dakota State University baseball team will open a new season with a three-game series at Murray State (Ky.).
Action begins at 2 p.m. Central Time Friday at Reagan Field in Murray, Ky. The series also will consist of games at 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Live statistics of all three games will be available at GoJacks.com.
During the 2009 season, SDSU compiled a 26-30 overall record, including a 17-10 record in Summit League play en route to a third-place regular season finish. The Jackrabbits advanced to the title series of the Currington Mortgage Summit League Championship postseason tournament.
Murray State, meanwhile, is off to a 3-0 start during the 2010 campaign. The Thoroughbreds swept a three-game series from Lipscomb last weekend in Nashville, Tenn. Murray State scored at least eight runs in each game, including a 16-6 victory in the middle game of the series.
The Thoroughbreds finished the 2009 season with a 34-21-1 overall record, including a 13-8-1 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference, where they finished second in the regular season league standings.
THE SERIES: The Jackrabbits and Murray State will meet in a three-game series for the third time in four seasons. The overall series is tied at three games apiece as SDSU won two of three games during the 2007 season, while the Thoroughbreds claimed two of three meetings in 2009.
All games have been played in Murray, Ky. Following are the series scores:
• March 9, 2007: SDSU 10, Murray State 7
• March 10, 2007: Murray State 4, SDSU 3 (10 inn.)
• March 10, 2007: SDSU 4, Murray State 3
• Feb. 20, 2009: Murray State 6, SDSU 3
• Feb. 22, 2009: Murray State 5, SDSU 3
• Feb. 22, 2009: SDSU 3, Murray State 2
COACHING CONNECTION: The Jackrabbits will face one of their own in the opposing dugout this weekend.
Murray State assistant coach/pitching coach Paul Wyczawski is a 1981 graduate of South Dakota State. A native of New Ulm, Minn., Wyczawski lettered in baseball as an outfielder for the Jackrabbits during the 1980 and 1981 seasons. He batted .337 and stole 15 bases as a member of head coach Erv Huether's teams.
SUMMIT LEAGUE RACE: South Dakota State has been picked to finish third in the eight-team Summit League race, according to a preseason poll conducted by the league's coaches.
Oral Roberts, the winner of the last 12 Summit League titles, received seven of eight first-place votes to earn the top spot in the poll with 49 points. Centenary (La.) was picked second with 39 points, followed by the Jackrabbits with 36 points, including one first-place vote.
Rounding out the poll were: Southern Utah (30), North Dakota State (27), Oakland (16), IPFW (14) and Western Illinois (13).
SEASON PREVIEW: The South Dakota State University baseball team enters the 2010 season with high expectations following a strong finish to the 2009 campaign.
The Jackrabbits, who compiled a 26-30 overall record a season ago, return six position starters plus several key members of their pitching staff under second-year head coach Ritchie Price.
Offensively, Price expects the Jackrabbits to pick up where they left a year ago as all nine regular starters finished the season hitting above .300, while the team set single-season records with 609 hits, 110 doubles and 948 total bases.
“I feel like there's 13 or 14 guys who can be put in the lineup under the right situation,” Price said.
Infield
The Jackrabbits face the task of replacing the right side of the infield, but return three regular starters.
The left side remains intact with the return of junior third baseman Jesse Sawyer and sophomore shortstop Eric Cain.
Sawyer made an immediate impact during his first season in the Jackrabbit lineup, setting single-season records with 19 home runs and 148 total bases en route to first-team all-Summit League recognition. He also led the team with 58 runs batted in, while batting .346 with a .701 slugging percentage.
Cain started 49 games during a solid freshman campaign in 2009, battng .302 with a pair of home runs and 16 RBI.
Joel Blake, who earned second-team all-Summit League honors as a left fielder last season, is the projected Opening Day starter at first base. Blake set a Jackrabbit single season record with 21 doubles and tied for the single-season hits mark with 80, while finishing the season with a .351 average, 13 home runs and 38 RBI from his leadoff position.
The second base position is up for grabs between senior Scott Hood and freshman Andrew Melton. Hood batted .213 in 33 games a season ago, while Melton was an all-state selection in the Colorado high school ranks.
Sophomore Daniel Marra also was expected to be in the mix for the starting nod at second base but suffered a hand injury that has his playing status for the 2010 season in doubt.
At catcher, Zach Briggs returns after splitting time behind the plate and designated hitter for the second half of the 2009 season. Briggs led the team with a .473 on-base percentage, while hitting .313 with six home runs and 29 RBI in 96 at-bats. Blake also is expected to see some time behind the plate, with freshman Nick Andrews also a candidate to catch and fill the DH duties.
Backing up at the corner infield positions are junior Erik DeJong, sophomore Jeff Fish and junior college transfer Zach Higgins.
Outfield
Starters Billy Stitz and John Lee anchor the group of Jackrabbit outfielders after posting solid seasons in 2009.
Stitz, a junior from Burnsville, Minn., returns to patrol center field for the third consecutive year. A solid defensive player who only committed one error last season, Stitz peaked at the plate late in the 2009 season to end the year with a .302 batting average, four home runs and 30 RBI. He also led the team with 13 stolen bases in 17 attempts.
Lee took over the starting role in right field last season, ending the campaign with a .305 batting average, six home runs and 27 runs batted in.
With Blake moving to first base, the left field spot is expected to be up for grabs between sophomore Beau Hanowski and newcomer Zach Rhodes. Hanowski started 15 of the 37 games in which he played during the 2009 season, batting .244 with 13 RBI.
The left-handed hitting Rhodes is a product of the Prairie Baseball Academy in his native Canada, joining fellow PBA alums Blake and Sawyer on the Jackrabbit roster.
Redshirt freshman Daniel Telford also could be called on to contribute off the bench, both for defensive purposes and in a pinch-hitting role.
Pitching
The Jackrabbits return three regular starters, three middle relievers and their closer from a season ago.
“I feel like this year's staff is more talented as far as depth goes,” Price said, noting that the team is seeking to develop a No. 1 pitcher to replace Caleb Thielbar, a mainstay on the Jackrabbit pitching staff who was selected in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers last June.
Mike Robinson is slated to be the Opening Day starter after sharing the team lead for victories with a 5-4 record a season ago. Robinson made 11 starts and struck out 47 batters in 70 innings in 2009.
Sophomore Layne Somsen is expected to fill the No. 2 starting position early in the season after posting a strong finish in 2009. The Yankton native won his last four decisions and compiled the best earned run average among the starting staff at 5.32 while sharing the team lead with 12 starts.
Senior Sam Pieczynski, who split time between starting and relief duties last season, also returns after poting a 5-3 record in 21 appearances.
Other candidates to fill starting spots include freshman left-hander Shane Kraemer, junior Blake Treinen and senior Jared Koch. Treinen is scheduled to start Sunday's series finale at Murray State.
Koch likely won't return to the Jackrabbit rotation until April, as he completes his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2009 season. In 2008, Koch started nine games and finished with a 3-4 record.
The Jackrabbit bullpen features four returning pitchers, led by closer Trever Vermeulen. The Mitchell native held opponents to a .265 batting average last season while posting a team-high three saves.
Matt Spinar has lettered each of the past two seasons, while senior Blaine Alberta and sophomore Austin Busse gained experience during their first seasons in a Jackrabbit uniform in 2009.
Newcomers Alex Oberle, a transfer from Ohlone College in California, and freshman Stephen Bougher, from Papillion, Neb., also are expected to pitch valuable innings out of the bullpen this season.
The Schedule
SDSU is slated to play a challenging non-conference schedule that includes eight games against teams that placed in the top 40 for RPI last season. The Jackrabbits will travel to College World Series qualifier Arkansas for a two-game series March 9-10 before wrapping up the pre-conference schedule with a three-game set at Division I independent Dallas Baptist. SDSU also has games scheduled on three separate dates against Minnesota, starting with a March 14 matchup at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Other non-conference opponents include Nebraska, Iowa, Air Force, Creighton, Harvard, Northern Colorado and North Dakota.
The Jackrabbits open what is expected to be a competitive Summit League slate with a four-game series Apr. 9-11 at IPFW.
COACH PRICE: Ritchie Price returns for his second season as head coach of the South Dakota State University baseball team in 2010.
The youngest head baseball coach at the Division I level, Price directed a dramatic mid-season turnaround during his inaugural season with the Jackrabbits. After starting the 2009 campaign with a 5-22 overall record and 1-6 mark in Summit League play, the Jackrabbits went 19-6 over the final five weeks of the regular season to earn the third seed in the Currington Mortgage Summit League Championship.
At the league tournament, the Jackrabbits dropped their opening game to Southern Utah but came back to defeat both Centenary (La.) and Southern Utah the next day to advance to the title series, where they lost to perennial Summit League champion Oral Roberts.
Overall, SDSU finished the 2009 season with a 26-30 record, including a 17-10 slate in Summit League regular season games.
Price began his association with the Jackrabbit baseball program by serving as infield and third base coach 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 comes from a baseball family. 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 Conterence 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, this is most certainly 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. He received his master's degree in health, physical education and recreation with an emphasis in sports pedagogy from South Dakota State in the summer of 2009.
SCHEDULE CHANGE: Extended wintry weather in the Great Plains has forced the SDSU-Nebraska baseball game originally scheduled for March 2 to be pushed back two weeks.
The game is now set to be played March 16 at 1:35 p.m. at Hawks Field in Lincoln, Neb.
THE ROSTER: The 2010 SDSU baseball roster features 28 players from 11 different states plus Canada. Of the 30 players, six are from South Dakota, while three are from each of the states of Colorado, Iowa and Minnesota. Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington are represented by one player each. In addition, six players are from Canada. By class, six are seniors, nine are juniors, eight are sophomores, one is a redshirt freshmen and six are incoming freshmen.
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