SDSU rallies to sweep Bison

Saturday, May 15

Fargo, N.D.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State [DH]

5/15/2010 8:48:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

FARGO, N.D. - Eric Cain delivered the go-ahead two-run single as South Dakota State rallied to score four times in the top of the seventh inning to defeat North Dakota State, 4-2, in the second game of a doubleheader and sweep a Summit League twinbill Saturday afternoon at Newman Outdoor Field.

The Jackrabbits won the opener, 12-3, behind the pitching of Blake Treinen, who remained undefeated on the season. SDSU improved to 33-16 overall and took over sole possession of second place in the league standings with a 16-7 mark.

NDSU dropped to 20-27 overall, 9-13 in The Summit League.

Treinen, who improved to 6-0, retired the first 11 hitters he faced in the opener until Zach Wentz singled with two outs in the fourth inning. The junior right-hander allowed only four hits, walked one and struck out 10 batters in seven innings of work, including fanning the side in order in the second.

SDSU broke into the scoring column with a four-run fourth inning. Joel Blake led off with an infield single and scored on Jesse Sawyer's team-leading 14^th home run of the season, a shot to left-center field. Zach Briggs delivered an RBI double later in the inning and Beau Hanowski capped the scoring with a two-out single to plate Briggs.

The Jackrabbits added a run in the fifth inning on back-to-back doubles by Sawyer and Lee, then blew the game open with a five-run sixth during which all five runs scored with two outs. Hanowski started the rally with a double and scored on a base hit by Billy Stitz. Daniel Telford then stepped to the plate and drove McHale Maristuen's final pitch of the day for a two-run homer to right-center. Reliever Josh Smith struggled to find the strike zone as he sandwiched a pair of walks around a hit batter to load the bases before Cain closed the outburst with a two-run single.

The first two NDSU batters reached in the sixth inning against Treinen before both came around to score on a wild pitch and groundout.

Austin Busse pitched two scoreless innings of one-hit relief to close out the Jackrabbit victory.

Blake and Hanowski each tallied three of the Jackrabbits' 17 hits. Four other SDSU players notched two hits apiece.

In the nitecap, Bison starter Mark Hermes stymied SDSU through the first six innings. The Jackrabbits put the leadoff hitter on base in the third, fifth and sixth innings, but failed to score.

The Jackrabbit rally in the seventh started when Briggs led off with a double to the wall in left field against Hermes. Hanowski followed with a bloop single to center to move Briggs to third. The Bison then went to their bullpen, but closer Anthony Kliniske walked both batters he faced, including Stitz with the bases loaded to force in the first run. Cain then greeted the third NDSU pitcher of the inning, Luke Anderson, with a single up the middle to score both Hanowski and Telford. Stitz came home with the final run of the inning on an RBI groundout by Blake.

Jared Koch turned in another solid start for the Jackrabbits, but did not factor in the decision. The senior right-hander allowed a Bison run in the bottom of the first on three hits, including a run-scoring single by Mike Heidmann, and surrendered another run in the fifth on Tim Jallen's RBI double. Koch gave up only five hits and did not walk or strike out a batter.

Trever Vermeulen, who relieved Koch with one out in the sixth, retired all five batters he faced, including two by strikeout, in earning his seventh victory of the season. Vermeulen lowered his nation-leading earned run average to 0.69.

Cain and Hanowski each finished with two of the Jackrabbits' eight hits. No NDSU player had more than one hit in either game of the doubleheader.

The Jackrabbits will go for the sweep in the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.

NOTES: SDSU improved to 89-45 in the all-time series, including 18-13 since both teams moved to Division I in 2005 ... Lee extended his hitting streak to a team-best 14 games with a hit in each game ... Stitz recorded his 33^rd multi-hit game of the season in the opener ... Blake increased his hitting streak to 10 games, including seven games in a row with a double as he increased his Jackrabbit single-season record doubles total to 29 ... Blake moved into a tie with Russ Langer (1998-2001) for second place in career doubles at SDSU with 50 ... Sawyer's home run in the opener was the 33^rd of his career, moving him into a tie with Jon Crow (1989-92) for fourth place on the SDSU career home run chart ... Sawyer tied the single-season SDSU record of being hit by a pitch 16 times in a season, previously set by Jeff Eckerle in 1996 ... Vermeulen set a new Jackrabbit single-season record with his 29^th appearance in Game 2 of the doubleheader ... Vermeulen tied fellow reliever Alex Oberle for the team lead with his seventh win ... SDSU has won three of its last seven games in its last at-bat ... overall, the Jackrabbits have won seven of their last eight Summit League games

Game 1: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 12, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 3
SDSU 000 415 200 -- 12 17 1
NDSU 000 002 100 -- 3 5 1
SDSU: Blake Treinen, Austin Busse (8) and Zach Briggs, Joel Blake (8), Nick Andrews (9). NDSU: McHale Maristuen, Josh Smith (6), Simon Anderson (7) and Tanner Adam, Tyler Steen (7).
W-Treinen (6-0). L-Maristuen (1-7). SV-none.
HR: SDSU-Daniel Telford (5), Jesse Sawyer (14).

Game 2: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 4, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 2
SDSU 000 000 4 -- 4 8 0
NDSU 100 010 0 -- 2 5 1
SDSU: Jared Koch, Trever Vermeulen (6) and Zach Briggs. NDSU: Mark Hermes, Anthony Kliniske (7), Luke Anderson (7) and Tyler Steen.
W-Vermeulen (7-1). L-Kliniske (3-1). SV-none.
HR: none.