Jacks rally for sweep; play for title Saturday

Friday, May 21

Huether Field

12 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois [DH]

5/21/2010 9:00:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State rallied for four runs in the bottom of ninth inning to tie the game, then scored the winning run in the 11^th to complete a sweep of Western Illinois in a Summit League baseball doubleheader Friday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

The Jackrabbits opened the day with an 18-4 seven-inning victory, setting a Division I-era record for wins in a season. SDSU improved to 36-18 overall and 18-8 in The Summit League. Western Illinois dropped to 13-38 overall, 5-20 in league play.

The series and regular season conclude Saturday with a noon doubleheader scheduled at Erv Huether Field. Should SDSU win both games Saturday, the Jackrabbits would secure the No. 1 seed in next week's Summit League Championship.

Trailing 7-3, SDSU's ninth-inning rally started with one out as Joel Blake recorded his fourth hit of the game, a solid single to left field. Jesse Sawyer homered to pull the Jackrabbits to within 7-5. After John Lee flew out for the second out, the clutch hitting continued as Eric Cain, pinch-hitter Jeff Fish and designated hitter Zach Rhodes hit successive doubles to knot the game. Beau Hanowski followed with a walk and Billy Stitz lined a single to right field, but Rhodes was thrown out at the plate on a throw by the Fighting Leathernecks' Rich Mascheri to send the game into extra innings.

Jackrabbit closer Trever Vermeulen, who entered the game with one out in the eighth inning, kept WIU off the board in the 10^th and 11^th innings.

The game-winning rally in the 11^th was started by an unlikely candidate. Backup catcher Nick Andrews, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the 10^th, singled with one out and moved to third on a single through the right side by Rhodes. Hanowski then looped a single to left-center field to plate Andrews.

Vermeulen, who improved to 8-1 on the season, continued his mastery of Summit League opponents as he threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, extending his scoreless streak to 28 1/3 innings over 14 appearances.

WIU jumped out to a 5-0 lead, scoring twice in the second inning and adding three more runs in the third inning to knock out Jackrabbit starter Jared Koch. Cole Waddell and Chris Giglio each notched RBI doubles in the third inning.

The Jackrabbits trimmed the margin to 5-3 with a pair of runs in the second inning, highlighted by a run-scoring double from Sawyer, and an RBI double by Blake in the fifth. Blake doubled three times in the doubleheader to up his season total to 33 - three away from tying the Division I record for doubles in a season.

The Leathernecks tacked on a run in the sixth by scoring on a wild pitch and added a run in the eighth on a base hit by Jason Summers, who tallied of WIU's 15 hits.

Five different players notched two hits for the Jackrabbits.

SDSU also spotted the Leathernecks an early lead in the opener. WIU scored three times in first inning against Jackrabbit ace Blake Treinen, helped along by a wild pitch and errant throw to first base after a strikeout that would have ended the inning allowed the final two runs of the frame to score. Summers doubled in the first run, driving in Brian Jordan.

Stitz led off the home half of the first inning with his fifth home run of the season, and SDSU tied the game at 3-all with two runs in the third. The Jackrabbits broke open the game with a six run fourth inning. Blake delivered a bases-loaded double and Cain launched a three-run homer to right field, his 14^th of the season, later in the inning.

Rhodes homered to lead off the fifth inning and SDSU put the game away with an eight-run sixth inning., taking advantage of five walks. Stitz drove in two runs as part of a 4-for-5 effort at the plate and scored his fourth run of the game as Sawyer belted a three-run homer to left.

Treinen settled down after the first inning, retiring nine consecutive hitters after a leadoff double in the second. The junior right-hander, who improved to 7-0, struck out eight, walked three and allowed six hits in six innings of work.

NOTES: SDSU leads all-time series, 7-2, and has won all six meetings as Summit League opponents ... the Jackrabbits improved to 4-0 in extra-inning games this season ... Vermeulen lowered his nation-leading ERA to 0.59 ... Sawyer broke the Jackrabbit single-season walks record with 43 ... three Jackrabbits surpassed Cole Irish's single-season runs record (63 in 1996), as Sawyer ended the day with 66 runs, and Stitz and Lee each finished with 64 ... Cain upped his single-season RBI record total to 77 ...Treinen moved to fourth on the Jackrabbit single-season strikeouts chart with 77 ... Pieczynski made his first pitching appearance since April 30 vs. Centenary ... the previous Division I mark for wins in a season was 34 in 2007

Game 1: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 18, WESTERN ILLINOIS 4
WIU 300 001 0 -- 4 6 0
SDSU 102 618 X -- 18 15 1
WIU: Chris Macek, Austin Brough (4), Jared Depenbrock (5), Chris Duguay (6) and John Koszulinski. SDSU: Blake Treinen, Sam Pieczynski (7) and Zach Briggs, Nick Andrews (7).
W-Treinen (7-0). L-Macek (2-6). SV-none.
HR: SDSU: Billy Stitz (5), Jesse Sawyer (15), Eric Cain (14), Zach Rhodes (6).

Game 2: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 8, WESTERN ILLINOIS (11 inn.)
WIU 023 001 010 00 -- 7 15 0
SDSU 002 010 004 01 -- 8 18 1
WIU: Beau Below, Travis Pedersen (7), Chris Duguay (9), David Hill (10) and John Koszulinski, Jason Summers (10). SDSU: Jared Koch, Alex Oberle (3), Mike Robinson (8), Trever Vermeulen (8) and Zach Briggs, Nick Andrews (10).
W-Vermeulen (8-1). L-Hill (1-4). SV-none.
HR: SDSU-Jesse Sawyer (16).