SDSU stays alive with 20-6 win over Oakland

Friday, May 28

Tulsa, Okla.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oakland (Mich.)

5/28/2010 11:00:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

TULSA, Okla. -South Dakota State stayed alive in the Summit League Baseball Championship with a 20-6 victory over Oakland (Mich.) in an elimination game Friday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The top-seeded Jackrabbits, 39-20 overall, advance to the championship for the second year in a row, where they will face second-seeded Oral Roberts (Okla.) at 1 p.m. Should SDSU win, a decisive championship game would follow at 4:30 p.m., with the winner receiving an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

SDSU tied its school record for wins in a season behind a complete-game effort from Alex Oberle and a 23-hit attack. The Jackrabbits also won 39 games in 1993 and 1994, while playing at the NCAA Division II level.

After Oakland took a 2-0 lead on a two-run double by Aaron Cieslak in the bottom of the first, the Jackrabbits grabbed the lead with a three-run top of the second. Zach Rhodes started the rally with a solo home run and Joel Blake added a two-run single to score Andrew Melton and Billy Stitz after both runners moved up a base on a balk.

SDSU broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning. With one out, Melton doubled to right field and scored on a base hit by Stitz. Jesse Sawyer delivered a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to plate Stitz and John Lee added an RBI single to score Beau Hanowski and chase Golden Grizzly starter Aaron Wick. With two outs, both Blake and Lee scored on an infield single as Eric Cain beat the throw to first base.

Back-to-back doubles by John Estes and Connor Mielock gave Oakland a run in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 8-3, but the Golden Grizzlies could get no closer the rest of the way.

Sawyer opened the Jackrabbit sixth inning with a solo home run to right center, tying his own single-season record with 19 round-trippers. Later in the inning, Zach Rhodes plated Lee with a single to left field. Lee tacked on a two-run double in the top of the seventh to put SDSU up 12-3.

OU cut into the margin with a three-run home half of the seventh on four singles and a Jackrabbit error.

Once again SDSU responded, putting eight runs on the board with nine hits. Melton recorded a pair of run-scoring hits and Hanowski and Jeff Fish each doubled in a pair of runs in the inning.

Stitz led the hit parade with a 5-for-7 night at the plate and four runs scored. Lee went 4-for-6 with three runs batted in and Melton added three hits, including a pair of doubles. Rhodes also tallied three hits and drove in three.

Oberle's complete game was the first by a Jackrabbit pitcher this season. The junior right-hander from San Jose, Calif., scattered 12 hits, walked three and struck out two as he improved to 8-5 on the season.

Wick, who threw a no-hitter in his final regular season start, allowed eight runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss. He walked three and struck out two.

Oakland ended its season with a 23-34 overall record.

NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series with Oakland, 9-2, winning the season series by a 4-2 count ... Stitz recorded his 39^th multi-hit game of the season, upping his season hit total to 110 ... Stitz is hitting .529 (9-for-17), while Rhodes leads the team with a .667 average (10-for-15) ... Sawyer moved into sole possession of third place on the Jackrabbit career home run chart with 38, breaking a tie with Chris Studer (37 home runs from 1999-2002) ... SDSU scored in double figures for the 25^th time this season and reached the 20-run mark for the seventh time

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 20, OAKLAND 6
SDSU 030 502 280 - 20 23 1
OU 200 100 300 - 6 12 2
SDSU: Alex Oberle and Zach Briggs, Nick Andrews (8). OU: Aaron Wick, Jake Arendsen (4), Russell Luxton (6), Hayden Fox (7), Kasey Kearcher (8), Kevin Korkate (9) and John Estes.
W-Oberle (8-5). L-Wick (3-6). SV-none.
HR: SDSU-Zach Rhodes (7), Jesse Sawyer (19).