SDSU sweeps twinbill from Oral Roberts

Saturday, May 8

Huether Field

12 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts (Okla.) [DH]

5/8/2010 8:00:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State moved back into the thick of the Summit League baseball race with a doubleheader sweep of Oral Roberts Saturday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

The Jackrabbits rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win the opener 10-9 in 11 innings, then led wire-to-wire in the nitecap en route to a 7-4 victory. SDSU improved to 30-15 overall and moved into a second-place tie with Oral Roberts in the league standings at 13-6. ORU dropped to 26-21 overall.

Centenary holds a percentage-points lead for the top spot in the league standings with an 11-4 record. The Gents had their weekend series with Western Illinois canceled following the death of a WIU player earlier this week.

In the opener, SDSU scored twice in the eighth inning, tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the ninth and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11^th on a Jesse Sawyer single down the left-field line that scored Daniel Telford. Telford drew a one-out walk and moved to second base when Jeff Fish dropped down a bunt single with two strikes, setting up Sawyer's heroics.

Oral Roberts took advantage of a Jackrabbit error to score seven runs - only two of which were earned - in the second inning. The Golden Eagles used small ball to score the first four runs before Seth Furmanek walloped a three-run home run, his 17^th of the season, to close out the rally against SDSU starter Blake Treinen.

The Jackrabbits cracked the scoring column with two runs in the third inning. Billy Stitz doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Telford. Joel Blake then followed with a double to the left-center gap to score Telford.

After made it 8-2 in the top of the sixth, the Jackrabbits began to chip away with back-to-back solo home runs by John Lee and Eric Cain.

A pair of Jackrabbit errors led to an unearned run for ORU in the seventh before Lee hit his second home run of the game, a two-run shot off the top of the wall in right field, to cut the margin to 9-6.

The top of the SDSU lineup came through in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Stitz singled and came around to score on a double by Telford. Blake walked and Sawyer reached on an infield single to load the bases and chase Furmanek from the mound. Lee drew a bases-loaded walk to make it a 9-8 game. Cain then stepped to the plate and lined a single to right field to score pinch-runner Fish with the tying run. However, Sawyer was thrown out at home and Lee was caught off second base to end the inning.

Relievers Austin Busse and Trever Vermeulen combined to strike out six batters in four shutout innings as part of a record-setting performance by the Jackrabbit pitching staff. Treinen matched an SDSU individual record in the Division I era with 12 strikeouts, giving the Jackrabbits a team record with 18 K's.

Vermeulen improved to 6-1 on the season in recording his second victory in as many days. Meanwhile, closer Sean Johnson allowed the winning run to the Jackrabbits for the second consecutive game to fall to 2-3.

SDSU held a 15-11 advantage in hits, led by Stitz's 3-for-6 effort at the plate as he established a new Jackrabbit single-season record with 81 hits. The previous mark of 80 was set by Blake and Tony Martin last season.

The Jackrabbits carried the momentum into the seven-inning Game 2 as the first four batters reached, giving SDSU an early 3-0 lead. Stitz and Telford hit the first two pitches of the game from ORU starter Jeff Burleson for singles and Blake followed with a double to center field to score Stitz. Sawyer followed with a two-run single up the middle to cap the rally.

ORU tallied a run against SDSU starter Jared Koch in the second, but the Jackrabbits put the game away with a run in the third on an RBI double by John Lee and added three more in the fourth. Stitz notched his second hit of the game, a single up the middle to score one, and Blake stroked his second double of the game to score the final two runs.

The Golden Eagles plated three runs in the fifth inning, the last two on a single by Colby Price, but Vermeulen kept ORU at bay the rest of the way to complete the doubleheader sweep.

Koch struck out four, walked one and allowed seven hits in 4 1/3 innings to improve to 2-1 on the season.

Tyler Saladino was 3-for-4 for ORU, while Stitz, Telford and Blake each notched to hits for SDSU.

NOTES: Oral Roberts leads the all-time series, 18-6 ... the Golden Eagles are assured of losing a Summit League series for the first time since joining the league in 1998 ... the Jackrabbits improved to 3-0 in extra-inning games this season ... SDSU's previous high for team pitching strikeouts was 14, set last April at ORU ... Treinen tied the individual strikeout mark previously set three times, including twice during the 2009 season by Caleb Thielbar ... Stitz recorded his 30^th and 31^st multi-hit games of the season ... Cain upped his school-record single-season RBI total to 66 ... Blake doubled three times in the doubleheader to increase his single-season record total to 25 and tie Doug Sehr (1991-94) for fifth place in career doubles at SDSU with 46 ... Lee turned in his first career two-home run game and the seventh two-home run performance by a Jackrabbit player this season in the opener ... Vermeulen appeared in his fourth consecutive game and 27^th on the season - second on the Jackrabbit single-season list ... Vermeulen has not allowed an earned run in 13 consecutive appearances (25 1/3 innings), nor has he allowed any run - earned or unearned - in 10 Summit League appearances covering 20 innings as he lowered his season ERA to a Division I-best 0.72 ... SDSU reached the 30-win plateau for the second time at the Division I level (34-19 record in 2007)

GAME 1: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 10, ORAL ROBERTS 9 [11 inn.]
ORU 070 001 100 00 - 9 11 1
SDSU 002 002 023 01 - 10 15 3
ORU: Seth Furmanek, Mark Guest (9), Sean Johnson (10) and Bennett Pickar. SDSU: Blake Treinen, Austin Busse (8), Trever Vermeulen (10) and Zach Briggs.
W-Vermeulen (6-1). L-Johnson (2-3). SV-none.
HR: ORU-Seth Furmanek (17); SDSU-John Lee 2 (9), Eric Cain (12).

GAME 2: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 7, ORAL ROBERTS 4
ORU 010 030 0 - 4 10 2
SDSU 301 300 X - 7 11 0
ORU: Jeff Burleson, Mark Guest (4), Dan Martony (4) and Bennett Pickar, Brett Burch (6). SDSU: Jared Koch, Mike Robinson (5), Trever Vermeulen (5) and Zach Briggs.
W-Koch (2-1). L-Burleson (7-3). SV-none.
HR: none.