Jacks, T-Birds split on Saturday

Saturday, April 23

Erv Huether Field

12 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Southern Utah [DH]

4/23/2011 9:19:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State pushed its winning streak to 10 games with a 12-10 victory in the opener, but Southern Utah left-hander James Crockett hurled a two-hit shutout in the nitecap as the two teams split a Summit League baseball doubleheader Saturday at Erv Huether Field.

The Jackrabbits moved to 22-11 overall and 9-2 in league play. Southern Utah, which won Game 2, 10-0, ended the day 16-20 overall and 5-6 in The Summit League.

In the opener, the first four Jackrabbit runs were unearned as they led 4-1 after two innings. SDSU took advantage of two Thunderbird errors in the first inning to score three times. Billy Stitz scored the first run of the game on an error, and Eric Cain and Daniel Telford delivered run-scoring singles later in the inning. SDSU's second-inning run also scored on a SUU miscue.

The Thunderbirds cut the margin to 4-3 with two runs in the third inning. Taylor Shaw doubled in the first run of the frame and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Bo Cuthbertson.

Both starting pitchers settled into a groove in the middle innings before Telford notched his second run-scoring single of the game in the seventh. Pinch hitter Phil Paquette doubled to drive in the second run of the inning to give SDSU a 6-3 lead.

SUU again made it a one-run game in the eighth against the Jackrabbit bullpen. Cuthbertson led off with an infield single against Deon Entringer and Brock Westphal plated a pair with a base hit against closer Trever Vermeulen.

The Jackrabbits countered with a six-run bottom of the eighth that included two-run singles by Jesse Sawyer, Andrew Phelan and Beau Hanowski to build a seemingly insurmountable 12-5 lead.

However, the Thunderbirds wouldn't go down without a fight as they took advantage of a dropped foul ball early in the ninth inning to score five runs - one earned - off reliever Marcus Heemstra. Alakai Aglipay's two-run single with two outs brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Reliever Austin Busse threw only one pitch, inducing a fly ball off the bat of pinch hitter Marcus Romero to end the game.

Blake Treinen earned his fourth victory of the season after allowing three runs and nine hits over seven innings. The senior right-hander struck out nine and walked two. Busse was credited with his second save of the season.

Andy Harvey allowed only two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings of work to take the loss for SUU. He surrendered seven hits and five walks, while striking out two.

Four different players tallied three hits for SUU, which held a 16-12 advantage in hits. SDSU had four players notch two hits each.

In Game 2, Crockett struck out 11 in the seven-inning game as the Thunderbirds won handily.

SUU roughed up Jackrabbit starter Alex Oberle for four runs in each of the first two innings. Brock Westphal, one of the players with three hits in the opener, continued his hot hitting with run-scoring doubles in each of the first two innings. Austin Hunt added a two-run double in the second.

The Jackrabbits could muster only two walks and two hist against Crockett - an infield single by Eric Cain and a sixth-inning pinch-hit single by Aaron Machbitz.

Westphal was 4-for-4 as the Thunderbirds again rapped out 16 hits. Taylor Shaw was 3-for-3 and scored three times.

The two squads are scheduled to conclude their four-game series Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. start at Erv Huether Field.

Game 1: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 12, SOUTHERN UTAH 10
SUU 012 000 025 10-16-4
SDSU 310 000 26X 12-12-2
SUU: Andy Harve, Bryson Kenolio (7), Kevin Nay (8) and Taylor Shaw. SDSU: Blake Treinen, Deon Entringer (8), Trever Vermeulen (8), Marcus Heemstra (9), Austin Busse (9) and Zach Briggs, Nick Andrews.
W-Treinen (4-2). L-Harvey (0-2). Save-Busse (2).
HR: none.

Game 2: SOUTHERN UTAH 10, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 0
SUU 440 002 0 10-16-0
SDSU 000 000 0 0-2-2
SUU: James Crockett and Taggart Lunceford. SDSU: Alex Oberle, Deon Entringer (7) and Zach Briggs.
W-Crockett (4-5). L-Oberle (3-4). Save-none.
HR: none.