Completed Event: Baseball at Omaha on May 22, 2025 , Loss , 6, to, 7 , 10 inn.
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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jackrabbits open Summit play at Omaha
3/12/2015 6:31:00 PM | Baseball
BROOKINGS, S.D. — Summit League baseball action gets under way this weekend as the South Dakota State University baseball team travels to two-time defending league regular season champion Omaha for a three-game series.
The series opener is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch Friday at The Ballpark at Boys Town. Games Saturday and Sunday are also slated for 1 p.m. starts.
The Jackrabbits enter the series with a 7-6 overall record after winning five of six games on their Spring Break trip to Louisiana and Mississippi. SDSU won three of four games last weekend at Southern (La.), before earning victories over Tougaloo (Miss.) and Mississippi Valley State earlier in the week.
Omaha, meanwhile, has compiled a 7-8 overall record. The Mavericks won two of three games in a weekend series against the University of North Dakota in their most recent action.
THE SERIES: The Jackrabbits' series with Omaha dates back to 1949, with the two schools regularly competing against each other as members of the Division II North Central Conference. Overall, Omaha holds a 72-63-1 overall series advantage.
Omaha won the 2014 season series by a 4-2 count. The Mavericks swept a doubleheader from SDSU March 30 in Omaha. The Jackrabbits and Omaha later split a four-game series at Erv Huether Field, with both SDSU victories coming by shutout (1-0, 3-0) in a doubleheader sweep on May 3.
PRESEASON POLL: The South Dakota State University baseball team has been picked to finish third in The Summit League during the upcoming 2015 season, according to a poll of league coaches released Feb. 5.
The Jackrabbits, who finished the 2014 season with a 28-29 overall record, including an 11-11 mark in league play, tallied 17 points in the poll. SDSU, which returns six position starters and nearly its entire pitching staff from a year ago, has been the top seed at the Summit League Baseball Championship each of the past two seasons, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2013.
Two-time defending regular-season champion Omaha was picked as the league favorite with 23 points, including three first-place votes. Perennial champion Oral Roberts, which has rejoined The Summit League after a two-year hiatus, received the other three first-place votes and finished second with 21 points.
Rounding out the poll were defending league tournament champion North Dakota State with 15 points, followed by Western Illinois with eight points and Fort Wayne with six points.
The Jackrabbits will again host the Summit League Baseball Championship, May 20-23 in Sioux Falls.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION: Three members of the South Dakota State University baseball team received preseason honors from Baseball America in the publication's Summit League preview released Feb. 11.
Senior right-hander Adam Bray was selected as Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Bray compiled a 5-7 record and 2.80 earned run average during the 2014 season, but led the league with 95 strikeouts — against only 17 walks – in 103 innings.
Infielder Tony Kjolsing was named Preseason Freshman of the Year. The Chaska, Minnesota, native opened the season as the Jackrabbits' starting third baseman and has hit a team-best two home runs in 2015.
In addition, junior center fielder Zach Coppola was tabbed as the fifth-best draft prospect among Summit League players. Coppola is the team's top returning hitter after batting .288 last season, while also recording a team-best 14 stolen bases.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State University catcher Reid Clary and outfielder Zach Coppola have earned Summit League Player of the Week honors in successive weeks.
Clary received the honor after helping lead the Jackrabbits to a split of its four-game slate against MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and Stephen F. Austin (Texas).
A senior from Princeton, Illinois, Clary recorded two hits — including a double — in each of the Jackrabbits' games versus MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and Stephen F. Austin (Texas). He batted .571 (8-of-14) with four runs scored, four doubles, two runs batted in and two stolen bases. He recorded a .588 on-base percentage and .857 slugging percentage in the four games.
In addition, Clary tied a career high with three runs scored in the Jackrabbits' 12-0 victory over Stephen F. Austin in the first game of a doubleheader on Feb. 28. He also threw out three-of-four would-be basestealers during the week.
Coppola was tabbed as Summit League Player of the Week on March 9 after a successful four-game series at Southern (La.).
A junior from Windsor Heights, Iowa, Coppola batted .625 (10-for-16) with a triple, four runs batted in and three runs scored as the Jackrabbits won three of four games. He tallied two three-hit games before finishing the series with a four-hit game. Coppola raised his season batting average 124 points during the week from .276 to .400.
MOORE NEARS SAVES RECORD: Senior closer J.D. Moore moved one step closer to a Summit League record as he recorded his 28th career save in the Jackrabbits' 3-0 victory Southern (La.) on March 6.
A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Moore has held the closer's role since midway through his freshman season, when he led the team with five saves. Already the SDSU career saves leader, Moore set a Jackrabbit single-season record with 13 saves during his sophomore season in 2013 and added eight more saves as a junior, when he did not allow a run — earned or unearned — in Summit League play.
The current Summit League career record of 30 saves was set by Brett Davis of Illinois-Chicago from 1988-91.
BRAY MOVES UP CHARTS: Senior right-hander Adam Bray currently stands in the top three of three different career pitching categories in program history.
The Eden Prairie, Minnesota native enters the weekend second in career strikeouts with 202, passing current Minnesota Twins pticher Caleb Thielbar (196 strikeouts from 2006-09) in his March 6 victory over Southern (La.). Trevor Schulte is the Jackrabbits' career strikeout leader with 226 K's from 1991-94.
In addition, Bray begins the weekend third on the Jackrabbit career charts with 40 starts and 246.1 innings pitched. He is scheduled to start Friday's series opener at Omaha.
100-HIT CLUB: Junior outfielder Paul Jacobson reached a career milestone March 11, when he recorded his 100th career hit in a game against Mississippi Valley State. Jacobson's hit also extended his team-best hitting streak to seven games.
A three-year starter, Jacobson's 100 hits are the most among active Jackrabbit players. Two teammates could join him in the 100-hit club this weekend as fellow junior outfielder Zach Coppola has tallied 97 career hits and senior infielder Al Robbins has registered 95.
COACH SCHRAGE: Veteran baseball coach Dave Schrage (pronounced Schrag) is in his 27th season as a collegiate head coach — and fourth at South Dakota State University — during the 2015 season. Schrage was hired to take over the reins of the Jackrabbit baseball program on Aug. 8, 2011.
After posting an 18-33-1 record in his first season at South Dakota State, including a 7-14 mark in The Summit League, Schrage directed a big turnaround in 2013, leading SDSU its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament at the Division I level. The Jackrabbits, who ended the season with a 35-24 overall record, won four consecutive games to claim their inaugural Summit League postseason tournament title and advance to the Eugene Regional of the NCAA Tournament, where they were edged in a pair of one-run games.
SDSU again earned the top seed for the Summit League Baseball Championship during the 2014 season, finishing with an 11-11 mark in a tightly contested league race. Overall, the Jackrabbits finished with a 28-29 overall record. Six Jackrabbit players earned all-Summit League accolades.
Schrage enters the weekend with a 684-754-2 career mark, including an 88-92-1 record at SDSU.
THE ROSTER: The 2015 SDSU baseball roster features 37 players from eight different states plus two Canadian provinces. Of the 37 players, 10 are from South Dakota, eight are from Minnesota and Iowa, and five are from Illinois, while Colorado, Indiana, Missouri and Vermont are represented by one player each. In addition, two players are from Canada — one each from Alberta and Ontario.
By class, 12 are seniors, 11 are juniors, seven are sophomores and seven are true freshmen.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to return to Omaha for a mid-week game Tuesday against Creighton. First pitch at TD Ameritrade Park is scheduled for 6 p.m.
From there, SDSU resumes Summit League play with a three-game series March 20-22 at Western Illinois.
The Jackrabbits' home opener is scheduled for April 1, when SDSU is scheduled to host Dakota Wesleyan in doubleheader action at Erv Huether Field.
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