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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jacks resume Summit play at Western Illinois
3/19/2015 4:53:00 PM | Baseball
The South Dakota State University baseball team will attempt to get back on the winning track as it travels to Western Illinois for a three-game Summit League weekend series.
First pitch for Friday's series opener is set for 3 p.m. at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium on the WIU campus in Macomb, Illinois. Games Saturday and Sunday are slated for noon starts.
Video streaming, as well as live stats, will be available through GoLeathernecks.com.
The Jackrabbits enter the weekend 7-10 overall and 0-3 in league play. SDSU has lost four games in a row, including three at Omaha on the first weekend of league action.
Western Illinois, meanwhile, has started the season with 3-12 overall record. The Fighting Leathernecks are 1-2 in The Summit League after winning the opening game of their three-game home series against Fort Wayne last weekend.
THE SERIES: Friday's game will mark the 33rd meeting between South Dakota State and Western Illinois on the baseball diamond — a series that dates back to a 7-6 SDSU victory on March 31, 2006. Overall, SDSU leads the series, 20-12.
The two squads met seven times during the 2014 season, with Western Illinois holding a 4-3 series advantage. The Jackrabbits and WIU split a two-game series in Macomb to open Summit League play. The two squads later split a four-game series at Erv Huether Field.
Western Illinois won the season series by eliminating the Jackrabbits from the Summit League Baseball Championship with a 5-2 come-from-behind victory. Trailing 2-1, the Fighting Leathernecks scored four times in the bottom of the eighth inning with the aid of two Jackrabbit errors. Brett Turner delivered the go-ahead run with a single and J.J. Reimer followed with an RBI bunt single as WIU advanced to the Summit League championship game.
Following are the 2014 series results:
• March 28 (at Macomb, Ill.): Western Illinois 1, South Dakota State 0
• March 28 (at Macomb, Ill.): South Dakota State 5, Western Illinois 2 [11 inn.]
• May 9 (at Brookings, S.D.): Western Illinois 4, South Dakota State 3
• May 10 (at Brookings, S.D.): South Dakota State 5, Western Illinois 0
• May 10 (at Brookings, S.D.): Western Illinois 16, South Dakota State 4
• May 11 (at Brookings, S.D.): South Dakota State 9, Western Illinois 1
• May 23 (at Sioux Falls, S.D.): Western Illinois 5, South Dakota State 2
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.
100-HIT CLUB: Two junior outfielders have reached career milestones in recent weeks by recording their 100th career hit.
Paul Jacobson became the first Jackrabbit to achieve the feat this season, when he tallied his 100th career hit March 11 in a game against Mississippi Valley State. A three-year starter, Jacobson's 103 hits are the most among active Jackrabbit players.
Center fielder Zach Coppola joined the 100-hit club March 14 at Omaha and enters Friday's contest at Western Illinois with 102 career hits. Coppola currently leads the Jackrabbits with 23 hits and a .354 batting average this season, along with a team-high 10 stolen bases.
Two other teammates are poised to join the 100-hit club soon as senior infielder Al Robbins has registered 96 career hits and senior outfielder Eric Danforth has tallied 90.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State University catcher Reid Clary and outfielder Zach Coppola earned Summit League Player of the Week honors in successive weeks.
Clary received the honor March 2 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. 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 en route to setting the SDSU career saves mark.
The current Summit League career record of 30 saves was set by Brett Davis of Illinois-Chicago from 1988-91.
Moore also has moved into sole possession of second place in career appearances at SDSU with 72 as he broke a tie with Gary Olechoski, (71 appearances from 2003-06) in Tuesday's game at Creighton. All-American Trever Vermeulen holds the career appearances record with 89 from 2008-11.
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 211, 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 41 starts and 260.2 innings pitched. He is scheduled to start Friday's Summit League series opener at Western Illinois.
HEEMSTRA ON THE HILL: After playing a key role on three Jackrabbit postseason-qualifying basketball teams, pitcher Marcus Heemstra is playing his first full season of baseball at South Dakota State.
A senior right-hander from Rock Valley, Iowa, Heemstra made a combined 21 pitching appearances between the 2011 and 2012 seasons before redshirting in 2013 as the Jackrabbit basketball team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. Heemstra returned to the Jackrabbit baseball team in 2014, posting a 1.64 earned run average in seven appearances covering 11 innings.
Thus far in 2015, Heemstra has made five appearances — all out of the bullpen — and posted an 0-1 record with a 5.40 ERA. He has struck out nine and walked five in 11 2/3 innings.
Heemstra played in 118 career basketball games — with eight starts. He posted career-high averages of 5.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game as a senior.
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 684-758-2 career mark, including an 88-96-1 record at SDSU. He recorded his 600th career victory on March 19, 2012, when the Jackrabbits posted an 11-8 victory at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. In 26-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has averaged more than 25 victories per season, including six campaigns with 32 or more wins. He has coached players who have earned all-conference honors 69 times and 40 of his former student-athletes have gone on to play professionally, including Layne Somsen and Stephen Bougher from the Jackrabbits' 2013 squad.
Prior to South Dakota State, Schrage was head coach at Notre Dame for four seasons, leading the Fighting Irish to a 119-104-1 record from 2007-10. After posting a .500 record (28-28) his first season in South Bend, Schrage put Notre Dame back in contention for postseason play with a 33-21-1 record in 2008 and a 36-23 mark in 2009. The Fighting Irish led the BIG EAST Conference in fielding in both 2008 and 2009, while consistently ranking at or near the top in batting, on-base percentage and earned run average.
Schrage's other head coaching stops include Waldorf (Iowa) from 1988-90, Northern Iowa (1991-99), Northern Illinois (2000-02) and Evansville (Ind.) from 2003-06.
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 play their third consecutive Summit League road series, traveling to Fort Wayne for games March 27-29.
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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