Five-run fourth propels Jacks past Fort Wayne

Saturday, March 28

Fort Wayne, Ind.

2:00 PM

South Dakota State University

11-11, 4-4

Fort Wayne

11-11, 2-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
South Dakota State	1	1	0	5	2	2	0	1	0	12	13	3
IPFW	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	12	8

3/28/2015 6:54:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – South Dakota State took the lead for good with a five-run fourth inning and capitalized on shaky Fort Wayne defense en route to a 12-6 victory in Summit League baseball action Saturday afternoon.

In winning their third straight league game, the Jackrabbits improved to 11-11 overall and 4-4 in The Summit League. Fort Wayne also moved to 11-11 overall, dropping to 2-6 in league play.

Trailing 5-2 after three innings, the Jackrabbits scored the next 10 runs. Cody Sharrow and Paul Jacobson each recorded two-run doubles in the fourth to vault SDSU into the lead, and Jacobson scored the fifth and final run of the inning when he scored on a throwing error after stealing third base.

Two more Fort Wayne errors in the fifth inning led to two Jackrabbit runs, pushing the SDSU lead to 9-5. In all, the Mastodons committed eight errors in the contest, leading to five unearned runs.

Reid Clary drove in the final three runs of the game for the Jackrabbits with a two-run single in the sixth and a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Andrew Clemen pitched the final three innings to earn his first career save. The junior right-hander allowed a run in the eighth inning, while striking out four and walking one during his outing.

For the second day in a row, the Jackrabbits grabbed a lead three batters into the game as Zach Coppola singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by freshman Luke Ringhofer.

Newt Johnson doubled and scored in the top of the second to push the Jackrabbit lead to 2-0, but Fort Wayne answered with three runs in home half of the inning, the first on a bases-loaded walk and last two on a two-out single by Evan VanSumeren. The Mastodons added two runs in the third on an RBI double by Greg Kaiser and run-scoring single by Lucas Salerno.

Chris Anderson held Fort Wayne scoreless over the final three innings of his start to pick up his third win of the season. He surrendered five runs on 10 hits over six innings, striking out five batters and walking one.

SDSU held a 13-12 advantage in hits, with Coppola leading the way by going 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Newt Johnson doubled twice and scored three runs, while Ringhofer and Cody Sharrow each tallied two hits. Sharrow and Clary each drove in three runs.

VanSumeren and Shane Trevino each recorded three hits for Fort Wayne.

The two squads are scheduled to play their series finale Sunday morning at Mastodon Field. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Central).

NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series, which dates back to 2006, by a 34-9 count … the Jackrabbits have scored in 12 of 18 innings so far in the series … SDSU has matched its longest winning streak of the season at three games … Coppola improved to 13-for-13 on stolen bases this season and is batting .667 (6-for-9) in the series … Coppola recorded his team-best ninth multi-hit game … Sharrow extended his hitting streak to six games and has three doubles in the series … the Jackrabbits matched their team season high of five doubles for the second consecutive day

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 12, FORT WAYNE 6
SDSU 110 522 010 12-13-3
IPFW 032 000 010 6-12-8
SDSU: Chris Anderson, Andrew Clemen (7) and Reid Clary. IPFW: Ryan Wells, Dane Davis (6), Cody O'Neal (9) and S. Herberger, Zak Kellogg.
W-Anderson (3-1). L-Wells (2-4). Save-Clemen (1).
HR: none.