Jacks take Game 1 from Omaha

Friday, April 17

Erv Huether Field

3:00 PM

South Dakota State University

23-13, 10-6

Omaha

16-18, 9-7

Omaha

South Dakota State

4/17/2015 7:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

Adam Bray did not allow an earned run over eight innings and freshman Luke Ringhofer drove in three runs to lead South Dakota State to its eighth consecutive victory by defeating Omaha, 5-1, Friday afternoon in the opening game of a three-game series.

In notching head coach Dave Schrage's 700^th collegiate victory, the Jackrabbits improved to 23-13 overall and broke a tie with Omaha to take over sole possession of second place in the Summit League standings with a 10-6 mark. Omaha dropped to 16-18 overall and 9-7 in league play.

Ringhofer put the Jackrabbits on the board in the bottom of the first inning, launching a Tyler Fox pitch over the fence in right field for a two-run home run. Paul Jacobson, who led off the inning with a walk, scored ahead of Ringhofer.

Omaha used a Jackrabbit error and bad-hop double to score its lone run of the game in the top of the second. Isaac Holt scored on a two-out single to center field by Alex Mortensen, but the would-be tying run was thrown out at the plate later in the play by center fielder Zach Coppola.

SDSU countered with an unearned run in the fifth to push the lead back to two runs. Cody Sharrow reached on a two-base error to lead off the frame and advanced to third on Eric Danforth's bunt single. Sharrow later scored on a groundout by Coppola.

The Jackrabbits added a pair of insurance runs against the Omaha bullpen in the seventh. Jacobson and Coppola drew back-to-back one-out walks and each moved up a base on a double steal before Ringhofer lined a single to left to score Jacobson. Reid Clary followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Coppola with the final run of the game.

Ringhofer and Clary each tallied two of the Jackrabbits' five hits.

Bray struck out six, walked one and scattered six hits in recording his second consecutive victory. Talon Jumper worked around a pair of one-out singles in the ninth to wrap up the Jackrabbit victory.

Fox, who retired 11 consecutive Jackrabbit batters in one stretch, took the loss. He struck out six and walked three in six innings of work.

Holt, Mortensen and Collin Leif each tallied two of the Mavericks' eight hits.

The two teams are scheduled to play the middle game of their three-game series at 1 p.m. Saturday.

NOTES: Schrage's 700 wins have come over 27 seasons as a head coach, including a 104-99-1 record at SDSU … Bray started 25 of the 31 hitters he faced with a first-pitch strike … Bray recorded career win No. 20, becoming the eighth Jackrabbit pitcher to reach that milestone … Bray has a 20-15 career record and is now tied for fifth in career pitching wins at SDSU with Jon Maras (1989-92), Bob Reeves (1984-87) and Caleb Thielbar (2006-09) … Coppola recorded his 26^th stolen base, tying the Jackrabbit single-season record previously set by Darrell Bren in 1988 … Coppola had his 14-game hitting streak snapped, but reached base safely for the 30^th consecutive game with his walk in the seventh … SDSU improved to 11-2 at Erv Huether Field this season

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 5, OMAHA 1
UNO 010 000 000 1-8-2
SDSU 200 010 200 5-5-2
UNO: Tyler Fox, Riley Sweeney (7), Corey Binger (8) and Collin Leif. SDSU: Adam Bray, Talon Jumper (9) and Reid Clary.
W-Bray (5-3). L-Fox (4-3). Save-none.
HR: SDSU-Luke Ringhofer (2).