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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jackrabbits move on to Minnesota
4/21/2015 3:43:00 PM | Baseball
A red-hot South Dakota State University baseball team opens a four-game road swing with a Wednesday matinee at Minnesota.
Game time has been moved ahead from its original starting time to 4 p.m. at Siebert Field on the U of M campus in Minneapolis. The game will be broadcast on KJJQ 910 AM, with free audio streaming available via the Jackrabbit Extra media portal at GoJacks.com. Tyler Merriam will call the play-by-play, with the pre-game show starting at 3:45 p.m.
The Jackrabbits enter the week with a 24-14 overall record after winning two of three games in a home weekend series against Omaha. SDSU, which is in second place in the Summit League standings with an 11-7 mark, has won nine of its last 10 games and 17 of its last 21.
Minnesota begins play this week with a 16-19 overall record, including a 6-9 mark in the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers dropped two of three games last weekend at Nebraska.
THE SERIES: Wednesday's game marks the 40th meeting in baseball between SDSU and Minnesota, a series that dates back to a 13-0 Golden Gopher victory in 1947. Overall, Minnesota leads the all-time series, 28-11.
The two squads have met regularly since SDSU moved to the Division I ranks at the start of the 2005 season, with Minnesota holding a 13-7 series advantage. However, the Jackrabbits have won each of the last fivemeetings played in the state of South Dakota — a 5-4 victory in Sioux Falls during the 2008 season, followed by four wins at Erv Huether Field during the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 campaigns. SDSU swept the three-game season series in 2010, also winning two games in Minneapolis.
The Jackrabbits won the lone meeting last season, turning walks into runs in the early innings en route to a 13-4 victory on April 9, 2014, at Erv Huether Field. SDSU scored five times in the first inning and four more times in the second.
After Minnesota scored a run in the top of the first inning, the Jackrabbits sent 11 batters to the plate in the home half of the frame. The Jackrabbits scored their first three runs without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of four walks and two hit batters. Golden Gopher starter Cody Campbell retired only one of the six batters he faced before being removed from the game. Infield singles by Cody Sharrow and Scott Splett off reliever Toby Anderson pushed the lead to 5-1.
Aaron Machbitz hit a two-run home run to start the scoring in the four-run second inning. Paul Jacobson added a run-scoring double and later scored on a passed ball to make the score 9-1 through two innings.
Matt Johnson continued his hot hitting with a two-run double in the third inning to cap the Jackrabbit scoring. Johnson, Machbitz and Sharrow all collected two of SDSU's nine hits in the game.
Tony Skjefte led Minnesota's eight-hit effort by going 3-for-4 at the plate.
Golden Gopher pitchers combined to walk nine batters and hit three more. Of the 12 Jackrabbit batters to reach base via the walk or hit by pitch, eight came around to score.
JACKS SWEEP SUMMIT AWARDS: For the second time this season, South Dakota State University baseball players Reid Clary and Adam Bray were honored with weekly Summit League Awards. The awards were announced April 20 by league officials.
A senior catcher from Princeton, Illinois, Clary was named Summit League Player of the Week in helping lead the Jackrabbits to a 4-1 record last week. Clary batted .600 (9-for-15) and compiled a .933 slugging percentage with seven runs batted in in four starts. He recorded at least one hit and one RBI in each game, extending his streaks in both categories to seven games.
In the three-game weekend series against Omaha, Clary batted .727 (8-for-11) and slugged 1.182 with a pair of doubles and a home run. He also threw out four runners on the bases during the week — two caught stealing and two pickoffs.
Bray, a senior right-hander from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, earned his second consecutive Summit League Pitcher of the Week Award. In an April 17 start against Omaha, Bray went eight innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out six, walked one and scattered six hits en route to recording his 20th career victory.
APRIL 29 GAME MOVED: The South Dakota State University baseball team's game scheduled for April 29 against Creighton has been moved to Sioux City, Iowa.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Lewis and Clark Park. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children.
The game was originally scheduled to be played in Sioux Falls, but maintenance work is scheduled for that day at Sioux Falls Stadium. SDSU is still scheduled to host the Summit League Baseball Championship at Sioux Falls Stadium May 20-23.
Moving the game to Sioux City will mark a homecoming for three Jackrabbit players: Bishop Heelan High School graduates Paul and Philip Jacobson, along with Sioux City High East School alum Trey Lapke. In addition, Jackrabbit pitchers Marcus Heemstra (Rock Valley) and Ethan Kenkel (Storm Lake) are Northwest Iowa natives.
POWER OUTAGE, POWER SURGE: Sophomore Matt Johnson ended a long home run drought by the Jackrabbits when he connected on a three-run homer in the first inning of the second game of an April 1 doubleheader against Dakota Wesleyan.
SDSU had gone 14 full games between home runs, dating back to when freshman Luke Ringhofer hit a two-run shot in the second game of a March 7 twinbill at Southern (La.).
Since Johnson's first home run of the season, the Jackrabbits have hit 12 home runs over the next 13 games, including three more by Johnson. SDSU connected on four solo home runs in the April 12 victory over North Dakota State, marking the most homers in a game by the Jackrabbits since the 2010 season.
BACK-TO-BACK JACKS: As part of the Jackrabbits' four-home-run game against North Dakota State on April 12, Matt Johnson and Newt Johnson hit back-to-back solo home runs in the third inning. The last time SDSU had hit back-to-back home runs was on April 30, 2011, in the first game of a doubleheader at Erv Huether Field as Jesse Sawyer and Zach Briggs accomplished the feat.
IN THE BIG INNING(S): Two times during their current homestand the Jackrabbit baseball team has scored double figures for runs in an inning.
The first occurrence came in the second inning of the second game of an April 1 doubleheader against Dakota Wesleyan, when the Jackrabbits scored 10 times.
SDSU exceeded that total with an 11-run fourth inning April 14 against North Dakota. The Jackrabbits sent 16 men to the plate in that frame.
OUTFIELD ASSISTS: The Jackrabbits enter play this week unofficially leading all Division I baseball teams with 17 outfield assists. Incarnate Word (Texas) and Nevada-Las Vegas are tied for second with 15 outfield assists.
Junior center fielder Zach Coppola ranks fourth individually with eight outfield assists, adding to his total in the April 17 matchup with Omaha. Paul Jacobson ranks second on the team with five outfield assists, followed by three from Eric Danforth and one from Zach Holt. Danforth threw out two runners on the bases in the recent three-game series with Omaha.
100 AND COUNTING: Four Jackrabbits have reached a career milestone this season by recording their 100th career hit.
Junior outfielder 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 enters the weekend with 124 career hits.
Junior center fielder Zach Coppola joined the 100-hit club March 14 at Omaha and enters the weekend with a team-best 134 career hits. Coppola had a 14-game hitting streak snapped in the series opener against Omaha on April 17, during which he batted .560 (28-for-50) and tallied five three-hit games. Coppola has reached base safely in 32 consecutive games and currently leads the Jackrabbits with a .401 batting average, .506 on-base percentage, 55 hits, 38 runs scored and a school-record 30 stolen bases.
Senior infielder Al Robbins became the third member of the team to record his 100th career hit, reaching the milestone March 21 at Western Illinois. Robbins enters the week with 119 career hits. He also has been on a hot streak of late, batting .353 (18-for-51) with 13 RBI over his last 16 games
Senior outfielder Eric Danforth became the fourth member of the 100-hit club this year, notching hit No. 100 April 4 against Oral Roberts. A Watertown native, Danforth has reached base safely in 26 straight games. Danforth has recorded a hit in 11-of-14 games — during which he is batting .365 (19-for-52), Danforth has tallied 111 career hits.
Catcher Reid Clary is closing in on 100 career hits, entering the week with 95 hits. Clary also is just outside the Jackrabbit career top 10 for putouts with 643, needing six to pass Chris Studer (648 putouts from 1999-2002) for 10th place.
COPPOLA COLLECTING STEALS: South Dakota State center fielder Zach Coppola has already one of the Jackrabbits' longest-standing single-season records in 2015. A junior from Windsor Heights, Iowa, Coppola is a perfect 30-for-30 on stolen-base attempts this season, surpassing the previous record of 26 by Darrell Bren in 1988 with a three-steal performance April 18 against Omaha .
With 53 career stolen bases, Coppola has moved into fourth place on the Jackrabbit career charts, passing Korby Mintken (46 steals from 2005-08). Next on the list is Dave Wilner, who stands third with 57 stolen bases from 1986-88. Dave Lane holds the Jackrabbit career record of 75 stolen bases from 1983-86.
BRAY RECORD WATCH: South Dakota State right-hander Adam Bray, who is the scheduled starter for Friday's series opener at Oral Roberts, recently became the Jackrabbit career leader for strikeouts.
A senior from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Bray enters the week with 234 career strikeouts, passing Trevor Schulte (226 strikeouts from 1991-94) with a five-strikeout, complete-game performance against North Dakota State on April 10. Bray has struck out 50 batters in 61 1/3 innings so far this season, after fanning 95 batters in 103 innings in 2014.
Also in his April 10 outing, Bray broke a tie with current Minnesota Twins pitcher Caleb Thielbar (44 starts from 2006-09) for second place on the SDSU career starts list. Bray has logged 296 2/3 innings and is poised to pass Stephen Bougher, who threw 299 1/3 innings from 2010-13, for the Jackrabbit career mark later this week.
A two-time all-Summit League honoree and the Summit League Pitcher of the Week each of the past two weeks, Bray also moved into a tie for fifth place in career victories at SDSU by recording his 20th career win April 17 against North Dakota State. Bray's career record stands at 20-15, matching the win totals of three other pitchers: Bob Reeves (1984-87), Jon Maras (1989-92) and Caleb Thielbar (2006-09).
MOORE NEARS SAVES MARK: Senior closer J.D. Moore moved one step closer to a Summit League record as he recorded his 29th career save in the Jackrabbits' 5-4 victory over North Dakota State on April 11.
A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Moore has served as the team's primary closer 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 78 as he broke a tie with Gary Olechoski, (71 appearances from 2003-06) in a March 17 game at Creighton. All-American Trever Vermeulen holds the career appearances record with 89 from 2008-11.
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 11 appearances — all in relief — and posted an 0-1 record with a 3.60 ERA. He has not allowed a run in six of his last seven appearances, covering 10 1//3 innings. Heemstra pitched three scoreless innings in an April 3 matchup with Oral Roberts. For the season, Heemstra has struck out 14 and walked six in 20 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 week with a 701-762-2 career mark, including a 105-100-1 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, and reached the 700-win mark with a 5-1 victory over Omaha on April 17, 2015. 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.
As a collegiate player, Schrage was an all-conference outfielder at Creighton, batting .400 as a junior and .433 his senior season. He also was an Academic All-America honoree during his senior campaign in 1983, and graduated that spring with a bachelor of science degree in finance. Schrage was honored on the MVC's Centennial Celebration baseball team and is the only person in league history to earn all-conference honors and be named MVC Coach of the Year in baseball.
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 continue their road swing by traveling to Summit League-leading Oral Roberts for a three-game series April 24-26 in Tulsa, Okla. The series opener is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start Friday. Games Saturday and Sunday are slated for 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
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