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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jackrabbits play four in North Carolina
2/24/2016 4:47:00 PM | Baseball
The South Dakota State University baseball team will attempt the crack the win column for the first time in the 2016 season as it travels to Wilmington, North Carolina for four games in the Hughes Bros. Challenge.
The Jackrabbits, 0-4 on the season, open weekend play against host UNC-Wilmington at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (3 p.m. Central) on Friday at Brooks Field. UNCW, which went 2-2 in NCAA regional play last season, is off to a 3-0 start to the 2016 campaign and scored in double figures in all three of its games during the opening weekend.
Live video of Friday's game will be available through uncwsports.com
SDSU is scheduled to play two games Saturday, meeting another returning NCAA Tournament qualifier in Virginia Commonwealth at 10 a.m. ET, followed by a 6 p.m. ET matchup against Eastern Kentucky. VCU, which advanced to the Super Regional round last season, is off to a 2-1 start, while Eastern Kentucky is 1-3 entering the weekend.
The Jackrabbits wrap up the weekend with another matchup against Eastern Kentucky at 10 a.m. ET Sunday.
THE SERIES: This weekend's matchups against all three opponents will mark the first-ever meetings between the programs on the baseball diamond.
PRESEASON POLL: The South Dakota State University baseball team has been picked to finish third in the Summit League standings during the upcoming 2016 season, according to a poll among the league's six head coaches that was released Feb. 11.
The Jackrabbits received one first-place vote and tallied a total of 17 points for their third-place showing in the preseason poll. Defending regular season and tournament champion Oral Roberts received the other five first-place votes to be tabbed as the favorite with 25 points. Tournament runner-up Fort Wayne was second with 19 points.
Rounding out the poll were Omaha (15), North Dakota State (8) and Western Illinois (6).
The 30-game Summit League schedule kicks off March 18, when the Jackrabbits open a three-game series at Oral Roberts. ORU will host the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship May 25-28 at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
OPENING WEEKEND NOTES: The Jackrabbits were shut out of the win column on the opening weekend, dropping two games each against Florida Atlantic and nationally ranked Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi.
Following are a few notes from the first four games of the season:
• The Jackrabbits hit a respectable .294 during the weekend and were led by Anthony Schneider's seven hits in 14 at-bats;
• Schneider and sophomore catcher Luke Ringhofer hit safely in all four games;
• Ringhofer has reached base safely in 25 consecutive games since last season;
• SDSU hit three home runs on the weekend — the Jackrabbits hit home run No. 3 in the team's 10th game last season;
• Jackrabbit pitchers allowed 21 extra-base hits — 18 doubles and three home runs — while SDSU managed seven extra-base hits (4 doubles, 3 home runs);
• SDSU pitchers issued 30 walks and struck out only 18 batters in 31 innings;
• Of the 14 Jackrabbit pitchers to see mound duties on the opening weekend, seven made their first-ever appearance in an SDSU uniform;
• Freshman right-hander Will McAffer was the only Jackrabbit pitcher to make more than one appearance (2).
SHARROW OFF TO FAST START: Senior shortstop Cody Sharrow got out of the gates quickly for the Jackrabbits, posting a .500 batting average (4-for-8) in three starts on the opening weekend.
A native of Jericho, Vermont, Sharrow hit a pair of home runs, connecting on a solo home run that put SDSU on the board in the Feb. 19 season opener against Florida Atlantic. He added a three-run homer that momentarily tied the game in the top of the third inning Feb. 21 against Mississippi State.
Sharrow hit two home runs the entire 2015 season, finishing the year with a .233 batting average and 21 runs batted in, while starting 46 games.
CLEMEN CLIMBS THE CHARTS: Although he is moving into a starting role this season, Jackrabbit pitcher Andrew Clemen could move into the SDSU career top 10 for appearances this season.
A senior from Des Moines, Iowa, Clemen has made 52 appearances — 50 of which have been out of the bullpen — in his Jackrabbit career. He needs to pitch in 12 more games during the 2016 campaign to move into the top 10.
Clemen also stands fourth on the SDSU career charts for strikeouts per nine innings at 9.47. The SDSU record, with a minimum of 60 innings pitched, is 11.40 by Pete Torgerson during his lone season in a Jackrabbit uniform in 1989. Dick Barnes ranks second with an average of 9.99 strikeouts per nine innings from 1964-66, with Bob Ehrke (1952-54) third at 9.70 K's per nine innings.
During the 2015 season, Clemen posted the fifth-highest single season ratio in school history with an average of 10.76 strikeouts per nine innings, fanning 47 batters in 39 1/3 innings.
JACOBSON NEARS TOP 10: Senior outfielder Paul Jacobson is in line to move into the SDSU career top 10 for games played midway through the 2016 season.
Jacobson, who has been the team's primary leadoff hitter since early in the 2015 season, enters the weekend having played in 162 career games, including 143 starts, putting him 28 games away from sliding into the 10th spot. Jacobson's uncle, Pat Schmidt, ranks in a tie for seventh in games played by a Jackrabbits with 193 from 1992-95.
Eric Cain holds the Jackrabbit record of 218 games played from 2009-12.
COACH SCHRAGE: Veteran baseball coach Dave Schrage (pronounced Schrag) enters his 28th season as a collegiate head coach — and fifth at South Dakota State University — during the 2016 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.
The Jackrabbits again contended for a Summit League title during the 2015 season, posting an overall record of 33-23 and a second-place mark of 18-11 in league play. SDSU put together win streaks of six and eight games midway through the season to move into the upper division of The Summit League.
Under Schrage's leadership, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 114-113-1 record and qualified for the Summit League postseason tournament each of the last three seasons.
Schrage enters the weekend with a 710-775-2 career mark. He recorded his 600th career victory in his first season at SDSU, and tallied career win No. 700, when the Jackrabbits defeated Omaha, 5-1, on April 17, 2015, at Erv Huether Field. Schrage's 100th win at the helm of the SDSU program came on April 11, 2015, in a 5-4 home win over North Dakota State.
In 27-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has averaged more than 25 victories per season, including seven campaigns with 32 or more wins. He has coached players who have earned all-conference honors 75 times and 42 of his former student-athletes have gone on to play professionally, including 2015 draft picks Zach Coppola (Philadelphia Phllies) and Adam Bray (Los Angeles Dodgers).
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.
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.
JACKS IN THE PROS: Several former Jackrabbit players will be reporting to Spring Training this month.
Right-handed pitchers Blake Treinen and Layne Somsen are expected to be in Major League camps this spring — Treinen with the Washington Nationals and Somsen as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. Treinen made 60 appearances for the Nationals during the 2015 season, posting a 2-5 record and 3.86 ERA in his second year in the Majors.
Somsen was promoted to Triple-A Louisville late midway through the 2015 season, seeing action both as a starter and out of the bullpen. In three seasons in the Reds organization, the Yankton native has compiled a 9-5 record and 2.57 ERA while averaging nearly a strikeout per inning pitched.
Adam Bray and Zach Coppola, who were selected in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, will be in minor league camps with their respective organizations. Bray was a 33rd round draft choice by the Los Angeles Dodgers and made his professional debut with Ogden (Utah) in Rookie ball last summer, going 2-2 with 33 strikeouts and only four walks in eight starts.
Coppola is a Philadelphia Phillies farmhand after being drafted in the 13th round. Coppola spent the summer of 2015 at Class A Williamsport (Pa.), where he batted .271 with 19 stolen bases.
Former Jackrabbit left-hander Caleb Thielbar, who pitched for the Minnesota Twins from 2013-15, is currently a free agent.
THE ROSTER: The 2016 SDSU baseball roster features 37 players from eight different states plus one Canadian province. Of the 37 players, 12 are from Minnesota and South Dakota, seven are from Iowa, while Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Vermont are represented by one player each. In addition, one player is from the Canadian province of British Columbia.
By class, nine are seniors, nine are juniors, 11 are sophomores, three are redshirt freshmen and five are true freshmen.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits resume pre-conference play with a four-game series March 4-6 at Sacramento State (Calif.). The two squads will play single games on March 4 and 6, with a doubleheader slated for March 5.
Sacramento State is coached by former Jackrabbit head coach Reggie Christiansen, who led SDSU to 96 wins from 2005-08 as SDSU completed the transition to Division I status.
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