Jacks open second half at Omaha

Friday, April 22

Omaha, Neb.

3:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Omaha

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

4/21/2016 12:50:00 PM | Baseball

The second half of the Summit League baseball season gets under way this weekend with South Dakota State traveling to Omaha for a key three-game series.
The series opener is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday at the Ballpark at Boys Town. Games Saturday and Sunday are slated to begin at 1 p.m.
The Jackrabbits, who have won four games in a row, enter the series 14-22 overall, but in second place in the league standings with a 9-6 mark. SDSU swept a three-game home series last weekend from North Dakota State and added an 8-1 victory over Mayville State (N.D.) in non-conference action on Wednesday.
Omaha, meanwhile, fell into third place in the Summit standings with an 8-7 record after being swept in a three-game series last weekend at league-leading Oral Roberts. The Mavericks are 17-19 overall.

THE SERIES: Friday's game will mark the 146th meeting on the baseball diamond between SDSU and Omaha. After winning two of the three matchups between the two squads two weekends ago, the Mavericks hold a 78-66-1 edge in the series, which dates back to 1949.
Since the series resumed in 2013, when Omaha joined The Summit League, the Mavericks hold a 13-6 advantage.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some brief notes regarding the Jackrabbit baseball team heading into this weekend's series:
• Matt Johnson carries a 14-game hitting streak into Friday's series opener, which is the longest streak by a Jackrabbit this season. Johnson is batting .392 (20-for-51) during his current streak.
• Four other Jackrabbits have strung together hitting streaks of at least 10 games this season: Luke Ringhofer (13), Phil Velez (10), Jesse Munsterman (10) and Cody Sharrow (10).
• Luke Ringhofer has reached base safely in 28 consecutive games.
• Ringhofer and Newt Johnson hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning of the March 19 game at Oral Roberts, becoming the first Jackrabbit tandem to hit consecutive round-trippers since Matt Johnson and Newt Johnson in a home game against North Dakota State on April 12, 2015. Ringhofer and Newt Johnson share the team lead with three home runs.
• Newt Johnson (Feb. 27 vs. Virginia Commonwealth), Paul Jacobson (April 15 vs. North Dakota State) and Matt Johnson (April 16 vs. North Dakota State ) all have two-home run games this season.
• Each of Greg Casper's three saves this season have come in outings of at least two innings. Casper struck out four batters over two innings to earn the save in the April 17 series finale against North Dakota State.

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.

BROTHER VERSUS BROTHER: In an April 13 game at TD?Ameritrade Park in Omaha, brothers Henry (SDSU) and Ethan (Creighton) DeCaster faced off against each other on the mound.
A left-hander, Henry DeCaster allowed one run over two innings. Ethan DeCaster, meanwhile, retired all six batters he faced with two strikeouts in two innings. Neither factored in the decision.
The DeCasters are natives of Shoreview, Minnesota, and pitched for the highly successful Mounds View High School program. Henry DeCaster went on to earn the win in the series finale against North Dakota State on April 17, allowing two unearned runs while striking out two and walking one in a career-best seven innings..

CLEMEN CLIMBS THE CHARTS: Although he has moved into a starting role this season, Jackrabbit pitcher Andrew Clemen could move into the SDSU career top 10 for appearances.
A senior from Des Moines, Iowa, Clemen has made 60 appearances — 50 of which have been out of the bullpen — in his Jackrabbit career. He needs to pitch in four more games during the 2016 campaign to move into the top 10.
Clemen also stands eighth on the SDSU career charts for strikeouts per nine innings at 8.89, striking out 134 batters in 135 2/3 career innings. Clemen recorded a career-high eight strikeouts in his March 25 start at Western Illinois and has fanned at least five batters in seven of his last eight starts.
The SDSU record for strikeouts per nine innings, 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.

BUSCH BLANKING OPPONENTS: Since moving to the bullpen at the beginning of March, Landon Busch has been lights out against the opposition.
A junior left-hander, Busch had a string of 14 consecutive innings in which he did not give up a run during a four-game personal winning streak. Over his seven relief outings, Busch has posted a 1.97 earned run average and has struck out 36 in 32 innings.
In his most recent appearance, April 16 against North Dakota State, Busch pitched the final 7 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run while striking out a season-high eight and walking only one batter.
A Brookings native, Busch is in his first season pitching for the Jackrabbits. He spent his first two seasons (2013-14) at Kansas State before transferring to SDSU in the fall of 2014. He sat out the 2015 campaign due to NCAA?transfer rules.

JACOBSON JOINS TOP 10s: With an appearance in the April 13 game at Creighton, senior outfielder Paul Jacobson moved into the SDSU career top 10 for games played.
A Dakota Dunes native, Jacobson has played in 194 career games, including 175 starts,. With a start in the April 20 game versus Mayville State (N.D.), Jacobson passed his uncle, Pat Schmidt (193 games from 1992-95), and Greg Geary (2002-05) for seventh place. Jacobson, who has moved to right field this season after serving as the team's primary left fielder the previous three seasons, is the lone Jackrabbit to start all 36 games this season.
Eric Cain holds the Jackrabbit record of 218 games played from 2009-12.
With a team-best 15 stolen bases so far this season, Jacobson has upped his career total to 39, putting him in a tied for ninth place on the Jackrabbit career charts with Brian Scherschligt (1995-98). Jacobson stole 10 bases in both 2013 and 2015, and added four steals as a sophomore in 2014.

A CHANGE AT THE TOP: A change at the top of the Jackrabbit batting order in recent weeks has paid big dividends.
In 15 games since taking over the leadoff duties during a March 26 doubleheader at Western Illinois, Nick Smith is batting .308 (20-for-65) with five doubles and 14 runs
batted in. Paul Jacobson, who dropped into the second spot in the order, has been even hotter at the plate, compiling a .375 batting average (24-for-64) with four three home home runs and 13 RBI. All three of Jacobson's home runs came in the first two games of last weekend's series against North Dakota State.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State has had a player honored as a Summit League player of the week two times during the 2016 season.
Catcher Luke Ringhofer was honored March 14 as co-Summit League Player of the Week in helping lead the Jackrabbits to a pair of victories at Northern Colorado.
A sophomore from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, Ringhofer hit safely in four of the five games in which he had an official at-bat, including a pair of multi-hit games against Northern Colorado as the Jackrabbits claimed the three-game series. For the week, he batted .412 (7-for-17) with a home run, four runs batted in and six runs scored. He also walked six times.
Junior pitcher Landon Busch was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week on March 21 for his efforts in the Jackrabbits' series-opening win at Oral Roberts.
A junior from Brookings, Busch earned the win after tossing three shutout innings March 18 as the Jackrabbits rallied for a 3-2, 12-inning victory. Busch finished his outing with five strikeouts, including striking out the side in the bottom of the 12th to preserve the win.

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 two 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 128-131-1 record and qualified for the Summit League postseason tournament each of the last three seasons.
Schrage enters the weekend with a 724-795-2 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 Phillies) 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 are playing professionally this spring.
Right-handed pitcher Blake Treinen is currently the lone Jackrabbit in the Major Leagues. A member of Jackrabbit teams in 2010 and 2011, Treinen has pitched for the Washington Nationals for three seasons (2014-16) and earned an Opening Day victory. Treinen made 60 appearances for the Nationals during the 2015 season, posting a 2-5 record and 3.86 ERA.
Three other Jackrabbits began the 2016 season in the minor leagues.
Layne Somsen (2009-13) is on the 40-man roster for the Cincinnati Reds. A Yankton native, 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 professional seasons since being selected in the 22nd round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Reds, Somsen has compiled a 9-5 record and 2.51 ERA while averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched.
Adam Bray, who was a 33rd round draft choice by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, has been assigned to the Class A Great Lakes Loons in Midland, Michigan, where he is 2-0 on the young season with a 1.42 ERA. Bray 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.
Zach Coppola is a Philadelphia Phillies farmhand after being drafted in the 13th round last year. Coppola, who is currently leading the Class A Lakewood (N.J.) BlueClaws in batting average, spent the summer of 2015 at Class A Williamsport (Pa.), where he batted .271 with 19 steals.
Three other Jackrabbits are slated to pitch in the independent American Association this season. Chris Anderson (2014-15) recently signed with the Winnipeg Goldeyes, while Stephen Bougher (2010-13) is set to return to the Sioux Falls Canaries. Left-hander Caleb Thielbar recently re-signed with the St. Paul Saints. Thielbar pitched for the Minnesota Twins from 2013-15.

THE ROSTER: The 2016 SDSU baseball roster features 36 players from eight different states plus one Canadian province. Of the 37 players, 12 are from South Dakota, 11 are from Minnesota, seven hail 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, eight are seniors, nine are juniors, 11 are sophomores, three are redshirt freshmen and five are true freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits begin a stretch of 11 of their next 13 games at home with an April 27 matchup against Dakota State. SDSU will then host Western Illinois in a three-game series April 29-May 1 at Erv Huether Field.