Jacks welcome Western for three

Friday, April 29

Brookings, S.D.

3:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

4/28/2016 3:26:00 PM | Baseball

The South Dakota State University baseball team will attempt to solidify its standing in the regular season race as it begins a stretch of nine consecutive Summit League home games this weekend with a three-game series against Western Illinois.
Friday's series opener is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch at Erv Huether Field. Games Saturday and Sunday are slated for 1 p.m. starts. All three games will be broadcast locally on KJJQ 910 AM, with Tyler Merriam calling the play-by-play. The audio broadcasts also will be streamed through Jackrabbits All-Access at GoJacks.com, with the pre-game show staring 15 minutes before scheduled first pitch each day.
The Jackrabbits enter the weekend with a 16-24 overall record and tied with Omaha for second place in the Summit standings with a 10-8 mark in league play.
Western Illinois, meanwhile, holds a one-game lead over North Dakota State for the fourth and final playoff spot with an 8-10 record in The Summit League. Overall, the Fighting Leathernecks hold an 11-25 record.

THE SERIES: This weekend's matchups will mark the 42nd, 43rd and 44th meetings between SDSU and Western Illinois on the baseball diamond. SDSU holds a 25-16 advantage in the series, which dates back to the 2006 campaign.
Western Illinois won two of the three games in a series March 25 and 26 in Macomb, Illinois. The Fighting Leathernecks won the series opener, 3-2, before the two teams split a doubleheader on March 26. SDSU scored seven first-inning runs en route to an 11-3 victory in Game 1, but three Western Illinois pitchers combined on a five-hit, 2-0 shutout victory in the finale. Joe Mortillaro struck out 11 over six innings, with relief help from Nick Milligan and Ricky Digrgulliers.
The Jackrabbits won the season series, 4-2, in 2015, claiming two games in each of the two three-game series played between the two squads.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some brief notes regarding the Jackrabbit baseball team heading into this weekend's series:
• Matt Johnson can tie the longest hitting streak by a Jackrabbit in the Division I era in Friday's series opener. Johnson has hit safely in 18 consecutive games, one behind the mark of 19 set by Tyson Fisher in 2005. Johnson is batting .409 (27-for-66) during his streak with five home runs and 24 runs batted in.
• 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). Paul Jacobson had a nine-game hitting streak snapped
• Matt Johnson's most recent home run was a grand slam in the ninth inning of SDSU's 15-3 victory at Omaha on April 23. It marked the first grand slam by a Jackrabbit since Jake Ratz connected against Alabama A&M on Feb. 21, 2014.
• Johnson has moved into ninth place in career putouts at SDSU with 729, passing former teammate Reid Clary (723 putouts from 2013-15) last weekend.
• Luke Ringhofer has reached base safely in 32 consecutive games, tying him with Craig Parry (2012) for the fourth-longest streak in program history during the D-I era. Ringhofer also collected his 100th career hit in the April 24 series finale at Omaha.
• 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.
• Cody Sharrow has tallied 318 career assists to rank eighth in program history. He moved past Cole Irish (311 assists from 1993-96), Daniel Marra (312 from 2009-13) and Dave Lane (317 assists from 1983-86) last weekend.

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).
Oral Roberts 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 this season.
A senior from Des Moines, Iowa, Clemen has made 61 appearances — 50 of which have been out of the bullpen — in his Jackrabbit career. He needs to pitch in three more games during the 2016 campaign to move into the top 10.
Clemen also stands ninth on the SDSU career charts for strikeouts per nine innings at 8.64, striking out 138 batters in 143 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 nine starts. He recorded the only complete game by a Jackrabbit pitcher so far this season, striking out four in a losing effort April 22 at Omaha.
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 stretch of four consecutive appearances in which he earned the win. Over his eight relief outings, Busch has posted a 1.70 earned run average (7 ER?in 37.0 IP) and has struck out 42.
In his most recent appearance, April 23 at Omaha, Busch struck out six batters in five shutout innings en route to his sixth consecutive win. Busch became the first Jackrabbit pitcher since Kolton Emery in 2011 to win six consecutive decisions. Blake Treinen (2010) and Caleb Thielbar (2007) each won seven consecutive decisions for the longest streak by a Jackrabbit in the Division I era. The school record for consecutive decisions won is 21 by Trevor Schulte between the 1993 and 1994 decisions. That mark also stood as the NCAA?Division II record for 17 seasons.
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: Senior outfielder Paul Jacobson has moved into several Jackrabbit career top 10s in recent weeks.
A Dakota Dunes native, Jacobson has played in 198 career games, including 179 starts. 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 40 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.
Jacobson also ranks eighth for both career at-bats (684) and doubles (45). His 13 doubles so far this season lead the team.
In addition, Jacobson enters the weekend with 192 hits, eighth away from becoming the 17th player in program history to record 200 career hits.

A CHANGE AT THE TOP: A change at the top of the Jackrabbit batting order in recent weeks has paid big dividends.
In 17 games since taking over the leadoff duties during a March 26 doubleheader at Western Illinois, Nick Smith is batting .293 (22-for-75) 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 .389 batting average (28-for-72) with four home runs and 15 RBI.
The Jackrabbits have an 11-6 record when Smith and Jacobson have batted 1-2 in the lineup.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State has had a player honored as a Summit League player of the week three 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.
Outfielder Paul Jacobson earned Summit honors on April 25. A senior from Dakota Dunes, Jacobson batted .500 (8-for-16) in four games last week, leading the Jackrabbits to a 2-2 record. Jacobson hit safely in all four games and tallied three multi-hit games. He opened the week with a two-hit game in an April 20 win over Dakota Wesleyan. In the second game of a weekend series at Omaha on April 23, Jacobson went 3-for-4 with a home run and two doubles, adding two runs batted in and three runs scored as SDSU defeated the Mavericks, 15-3.
He finished the Omaha series with a two-hit, two-RBI game on April 24.
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 130-133-1 record and
qualified for the Summit League postseason tournament each of the last three seasons.
Schrage enters the weekend with a 726-797-2 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: Earlier this week, Layne Somsen became the third former South Dakota State pitcher in four seasons to be called up to the Major Leagues.
Somsen was promoted by the Cincinnati Reds after steadily working his way up the minor league system since being selected in the 22nd round of the 2013 MLB Draft. The Yankton native made 81 appearances over parts of four seasons in the Reds organization, compiling a 9-5 record with a 2.49 earned run average. He also earned four saves while striking out 175 batters in 173.1 career innings pitched. At Triple-A Louisville (Ky.) so far this season, Somsen made five appearances with a 1.04 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.
Right-handed pitcher Blake Treinen is the other former Jackrabbit currently on a Major League roster. A member of Jackrabbit teams in 2010 and 2011, Treinen has pitched for the Washington Nationals for three seasons (2014-16) and has a 2-0 record with a 1.13 ERA in 2016, including earning the victory on Opening Day. Treinen made 60 appearances for the Nationals during the 2015 season, posting a 2-5 record and 3.86 ERA.
Two other former Jackrabbits are currently in the minor leagues.
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 1.08 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 8.1 innings. 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 with a .386 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 36 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 continue home action with a three-game Summit League series May 6-8 versus Fort Wayne.