Jacks squeeze past Minnesota

Tuesday, May 17

Brookings, S.D.

3:00 PM

South Dakota State University

20-31

Minnesota

33-16

Minnesota

South Dakota State

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/17/2016 7:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Zach Holt dropped down a squeeze bunt to plate the winning run in the bottom of the 10^th inning as the South Dakota State University baseball team closed out the home portion of its schedule Tuesday afternoon at Erv Huether Field with a 7-6 victory over nationally ranked Minnesota.

The Jackrabbits improved to 20-31 overall in defeating Minnesota for the sixth consecutive time on South Dakota soil. The Golden Gophers, who are ranked as high as No. 21 in the D1Baseball.com poll, drooped to 33-16 on the season.

Phil Velez started the game-winning rally with his fourth hit of the game, a single to right field on an 0-2 pitch. Velez then took second and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches. With the count 2-2 to Holt, the senior who had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the 10^th, perfectly executed the suicide squeeze with a bunt to the right side of the infield to score Holt.

The game-winning rally came after a ninth inning in which Minnesota took a 6-5 lead, only for the Jackrabbits to tie the game in the home half and send the game to extra innings. Matt Fiedler and Toby Hanson drove in the Golden Gopher runs with singles.

Tony Kjolsing singled with one out in the ninth and moved into scoring position on a walk to Paul Jacobson. Luke Ringhofer delivered Kjolsing with the tying run with a line-drive single down the right-field line that put runners on the corners with only one out. However, Minnesota reliever Ty McDevitt struck out the next two batters to extend the game.

Minnesota opened the scoring two batters into the game as Dan Motl, who was 4-for-4, led off with a single and Alex Boxwell followed with a double. The throw back to the infield on Boxwell's double hit the first-base bag and caromed away from the Jackrabbit fielders to allow Motl to score.

SDSU answered in the bottom of the first with a two-run single by Jesse Munsterman as the first four Jackrabbit batters reached safely. The Jackrabbits knocked out Minnesota starter Tim Shannon with a three-run second inning, but SDSU would not score again until the ninth. Velez scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the second and Josh Kunzmann crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly by Jacobson. Ringhofer , who extended his streak of reaching base safely to 43 games, added a run-scoring single to left-center.

The Golden Gophers pulled to within 5-2 on a solo home run by Hanson in the fourth and added single runs against reliever Austin Kost in the sixth and seventh innings, the last of which came on a bizarre 6-4-3-2 double play in which the tying run was cut down at home.

Ethan Kenkel was credited with the win after pitching the final three innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
Minnesota finished the game with a 14-12 advantage in hits, including three by Matt Stemper. Besides Velez going 4-for-5 at the plate, SDSU received two hits each from Jacobson, Ringhofer and Munsterman.

The Jackrabbits will play their final Summit League series of the season at North Dakota State, starting Thursday night. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo. SDSU will need to win one of three games to earn a berth in next week's Summit League tournament.

NOTES: Minnesota leads the all-time series, 30-12 … SDSU has won the last six games played between the two teams, starting with a 5-4 victory in Sioux Falls during the 2008 season — a game that also ended on a squeeze bunt (by Tony Martin) … Jacobson recorded his 100^th career RBI on his second-inning sacrifice fly and ended the day with 199 career hits … Ringhofer's 43-game streak of reaching base safely is the second-longest in the Jackrabbits' Division I history, trailing Zach Coppola's 45-game streak last season … Ringhofer has reached base safely in 49 of 51 games this season … Velez had the Jackrabbits' only extra-base hit, a double in the second inning … Greg Casper pitched a scoreless third inning as he made his first appearance since May 1 … SDSU evened its record at 2-2 in extra-inning games

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 7, MINNESOTA 6 [10 inn.]
MINN 100 101 102 0 6-14-0
SDSU 230 000 001 1 7-12-1
MINN: Tim Shannon, Fred Manke (2), Jeff Fasching (5), Ty McDevitt (7), Brian Glowicki (10) and Matt Stemper. SDSU: Will McAffer, Greg Casper (3), Derek Feige (4), Austin Kost (5), Ethan Kenkel (8) and Luke Ringhofer.
W-Kenkel (2-3). L-Glowicki (0-3). Save-none.
HR: MINN-Toby Hanson (5).