Oklahoma State sweeps twinbill from Jacks

Sunday, March 12

Stillwater, Okla.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

6-6

Oklahoma State

8-6

South Dakota State

Oklahoma State

Photo by: Eric Landwehr

3/12/2017 10:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

STILLWATER, Okla. – The South Dakota State University baseball team wrapped up the pre-conference portion of its schedule Sunday with a pair of losses to 18^th-ranked Oklahoma State at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

With the 6-3 and 8-3 victories, OSU improved to 9-6 overall. The Jackrabbits dropped to 6-7 on the season.

Game 1
In the opener, Cowboy right-hander Jensen Elliott struck out seven batters over six innings and the OSU offense benefited from nine bases on balls issued by Jackrabbit pitchers en route to a 6-3 victory.

The Jackrabbits scored the first run of the game on three singles and an error in the top of the first inning. Josh Kunzmann tallied the first of the three singles and came around to score on an errant throw after Matt Johnson hit an infield single.

Oklahoma State tied the game two batters into the home half of the first and took the lead for good later in the inning. Cash led off with a walk against Jackrabbit starter Ryan Froom and Garrett McCain followed with a triple to left-center field to plate Ryan Cash. McCain later scored on a wild pitch.

The Cowboys expanded their lead to 4-1 with single runs in the third and fourth innings, the latter of the two runs scoring on a bases-loaded walk to Garrett Benge.
SDSU pulled back to within a run at 4-3 with a pair of two-out runs in the sixth. Anthony Schneider doubled in Johnson with the first run and Schneider crossed home plate after a throwing error following Jake Thompson's infield single.

OSU countered with runs in the seventh and eighth innings on a Jon Littell RBI double and sacrifice fly by Colin Simpson, respectively.

Blake Battenfield shut down the Jackrabbits with three shutout innings to earn the save for OSU. Battenfield struck out three.

Froom tossed the first 3 1/3 innings for the Jackrabbits in suffering his first loss of the season. He struck out two, walked five and surrendered four runs on five hits. Bryce Hanson shut out the Cowboys over the next three innings, striking out three and walking two.

OSU held an 11-7 advantage in hits and was paced by McCain's 3-for-5 performance at the plate. Johnson was the lone Jackrabbit with more than one hit, going 2-for-4.

Game 2
Home runs by McCain and Trevor Boone lifted Oklahoma State to an 8-3 victory to finish off the doubleheader sweep and series victory.

McCain's home run came two batters into the game against SDSU starter Austin Kost, while Boone's solo shot was the beginning of a three-run second inning. The other two runs in the second inning were unearned and included McCain's second RBI of the game on a base hit up the middle.

Oklahoma State starter Parker Scott was lifted with an apparent injury after facing only two batters. Both Nick Smith (single) and Anthony Schneider (hit by pitch) reached base against Scott before Smith scored on the first of four Cowboy errors in the contest.

OSU added a pair of runs in the fifth inning to push the lead to 6-1 and knock Kost out of the game.

SDSU's final two runs of the of the game came on a two-run home run by Matt Johnson to left field. His third home run of the season also extended his season-opening hitting streak to 13 games.

The Cowboys answered with two runs in the home half of the eighth to end hopes of a Jackrabbit comeback. McCain tallied his third hit of the game and scored on an error before Dustin Williams tripled in Simpson with the final run of the game.

OSU out-hit the Jackrabbits, 11-6, in Game 2. Cade Cabbiness also posted three hits for the Cowboys. No Jackrabbit player tallied more than one hit.

Kost struck out four and walked five in 4 2/3 innings. Ethan Kenkel hurled 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Jackrabbits.

Carson Teel, the second of seven OSU pitchers, was credited with the win. Teel and Brady Basso each notched five strikeouts as Cowboy pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts in the contest.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits open Summit League play Friday at Omaha for the first game of a three-game series. First pitch Friday is set for 4 p.m. at Isaacson Park.

-GoJacks.com-