Jackrabbits complete sweep of Fort Wayne

Sunday, April 2

Brookings, S.D.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

13-10, 6-3

Fort Wayne

5-20, 1-8

Fort Wayne

South Dakota State

Photo by: Eric Landwehr

4/2/2017 5:32:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

South Dakota State tied the game with a three-run fifth inning, then took the lead with a five-run sixth, en route to a 10-6 victory over Fort Wayne in Summit League baseball action Sunday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

With the victory, the Jackrabbits earned a sweep of the three-game series and improved to 13-10 overall and 6-3 in league play. Fort Wayne dropped to 5-20 overall and 1-8 in The Summit League.

Fort Wayne used the long ball to take a 3-0 lead. Brock Logan hit a solo shot to right-center field in the second inning and Shannon Baker added a two-run shot to left-center in the top of the fifth. Both home runs came on 3-0 pitches from Jackrabbit starter Ethan Kenkel.

After facing the minimum number of batters through the first three innings, Mastodon starter Mitchell Ley ran into trouble in the home half of the fifth. Skyler Wenninger put the Jackrabbits on the board with a solo homer to left field and Matt Johnson added a ringing two-run single off the top of the fence in right field that tied the game at 3-all, plating Nick Smith from third and Luke Ringhofer all the way from first.

SDSU took an 8-3 lead against the Fort Wayne bullpen as the Jackrabbits sent 11 men to the plate in the decisive sixth inning. Ringhofer, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games earlier in the game, delivered a two-run single to give SDSU a lead it would not relinquish. Newt Johnson added a sacrifice fly, while the other two runs of the inning scored on bases-loaded walks to Tony Kjolsing and Philip Jacobson.

The Jackrabbits drew 13 walks in the contest and were also hit by two Mastodon pitches.

Newt Johnson added an RBI ground-rule double in the bottom of the seventh to finish the three-game series with five runs batted in.

Logan notched an RBI single in the seventh for Fort Wayne, and Baker hit his second two-run homer of the game in the eighth to pull the Mastodons to within 9-6.

Phil Velez, who threw a runner out at home to end the Fort Wayne seventh inning, tacked on an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to close the scoring.

Derek Feige was credited with the victory after pitching 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Chris Halbur, the fifth SDSU pitcher of the afternoon, closed the game with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth inning.

Smith, Ringhofer and Wenninger each tallied two of the Jackrabbits' 10 hits. Fort Wayne also totaled 10 hits as Zak Kellogg and Brady Hettinger joined Logan and Baker with two hits each.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits head to Iowa for a two-game mid-week series against the Hawkeyes. First pitch for Tuesday's opener is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Duane Banks Field.

NOTES
• SDSU leads the all-time series against Fort Wayne by a 44-13 margin
• The Jackrabbits have either swept (at Omaha, vs. Fort Wayne) or been swept (at Oral Roberts) in their first three Summit League series of the season
• The 13 walks drawn by the Jackrabbits matches a season high first set in a 13-inning game March 24 at Oral Roberts
• Smith recorded his team-best 11^th multi-hit game of the season
• Matt Johnson has reached base safely in all 23 Jackrabbit games this season and has a hit in 21 of those contests
• Halbur has not allowed a run in 11 appearances this season, covering 16 innings, and has 19 strikeouts
• SDSU left the bases loaded in each of the last five innings it batted
• The Jackrabbits improved to 4-0 at Erv Huether Field this season
• SDSU reached double figures in runs for the fifth time in 2017 and recorded 10 or more hits for the 12^th time

-GoJacks.com-