Summit League play begins at ORU

Friday, March 16

Tulsa, Okla.

6:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

3/15/2018 8:42:00 AM | Baseball

GAMES 17-19: South Dakota State (2-14, 0-0 Summit) at Oral Roberts (8-6, 0-0)

When	6:30 p.m. Friday, March 16 \| 2 p.m. Saturday, March 17 \| 1 p.m. Sunday, March 18
Where	J.L. Johnson Stadium \| Tulsa, Oklahoma
TV	ESPN3.com (Friday); ORUAthletics.com (Saturday-Sunday)
Radio	ORUAthletics.com
Live Stats	ORUAthletics.com
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| Oral Roberts
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #EarnIt

The South Dakota State University baseball team opens Summit League play this weekend with a three-game series at defending league champion and preseason favorite Oral Roberts.

The series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at J.L. Johnson Stadium on the ORU campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The series continues with a 2 p.m. contest Saturday, with Sunday's series finale slated for 1 p.m. Friday's series opener is slated to be carried on ESPN3.com, with games Saturday and Sunday available for viewing through ORUAthletics.com.

SDSU enters its 11th season of Summit League play with a 2-14 overall record thus far in 2018. The Jackrabbits began the season with an eight-game losing streak and are in the midst of a six-game skid after being swept in series last week at Air Force (two games) and Northern Colorado (four games).

Oral Roberts, meanwhile, has compiled an 8-6 record in nonconference play so far this season. The Golden Eagles recorded wins over nationally ranked Wichita State and Dallas Baptist last week, but dropped a 6-5 decision at Missouri State in their most recent action Tuesday night.

THE SERIES: South Dakota State and Oral Roberts will play for the 58th time, when the two squads meet in Friday's series opener. The Golden Eagles hold a 44-13 advantage in the series that dates back to 1971.

Oral Roberts won the season series, 6-1, a season ago. In the first series between the two teams last season, Oral Roberts carried the momentum from an extra-inning win in the opening game of the series March 24 in Tulsa to a series sweep. The Golden Eagles came away with a 7-6, 13-inning victory in an opener that was played over two days as the game was suspended by inclement weather after 11 innings, then posted wins of 11-5 and 6-2 to close out the series.

The Jackrabbits picked up their lone win in the 2017 season series in the middle game of a three-game series April 22 at Erv Huether Field. In posting a 5-2 victory, SDSU scored twice in both the sixth and seventh innings to secure the win. Ethan Kenkel pitched five strong innings, while Derek Feige (three innnings) and Chris Halbur (one inning) combined for four shutout innings in relief.

ORU won the other two games of SDSU's home series by scores of 8-6 and 14-5.

The two squads met for the final time in 2017 in a winners' bracket game at the Summit League Baseball Championship May 25 in Tulsa. Newt Johnson's two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning tied the game at 2 before the Golden Eagles grabbed a 4-2 lead with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

SDSU loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth, but could manage only one run as the Golden Eagles turned their fourth double play of the game. ORU added a run in the ninth to seal a 5-3 victory to advance to the championship round.

PRESEASON POLL: The Jackrabbit baseball team has been picked to finish second in the upcoming Summit League race, according to a poll of league coaches released Feb. 8.

SDSU received 20 points and one first-place vote, finishing behind defending champion Oral Roberts, which received the other five first-place votes and 25 total points. North Dakota State completed the top half of the poll with 17 points.

Rounding out the second half of the poll were Western Illinois (14 points), Omaha (9) and Fort Wayne (5).

The Jackrabbits, who return six position starters, will attempt to qualify for the Summit League postseason tournament for the ninth time in 10 years. The 2018 Summit League Baseball Championship is slated for May 23-26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In addition, SDSU shortstop Tony Kjolsing was selected as a Summit League Player to Watch. A senior from Chaska, Minnesota, Kjolsing batted .291 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in while playing in 32 games during the 2017 season.

SUMMIT LEAGUE SUCCESS: South Dakota State has been a consistent winner in The Summit League since it became a league member a decade ago. In their first 10 seasons as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits compiled a 148-115 (.563 winning percentage) in conference games. SDSU posted a .500 or better record in league play seven times and made eight appearances in the four-team postseason tournament out of nine years it was eligible.

The Jackrabbits shared a Summit League regular season title in 2010 and won the Summit postseason tournament in 2013.

LAST WEEKEND: The Jackrabbits were swept in a four-game weekend series at Northern Colorado. Two of the games were decided by one run.

Game 1 Recap
Game 2 Recap
Game 3 Recap
Game 4 Recap

INJURY BUG: During its recent six-game slide the Jackrabbits have been without the services of three members of its starting lineup due to injuries.

Junior Nick Smith, who led SDSU in batting last season with a .340 average and was a second-team all-Summit League selection as a utility player, has been limited to 25 at-bats in eight games so far this season.

Sophomore center fielder Landon Badger has been out of action since being injured in the series opener at Southeast Missouri State on March 2. Badger batted .400 (4-for-10) during the opening weekend, including notching a three-hit game versus Austin Peay on Feb. 16.

Senior outfielder/designated hitter Anthony Schneider left the game early due to injury in the series opener at Air Force on March 6. Schneider shares the team lead in both home runs (2) and runs batted in (9).

Badger, Schneider and Smith are all left-handed hitters.

In addition, sophomore southpaw Brady Stover missed his scheduled start in the series at Southeast Missouri State, but came back to record a career-high nine strikeouts March 9 at Northern Colorado. However, Stover is questionable for action this weekend at Oral Roberts.

SOLID DEFENSE: The Jackrabbits entered last weekend as the top fielding team in The Summit League with a .986 fielding percentage through 12 games, a mark that also ranked sixth among NCAA Division I teams. Last weekend, however, SDSU struggled in the field at times during their series at Northern Colorado, committing 10 errors in the four-game set to fall to a .972 overall team fielding percentage.

NEW ARMS: Seven Jackrabbit pitchers made their SDSU debuts on the opening weekend of play in Missouri and Illinois. Brady Moxham and Korey Kuhlmann each started games for SDSU, while Otis Roby, Austin Suhr, Alex Marro, Bryce Johnson and Mitchell Oehme made appearances in relief.

SCHNEIDER CLEARS THE BASES: Senior Anthony Schneider made the most of his run-scoring opportunities in the Jackrabbits' weekend series at Southeast Missouri State by driving in seven runs in eight official at-bats. Schneider began the weekend by hitting a pinch-hit grand slam in the March 2 series opener, then went 1-for-4 with a run-scoring double the next day.

In the March 4 series finale, Schneider plated a first-inning run with a double and added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

For the series, Schneider batted .375 (3-for-8) and slugged 1.000 as all three of his hits went for extra bases — a home run and two doubles.

Schneider's grand slam was the first by a Jackrabbit player since Matt Johnson connected on April 23, 2016, at Omaha.

KJOLSING STREAK ENDS: Shortstop Tony Kjolsing had his streak of reaching base safely by hit or walk end at 26 consecutive games in the March 9 series opener at Northern Colorado. A senior from Chaska, Minnesota, Kjolsing reached base safely in the final 14 games of the 2017 season and was on base in the first 12 games of 2018 before going 0-for-5 in an extra-innings loss to the Bears.

Kjolsing enters the weekend as the top base stealer in The Summit League with seven stolen bases in nine attempts.

FALK LEADS OFFENSE: Sophomore first baseman Josh Falk has been the top hitter for the Jackrabbits as they enter the Summit League portion of their schedule. The Minnetonka, Minnesota, native has hit safely in 10 of the last 12 games. He is batting .356 (14-for-45) over that span with a team-best six multi-hit game.

Falk connected on his first home run as a Jackrabbit March 6 at Air Force, a game in which he also collected a season-high three runs batted in. He added a home run in the March 11 series finale at Northern Colorado to tie for the team lead in that category.

STEIGER IN THE CLUTCH: Freshman Gus Steiger notched game-winning RBIs in back-to-back victories at Southeast Missouri State to open the month of March.

In a March 3 game, Steiger hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to break a 2-all tie as the Jackrabbits went on to post their first win of the season, 7-4. The next day, he delivered a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth that gave SDSU the lead in a 6-5 victory.

Steiger also plated the tying run in the top of the ninth in the March 9 series opener at Northern Colorado with a two-out single. The Jackrabbits went on to fall, 3-2, in 11 innings in their first extra-innings contest of the season.

A native of Minnetonka, Minnesota, Steiger has batted leadoff and started each of the Jackrabbits' last 11 games at second base.

KUHLMANN IN CONTROL: Junior left-handed pitcher Korey Kuhlmann ranks third on the team with 16 innings pitched so far this season and has yet to issue a walk. Kuhlmann has made five appearances, including three starts, and recorded nine strikeouts, including a season-high four in his Jackrabbit debut Feb. 18 versus Illinois.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 500 victories, was named head baseball coach at South Dakota State University on Aug. 1, 2016. Bishop is the ninth head coach in program history and the fourth in the Division I era of Jackrabbit baseball.

Overall, Bishop holds a 577-360-1 record (.616 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach, including a 28-38 mark with the Jackrabbits. Prior to coming to SDSU, he spent six years at NCAA Division II member Montana State University-Billings, where he led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season titles in 2015 and 2016, attaining the program's first-ever 30-win season with a 30-20 record in 2016.

His squads also were honored as the top academic team in the GNAC each of his last three seasons.

Previously, Bishop spent 10 years at Miles City Community College in Montana, where his teams won MonDak conference championships every year. His squads also claimed five consecutive junior college region titles and a Northwest District championship in 2007 to advance to the NJCAA Division II College World Series. He also served as athletic director the last five years of his tenure at Miles City.

Bishop served as a graduate assistant at SDSU under head coach Mark Ekeland during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In his first season as a head coach, Bishop led Huron University to the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference title in 2000.

A 1994 graduate of Jamestown College, Bishop earned NAIA All-America honors during the 1992 and 1994 seasons as an infielder.

THE ROSTER: The 2018 SDSU baseball roster features 33 players from six different states and one Canadian province. Of the 33 players, 12 are from South Dakota, 10 are from Iowa and seven hail from Minnesota. Arizona, Washington and Wisconsin are represented by one player each, as is Manitoba.

By class, seven are seniors, 11 are juniors, eight are sophomores and seven are incoming freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: SDSU is scheduled to return to nonconference action March 20 at Creighton. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

From there, the Jackrabbits head back on the road for Summit League action March 23-25 at Western Illinois.

Further updates will be available through GoJacks.com and Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball).

-GoJacks.com-