Jackrabbits face ranked Minnesota

Wednesday, April 25

Minneapolis, Minn. [Siebert Field]

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Minnesota

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

4/24/2018 3:48:00 PM | Baseball

By: Jason Hove

GAME 33: South Dakota State (10-22) at No. 21/23 Minnesota (25-11)

When	6 p.m. Wednesday, April 25
Where	Siebert Field; Minneapolis, Minn.
TV	BTN Plus
Radio	KJJQ 910 AM \| GoJacks.com/Watch
Live Stats	C lick Here
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| Minnesota
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #EarnIt

The South Dakota State University baseball team opens a four-game road trip by facing a nationally ranked opponent for the first time this season, traveling to Minnesota for a midweek matchup.

First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. at Siebert Field on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. Radio coverage, with Tyler Merriam calling the play-by-play, begins at 5:45 p.m. on Brookings-based KJJQ 910 AM, and also will be available online through the Jackrabbits All-Access media portal at GoJacks.com.

The Jackrabbits enter the week with a 10-22 overall record and are tied for second in the Summit League standings with an 8-7 mark in league play. SDSU won the opener of a weekend series against Oral Roberts before dropping the final two contests of the three-game set, which was moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska. SDSU has yet to play a true home game this season due to the extended wintry weather in the region.

Minnesota, meanwhile, won the first two games of a three-game weekend series against Iowa that was played between Target Field and Siebert Field. The loss to the Hawkeyes in the series finale snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Golden Gophers, who are 25-11 overall and second in the Big Ten Conference standings with a 9-2 mark.

The Golden Gophers are nationally ranked in two polls, checking in at No. 21 in the D1Baseball.com weekly poll and 23rd in this week's Baseball America Division I rankings.

THE SERIES: Wednesday's game against Minnesota will mark the 46th time the Jackrabbits and Golden Gophers have met on the baseball diamond. Minnesota leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1947, by a 33-12 count, including winning a matchup between the two programs earlier this season.

In their Feb. 28 contest at U.S. Bank Stadium, three Minnesota pitchers combined to limit South Dakota State to two hits, shutting out the Jackrabbits, 1-0.

Minnesota scored what would be the only run of the game in bottom of the first as Luke Pettersen led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on a balk and scored on a groundout off the bat of Terrin Vavra. Pettersen, who was 3-for-4 and stole two bases, was the only Golden Gopher to record a hit in the game.

Minnesota starter Joshua Culliver struck out three walked two in five no-hit innings to earn the victory.

The Jackrabbits finally cracked the hit column with two outs in the seventh, when Josh Falk singled to left field. Phil Velez added a single to left in the eighth for the other SDSU hit.

Jeff Fasching, who allowed both SDSU hits, struck out two batters in three shutout innings, while Max Meyer worked around a two-out walk in the ninth, to earn the save.

SDSU pitchers were equal to the task the rest of the way. Kuhlmann finished with one strikeout and did not walk a batter in his three innings of work. Brett Mogen, Austin Suhr and Alex Marro followed with one scoreless inning each, while Bryce Johnson finished on the mound with two shutout frames.

PRESEASON POLL: The Jackrabbit baseball team was picked to finish second in the 2018 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 10-plus seasons as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 156-122 (.561 winning percentage) in conference games. SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play seven times and has made eight appearances in the four-team postseason tournament out of the nine years it has been eligible.

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

LAST WEEK: For the third time this season, the South Dakota State baseball team moved a home Summit League series, playing a three-game set against league-leading Oral Roberts in the greater Omaha, Nebraska, area April 20-21.

Game 1 Recap | Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Recap | Game 2 Box Score
Game 3 Recap | Game 3 Box Score

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State has featured the Summit League Player of the Week in its lineup twice during the month of April.

Sophomore first baseman Josh Falk was named Summit League Player of the Week on April 16 after helping lead the Jackrabbits to a doubleheader sweep of North Dakota State with an impressive day at the plate.

In the April 12 twinbill in Sioux Falls, Falk went a combined 7-for-10 and homered in each game. In the opener, he tallied three hits with two runs batted in and a pair of runs scored. A sophomore from Minnetonka, Minnesota, Falk was 4-for-5 in Game 2, belting the go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning en route to a 12-9 Jackrabbit victory.

Falk's totals included a 1.300 slugging percentage as he recorded his team-best ninth and 10th multi-hit games of the season and extended his hitting streak to six games.

Outfielder Phil Velez was the first Jackrabbit honored as Summit League Baseball Player of the Week, earning the award April 9 after helping lead the Jackrabbits to a weekend sweep of Fort Wayne.

In two games, Velez batted .857 (6-for-7) and drove in seven runs, highlighted by a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning of the series finale April 8 in Joplin, Missouri. A senior from Des Moines, Iowa, Velez went 4-for-4 in the second game of an April 7 doubleheader, then was 2-for-3 with a career-high six runs batted in the next day. He also tallied a 1.429 slugging percentage, scored four times and threw out a runner at home plate during the series.

LET'S PLAY TWO: When the 2018 Jackrabbit baseball schedule was first put together, SDSU had one true doubleheader — March 10 at Northern Colorado — on the docket.

Fast forward to mid-April and the Jackrabbits played their seventh doubleheader of the season April 20 against Oral Roberts thanks to inclement weather that has followed them wherever they have gone. The Jackrabbits have played a doubleheader in each of the five Summit League series in which they have played more than one game.

In those seven previous doubleheaders the squad has played, the Jackrabbits have turned in a 5-9 record. SDSU was swept in each of its first four doubleheaders, then turned the tables with sweeps of Fort Wayne (April 7) and North Dakota State (April 12). The Jacks and Oral Roberts split an April 20 doubleheader in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

SDSU has yet to play a true home game this season due to the extended wintry weather that has affected the Upper Midwest this spring. Instead, the Jacks have been forced to move home series to Joplin, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Sioux Falls.

K ZONE: Two of the three pitchers who are scheduled to start games for the Jackrabbits this weekend are averaging better than a strikeout an inning.

Sophomore left-hander Brady Stover has recorded 50 strikeouts in only 33 2/3 innings pitched. In an April 7 start versus Fort Wayne, Stover set a new Jackrabbit single-game mark in the Division I era with 13 strikeouts. He allowed only one hit — an infield single — over 6 1/3 innings.

Two starts later, Stover fanned 10 Oral Roberts batters in 6 2/3 shutout innings.

Stover's current pace of 13.37 strikeouts per nine innings pitched ranks 11th in NCAA Division I this season and is ahead of the SDSU single-season record of 12.86 set by Bob Ehrke in 1953.

Sophomore right-hander Tyler Olmstead also has more strikeouts than innings pitched. Olmstead, who fanned a career-high 10 batters in a March 31 start at Omaha, upped his season strikeout total to 41 in 39 1/3 innings with six strikeouts in a losing effort April 21 against Oral Roberts.

SDSU's other weekend starter, Brady Moxham, is just off the pace with 49 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings pitched.

Out of the bullpen, senior Derek Feige has struck out 22 batters in only 16 1/3 innings. Austin Suhr (22 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings) and Otis Roby (12 K's in 12 1/3 IP) also are averaging nearly one strikeout per inning pitched.

ELITE COMPANY: Prior to Brady Stover's 13-strikeout performance April 7 against Fort Wayne, the SDSU record for strikeouts in a Division I game was 12, and was shared by Robby Apo (2006), Caleb Thielbar (twice in 2009), Blake Treinen (2010) and Layne Somsen (2013). Thielbar, Treinen and Somsen all have since gone on to pitch in the Major Leagues.

SMITH HEATING UP: Nick Smith has made the most of his return to the Jackrabbit lineup after battling through injuries the first two months of the season.

Filling the designated hitter role out of the No. 3 spot in the lineup, Smith is working on a team-best 11-game hitting streak that included a streak of seven consecutive multi-hit games from April 7-20. During his current 11-game hitting streak, Smith is batting .467 (21-for-45) with seven runs batted in and 12 runs scored, raising his season average to a team-best .356.

A junior from Chanhassen, Minnesota, Smith earned second-team all-Summit League honors in 2017 as a utility player after leading the team with a .340 batting average and sharing the team lead with two triples.

JOHNSON CONNECTS TWICE: Senior infielder Newt Johnson became the first SDSU player this season to homer twice in the same game as he connected on a pair of round-trippers in the first game of a doubleheader March 17 at Oral Roberts. It was the second two-homer game of Johnson's career, with the first coming on Feb. 27, 2016, versus Virginia Commonwealth in a game played in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Prior to Johnson's two-homer game, Anthony Schneider was the last Jackrabbit to homer twice in a game — March 7, 2017, at Minnesota.

The Rapid City native is tied for second in The Summit League with five home runs — all of which have come against left-handed pitchers. Johnson also leads the Jackrabbits and ranks fourth in The Summit League with 26 runs batted in.

Johnson has reached base safely in 25 consecutive games, which is the longest streak by a Jackrabbit this season.

GRAND OLD TIME: Phil Velez's game-winning grand slam against Fort Wayne on April 8 was the second grand slam hit by a Jackrabbit this season.

Anthony Schneider connected on a pinch-hit grand slam in SDSU's March 2 game at Southeast Missouri State.

CALL TO ARMS: The Jackrabbits have made frequent pitching changes in recent games in an attempt to exploit matchups and end opposing teams' threats.

In three of the last six games, including each of the last two games of their recent weekend series against Oral Roberts, SDSU used a season-high seven pitchers in a game. The Jackrabbits first sent seven different hurlers to the mound in an April 10 game at Creighton.

In the April 21 series finale with Oral Roberts, five different Jackrabbit pitchers faced at least one batter in the sixth inning alone.

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 585-368-1 record (.614 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach, including a 36-46 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: The Jackrabbits continue their road trip with a three-game Summit League series at Fort Wayne. The series opener is slated for 2 p.m. Eastern Time (1 p.m. Central) on Friday at Mastodon Field, followed by games at noon and 11 a.m. Central, respectively, on Saturday and Sunday.

Schedule updates regarding Jackrabbit baseball will be posted to GoJacks.com and available on Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball).

-GoJacks.com-