Jackrabbits host final home series

Saturday, May 12

Brookings, S.D.

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

5/10/2018 12:49:00 PM | Baseball

By: Jason Hove

GAMES 41-43: Western Illinois (13-25, 10-10 Summit) at South Dakota State (15-25, 13-8 Summit)

When	3 p.m. Friday \| 1 p.m. Saturday \| 1 p.m. Sunday
Where	Erv Huether Field; Brookings, S.D.
TV/Video	None
Radio	KJJQ 910 AM \| Jackrabbits All-Access
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| Western Illinois
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #EarnIt

The South Dakota State University baseball team will attempt to secure a berth in the upcoming Summit League Baseball Championship as it hosts Western Illinois in a three-game weekend series.

The series opener is slated for 3 p.m. Friday at Erv Huether Field, with games Saturday and Sunday set for 1 p.m. The seven-member Jackrabbit senior class will be honored prior to the Saturday afternoon contest.

Radio coverage of all three games begins 15 minutes prior to scheduled first pitch on KJJQ 910 AM and at GoJacks.com/Watch, with Tyler Merriam calling the play-by-play. Live stats will be available at GoJacksLive.com.

SDSU enters the weekend in second place in the Summit League standings with a 13-8 mark in conference play and a 15-25 overall record. The Jackrabbits have won 12 of their last 15 Summit League contests, including a three-game sweep of Omaha last weekend at Erv Huether Field.

The Jackrabbits currently have a magic number of two — a combination of their own wins and losses by either Omaha or North Dakota State — to again qualify for the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship May 23-26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Western Illinois, also has weathered a slow start to the season to move into third place in the Summit League standings at 10-10 in conference games. The Leathernecks are 13-25 overall.

This weekend's series ends an abbreviated home schedule for the Jackrabbits, who had to wait until May 4 to make their home debut due to extended wintry weather conditions this spring.

THE SERIES: Friday's series opener will mark the 52nd meeting on the baseball diamond between South Dakota State and Western Illinois. The Jackrabbits hold a 30-21 advantage in the series that dates back to 2006.

In the lone meeting so far this season, the Jackrabbits scored three times in the top of the 12th inning to defeat Western Illinois, 6-3, March 24 in Macomb, Illinois. The other two games scheduled for the series were canceled due to inclement weather.

Landon Badger delivered the game-winning hit with the bases loaded and Austin Suhr pitched 3 2/3 dominant innings in relief to lead the Jackrabbits. Badger's game-winning double to the right-center gap came on an 0-2 pitch and scored Skyler Wenninger and Logan Holtz. The throw back to the infield was errant, allowing Gus Steiger to scamper home with the third run on the play.

The game started out as a pitchers' duel between SDSU's Brady Moxham and the Leathernecks' Ian Koch. Western Illinois scratched across a run in the bottom of the first, while the Jackrabbits answered with a run in the third.

The game remained deadlocked at 1 until the Jackrabbits broke through with single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 3-1 lead. Steiger and Anthony Schneider each singled off Koch before Tony Kjolsing greeted reliever Alex Dorethy with a base hit to score Steiger.

In the eighth, Badger reached on an infield single to score Holtz. Badger matched a career high with three hits, while Holtz reached base safely five times via two hits, two walks and a hit by pitch.

SDSU out-hit Western Illinois, 13-7, with Schneider and Kjolsing also tallying a pair of hits for the Jackrabbits. Deion Thompson and C.J. Schaeffer each posted two hits for WIU.

Moxham settled into a groove, retiring 17 consecutive Leatherneck batters until tiring in the eighth. Western Illinois knotted the game at 3-all with a pair of runs as Schaeffer singled in the first run before the tying run scored on a wild pitch.

Suhr entered the game with the go-ahead run on third and one out in the eighth, but recorded a strikeout and flyout around a walk to keep the game tied at three. The junior right-hander then fanned two batters in each of the ninth, 10th and 11th innings to finish with seven strikeouts in earning his second win of the season.

Moxham struck out seven and walked two in 7 1/3 innings, but did not factor in the decision. For WIU, Koch recorded eight strikeouts and walked three in 6 1/3 innings of work.

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 161-123 (.567 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 TIME OUT: Wichita State jumped out to an early lead and cruised past South Dakota State, 10-0, in nonconference baseball action Wednesday night at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kansas.

Recap | Box Score

ACADEMIC HONORS: Two Jackrabbits were named Thursday to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 6 Baseball Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Earning recognition on the team for the third year in a row was senior outfielder Anthony Schneider, who has compiled a 3.89 grade-point average while majoring in human biology. A native of Altoona, Iowa, Schneider currently leads Jackrabbit starters with a .417 on-base percentage and ranks second with a .459 slugging percentage. He also stands in a tie for third place on the team with four home runs and also is third on the squad with 25 runs scored.

Junior catcher and Watertown native Kolton Michalski received recognition on the honor squad with a 3.42 GPA as a consumer affairs major. Michalski has shared the catching duties this season and has been solid behind the plate, committing only one error in nearly 150 defensive chances.

Both Schneider and Michalski will advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration in June. SDSU was the lone program with more than one selection to the team.

Student-athletes are selected by position group and must be at least a sophomore in athletic standing, a starter or key reserve on his team and carry at least a 3.3 GPA. Selections to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 6 Baseball Team were based upon a vote of sports information directors in Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State University shortstop Tony Kjolsing shared Summit League Player of the Week honors Monday after helping lead the Jackrabbits to a weekend sweep of Omaha.

A senior from Chaska, Minnesota, Kjolsing batted .636 (7-for-11) with two home runs and six runs batted in as the Jackrabbits ran their winning streak to four. Kjolsing hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift SDSU to a 5-4 victory in the series opener on May 4 at Erv Huether Field and added a three-run shot the next day in a 14-4 Jackrabbit win. He recorded at least two hits in all three games, totaling a 1.273 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage. Kjolsing also stole his team-leading 16th base of the season and played errorless defense.

Kjolsing shared the weekly award with Western Illinois designated hitter Alex Dorethy. It marked the second time Kjolsing has been honored as Summit League Player of the Week in his career and the third time an SDSU player has received the award this season, joining Phil Velez (April 9) and Josh Falk (April 16).

MR. MAY: Tony Kjolsing's player-of-the-week performance last week continued a trend of the senior shortstop heating up at the plate when the calendar flips to the month of May.

In 30 games (26 starts) during the month of May over the past three seasons, Kjolsing is batting a combined .373 (38-for-102) with 24 runs scored and 26 runs batted in. He has posted a .667 slugging percentage, totaling nine doubles and seven of his 12 career home runs in the final month of the regular season.

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 late April and the Jackrabbits played their seventh doubleheader of the season April 20 against Oral Roberts thanks to inclement weather that seemingly followed them wherever they went over the first two months of the 2018 campaign. SDSU played a doubleheader in each of the first five Summit League series in which it managed to play more than one game.

In those seven 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.

Until May 4, SDSU?had yet to play a true home game this season due to the extended wintry weather affected the Upper Midwest earlier this spring. Instead, the Jacks were forced to move home series to Joplin, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Sioux Falls.

K ZONE: Two of the three pitchers who have held regular starting roles for the Jackrabbits in Summit League play are averaging better than a strikeout an inning.

Sophomore left-hander Brady Stover has recorded 58 strikeouts in only 38 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 13.50 strikeouts per nine innings pitched ranked seventh in NCAA Division I this season and is ahead of the SDSU single-season record of 12.86 set by Bob Ehrke in 1953. Stover missed his scheduled start last weekend against Omaha and will be evaluated later in the week to determine his availability for this weekend's series against Western Illinois.

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, has since upped his season strikeout total to 46 in 43 innings.

Out of the bullpen, senior Derek Feige has struck out 26 batters in only 21 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 put together a team-best 14-game hitting streak that was snapped in the April 29 series finale at Fort Wayne. During his 14-game streak, Smith batted .431 (25-for-58) with seven runs batted in and 13 runs scored.

Smith hit his first collegiate home run in a May 5 victory over Omaha and is currently leading the team with a .311 batting average. He had his streak of reaching base safely by hit or walk end at 24 games in the May 9 matchup at Wichita State.

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 fourth in The Summit League with teammate Josh Falk with six home runs. Johnson also leads the Jackrabbits and ranks third in The Summit League with 34 runs batted in.

Johnson had a string of reaching base safely in 29 consecutive games come to an end in the May 4 series opener against Omaha. It was the longest such streak by a Jackrabbit player 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.

MARRO IN THE NINTH: Junior right-hander Alex Marro has taken over the closer's role in the Jackrabbit bullpen in recent weeks.

Marro has not allowed a run over his last seven appearances, covering 10 2/3 innings. He has recorded three of his team-high four saves over that span, and also earned both of his victories of the season in the opening and final game of last weekend's series against Omaha.

His streak began by pitching a combined three scoreless innings in an April 12 doubleheader against North Dakota State in Sioux Falls. He pitched one scoreless inning in the opener, then earned the save by striking out four in two innings in the nightcap.

Marro also notched saves April 20 versus Oral Roberts and April 27 at Fort Wayne.

PRESSING THE ISSUE: South Dakota State enters the weekend tied for the Summit League team lead in stolen bases with 53. The Jackrabbits moved atop the league rankings after swiping a combined 11 bases in a three-game series April 27-29 at Fort Wayne. SDSU matched a Division I-era single-game high with seven stolen bases in the April 29 series finale.

Individually, Tony Kjolsing ranks second among Summit League players with 16 stolen bases (in 20 attempts). Newt Johnson ranks second on the team with nine steals, while Landon Badger and Anthony Schneider each have tallied seven stolen bases.

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 590-371-1 record (.614 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach, including a 41-49 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 wrap up the regular season by traveling to North Dakota State for a three-game series May 17-19. The first two games are each slated for 6:30 p.m. starts at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo, North Dakota, with the series finale set for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

Radio coverage of all three games begins 15 minutes prior to scheduled first pitch on KJJQ 910 AM and at GoJacks.com/Watch.

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

-GoJacks.com-