Jackrabbits wrap up regular season

Friday, May 18

Fargo, N.D.

noon

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/16/2018 2:05:00 PM | Baseball

GAMES 44-46: South Dakota State (16-27, 14-10 Summit) at North Dakota State (22-22, 12-13 Summit)

When	6:30 p.m. Thursday \| 6:30 p.m. Friday \| 1 p.m. Saturday
Where	Newman Outdoor Field; Fargo, N.D.
TV/Video	GoBison.com (subscription required)
Radio	KJJQ 910 AM \| Jackrabbits All-Access
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| North Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #EarnIt

The South Dakota State University baseball team concludes the 2018 regular season this week with a three-game series at rival North Dakota State.

The series opener is slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch Thursday at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo. Game 2 of the series is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, with the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.

Radio broadcasts of all three games will be carried locally on Brookings-based KJJQ 910 AM, as well as online at www.GoJacks.com/watch, with Tyler Merriam calling the play-by-play. The pre-game show begins 15 minutes prior to scheduled first pitch each day. Live stats will be available at GoJacksLive.com.

The Jackrabbits enter the week having already secured a berth in next week's Summit League Baseball Championship. At 14-10, SDSU is assured of a winning record in league play for the seventh time in 11 seasons as a Summit League member. The Jackrabbits are 16-27 overall after winning one of three games in a home series last weekend against Western Illinois.

North Dakota State, meanwhile, will wrap up a spot in the Summit tournament field with one win or an Omaha loss. The Bison are 12-13 in league play and 22-22 overall after sweeping a three-game home series from Fort Wayne last weekend.

The four-team, double-elimination Summit League Baseball Championship is scheduled to be played May 23-26 at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

THE SERIES: Thursday's game will mark the 183rd meeting on the baseball diamond between SDSU and North Dakota State. In the series that dates back to 1956, the Jackrabbits hold a 116-66 lead.

Since the two programs joined The Summit League at the start of the 2008 season, the Jackrabbits hold a 27-23 edge in league regular season games, after sweeping an April 12 doubleheader at Karras Park Home of Ronken Field in Sioux Falls. The third game scheduled for the series was canceled due to inclement weather.

In that first series of the 2018 season between the two squads, Josh Falk went 7-for-10 at the plate and homered in both games to help lead SDSU to two victories. The Jackrabbits rallied from early deficits and received strong relief pitching in both games en route to wins by scores of 5-4 and 12-9.

Freshman second baseman Gus Steiger hit a walk-off single down the right-field line that scored Falk with the winning run from third base in the bottom of the ninth. Steiger's heroics came after NDSU's Jayse McLean tied the game at 4-all on a solo home run with two outs in the top of the ninth.

In Game 2, Falk gave the Jackrabbits the lead for good with a two-run homer in the sixth inning as SDSU battled back from a four-run deficit for a 9-6 victory. Steiger and Newt Johnson added home runs for SDSU, while Falk and Nick Smith each posted 4-for-5 efforts at the plate.

Alex Marro retired six of the seven batters he faced, including four by strikeouts, to nail down his second save of the season.

Recap | Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

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, have qualified 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 162-125 (.565 winning percentage) in conference games. SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play eight times and will make its ninth appearance in the four-team postseason tournament out of the 10 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: The Jackrabbits wrapped up an abbreviated home schedule by winning one of three games in a May 12-13 weekend series against Western Illinois.

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

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State University designated hitter Anthony Schneider was honored Monday as Summit League Player of the Week after an impressive week at the plate.

A senior from Altoona, Iowa, Schneider posted a .579 batting average in four games, going a combined 11-for-19 with two home runs, three doubles and nine runs batted in. Both of Schneider's home runs were part of a 3-for-5, seven-RBI performance in the first game of a May 13 doubleheader against Western Illinois. He followed that with a 5-for-5, two-double effort in Game 2 of the twinbill.

For the week, Schneider recorded a 1.053 slugging percentage and a .609 on-base percentage. He also stole two bases and scored five runs.

Schneider, who has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games, raised his season batting average 48 points in the past week from .262 to a team-best .310. He also leads the squad with a .556 slugging percentage, .448 on-base percentage, nine doubles and 30 runs scored. His 33 RBIs and nine stolen bases rank second on the team.

Schneider is the second Jackrabbit in a row and fourth this season to earn the weekly award. Tony Kjolsing was named Summit League Player of the Week on May 7, while Phil Velez (April 9) and Josh Falk (April 16) were honored earlier this season.

ACADEMIC HONORS: Two Jackrabbits were named May 10 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.

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

In 35 games (30 starts) during the month of May over the past three seasons, Kjolsing is batting a combined .364 (43-for-118) with 25 runs scored and 30 runs batted in. He has posted a .619 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 mid-May and the Jackrabbits played their eighth doubleheader of the season May 13 against Western Illinois thanks to inclement weather that has seemingly followed them wherever they have gone during the 2018 campaign. SDSU has played a doubleheader in six of the eight Summit League series in which it has managed to play more than one game.

In those eight doubleheaders the squad has played, the Jackrabbits have turned in a 6-10 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, while SDSU and Western Illinois split a twinbill on May 13.

SDSU did not play a true home game this season until May 4 against Omaha, and finished the home slate with a 4-2 record. The extended wintry weather that affected most of the Upper Midwest this spring forced the Jackrabbits to move Summit League 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 the last two weekends against Omaha and Western Illinois, but is expected to return to the mound out of the bullpen this weekend at North Dakota State.

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 53 in 47 1/3 innings.

Out of the bullpen, senior Derek Feige has struck out 28 batters in only 22 1/3 innings. Austin Suhr (22 strikeouts in 23 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.

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. Schneider tallied his second career two-homer game in the first game of a May 13 doubleheader versus Western Illinois.

A Rapid City native, Johnson is tied for second place in The Summit League with seven home runs. Johnson also leads the Jackrabbits and ranks third in The Summit League with 37 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 had his string of consecutive scoreless inning end at 13 after allowing a pair of unearned runs in the May 12 series opener against Western Illinois.

Marro, who has taken over the closer's role in the Jackrabbit bullpen the second half of the 2018 season, had not allowed a run in his previous seven appearances. 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.

He 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 a series against Omaha May 4-6.

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

PRESSING THE ISSUE: South Dakota State enters the weekend second in the Summit League rankings for stolen bases with 59 — two behind Western Illinois. The Jackrabbits moved near the top 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 18 stolen bases (in 21 attempts). Newt Johnson and Anthony Schneider rank second on the team with nine steals each, while Landon Badger has tallied eight stolen bases this season.

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 591-373-1 record (.613 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach, including a 42-51 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 Summit League Baseball Championship is scheduled for May 23-26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pairings for the four-team, double-elimination tournament will be announced after the conclusion of play this weekend.

The tournament schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, May 23
Game 1 – noon
Game 2 – 6 p.m.
Thursday, May 24
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, noon (loser eliminated)
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 6 p.m.
Friday, May 25
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 6 p.m. (loser eliminated)
Saturday, May 26
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary) – 4:30 p.m.

The winner of the 2018 Summit League Baseball Championship will advance to the NCAA?Tournament, which begins June 1 at campus sites.

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

-GoJacks.com-