Jackrabbits head to league tournament

Wednesday, May 23

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/21/2018 4:05:00 PM | Baseball

South Dakota State (16-30) at Summit League Baseball Championship

When	Wednesday-Saturday, May 23-26 [SDSU vs. Oral Roberts at 6 p.m. Wednesday]
Where	J.L. Johnson Stadium; Tulsa, Okla.
TV/Video	TheSummitLeague.org
Radio	KJJQ 910 AM \| Jackrabbits All-Access
Live Stats	TheSummitLeague.org
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| Oral Roberts
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #EarnIt

For the ninth time in 10 years, the South Dakota State University baseball team has earned a berth in the Summit League Baseball Championship.

The fourth-seeded Jackrabbits, 16-30 overall and 14-13 in league play, are scheduled to open tournament play versus regular season champion and top-seeded Oral Roberts at 6 p.m. Wednesday at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ORU enters the tournament with a 35-18 overall record and 24-6 mark in The Summit League.

The four-team, double-elimination Summit League Baseball Championship is scheduled to run through Saturday at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Following is a complete tournament schedule:
Wednesday, May 23
Game 1 – No. 3 North Dakota State (25-22, 15-13) vs. No. 2 Western Illinois (17-29, 14-12), noon
Game 2 – No. 4 South Dakota State (16-30, 14-13) at No. 1 Oral Roberts (35-18, 24-6), 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.

Radio coverage of all Jackrabbit tournament games begins 15 minutes prior to scheduled pitch on Brookings-based KJJQ 910 AM and online at GoJacks.com/Watch. Links to live video and statistics will be available through TheSummitLeague.org, with additional updates available via Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball).

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

VERSUS THE FIELD: South Dakota State went a combined 5-10 against the three other teams competing in the Summit League Baseball Championship during the 2018 regular season. The Jackrabbits split the season series against Western Illinois, 2-2, then lost season series against both Oral Roberts (1-5) and North Dakota State (2-3).

Following are the Jackrabbits' all-time series and Summit League Baseball Championship records against the other three teams in the 2018 tournament field:

Opponent	All-Time Series	Summit League Tournament
Oral Roberts	ORU leads 49-14	ORU leads 9-0
North Dakota State	SDSU leads 116-69	SDSU leads 5-2
Western Illinois	SDSU leads 31-23	WIU leads 2-1

TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Jackrabbits have found success at the Summit League Baseball Championship, advancing to the title series four of the previous eight times they qualified for the four-team tournament, including winning the tournament title in 2013.

SDSU has won at least one game in all eight of its previous Summit League Baseball Championshp appearances. Overall, the Jackabbits have compiled a 14-15 in Summit League postseason tournament games.

Following is a year-by-year look at the Jackrabbits in the Summit League Baseball Championship:

2009 at Tulsa, Okla.	2010 at Tulsa, Okla.	2011 at Sioux Falls
• Southern Utah 11, SDSU 8	• SDSU 6, Oakland 5 (10 inn.)	• SDSU 4, North Dakota State 1
• SDSU 7, Centenary 3 (10 inn.)	• Oral Roberts 21, SDSU 6	• Oral Roberts 7, SDSU 1
• SDSU 9, Southern Utah 4	• SDSU 20, Oakland 6	• SDSU 13, North Dakota State 10
• Oral Roberts 6, SDSU 2 [title game]	• Oral Roberts 12, SDSU 2 [title game]	• Oral Roberts 5, SDSU 4 (11 inn.) [title game]
2013 at Rochester, Mich.	2014 at Sioux Falls	2015 at Sioux Falls
• Western Illinois 4, SDSU 2	• North Dakota State 4, SDSU 3	• SDSU 7, Fort Wayne 3
• SDSU 8, Oakland 4	• SDSU 6, Fort Wayne 3	• Oral Roberts 9, SDSU 3
• SDSU 5, Western Illinois 4	• Western Illinois 5, SDSU 2	• Fort Wayne 6, SDSU 5
• SDSU 2, North Dakota State 0 [title game]
• SDSU 1, North Dakota State 0 [title game]
2016 at Tulsa, Okla.	2017 at Tulsa, Okla.
• Oral Roberts 6, SDSU 5	• SDSU 6, North Dakota State 5
• SDSU 8, Omaha 0	• Oral Roberts 5, SDSU 3
• Oral Roberts 5, SDSU 2	• North Dakota State 8, SDSU 2

MORE SUMMIT SUCCESS: South Dakota State has been a consistent winner in The Summit League since it became a league member a decade ago. In 11 seasons as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 162-128 (.559 winning percentage) in regular season conference games. SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play eight times and will make is making 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.

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.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Four different Jackrabbits were honored as a Summit League Player of the Week during the 2018 regular season.

Anthony Schneider was the most recent, earning the award May 14 after posting 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.

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.

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 36 games (32 starts) during the month of May over the past three seasons, Kjolsing is batting a combined .349 (44-for-126) with 27 runs scored and 31 runs batted in. He has posted a .611 slugging percentage, totaling nine doubles and eight of his 13 career home runs in the final month of the regular season.

STEIGER AT SECOND: Freshman Gus Steiger has been a solid contributor both at the plate and in the field in filling the second base position throughout the 2018 season.

A?native of Minnetonka, Minnesota, Steiger leads the team with 17 multi-hit games, seven of which have come in the Jackrabbits' last 11 games. Steiger ranks second on the squad with a .301 overall batting average for the season, including a team-best .355 average (38-for-107) in Summit League play.

Steiger also has proven to be sure-handed in the field, committing only one error in 177 defensive chances for a .994 fielding percentage.

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.

At the end of the regular season, the Jackrabbits had played nine doubleheaders — the last of which came on May 18 at North Dakota State — thanks to inclement weather that has seemingly followed them wherever they have gone during the 2018 campaign. SDSU played a doubleheader in seven of the nine Summit League series in which it managed to play more than one game.

In those nine doubleheaders the squad has played, the Jackrabbits have turned in a 6-12 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 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 60 strikeouts in only 41 1/3 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 13.07 strikeouts per nine innings pitched is ahead of the SDSU single-season record of 12.86 set by Bob Ehrke in 1953. Stover ranked seventh in NCAA Division I this season for strikeouts per nine innings before missing scheduled starts in early May against Omaha and Western Illinois due to injury, and thereby dropping below the minimum number of innings required to be included in NCAA rankings.

Stover returned to the mound in a relief role in the May 18 series opener at North Dakota State, striking out two in 3 1/3 innings. He is expected to start for the Jackrabbits in Wednesday's tournament opener versus Oral Roberts.

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 55 in 48 2/3 innings.

Out of the bullpen, senior Derek Feige has struck out 30 batters in only 23 2/3 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 40 runs batted in, matching his team-leading RBI total from a year ago.
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.

PRESSING THE ISSUE: South Dakota State enters the Summit League Baseball Championship second in the Summit League rankings for stolen bases with 63.

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 19 stolen bases (in 24 attempts). Landon Badger, Newt Johnson and Anthony Schneider rank second on the team with nine steals each.

SDSU's 63 stolen bases this season are the second most by a Jackrabbit squad in the Division I era and an increase of 24 from the 2017 campaign. The 2015 team stole 86 bases.

The school record for stolen bases in a season is 101 in 1986.

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 591-376-1 record (.611 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach, including a 42-54 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 all-Summit League Baseball Team will be announced at a pre-tournament banquet Tuesday night.

Should the Jackrabbits win the 2018 Summit League Baseball Championship, they will advance to the NCAA Tournament, which begins June 1 at campus sites.

-GoJacks.com-